Glastonbury has exploded into one of the world’s biggest and best-loved festivals.

It has survived riots, fires, mud swamps and the wrath of the local council in its 44-year history, to become an institution on the British summer calendar.

Farmer Michael Eavis organised the first festival in 1970, having been inspired by the psychedelic delights of the Bath Blues Festival. He was convinced he could do even better by combining the pop festival culture with a more traditional fair and harvest event.

About 1,500 people paid £1 to see Marc Bolan, who arrived in a velvet-covered car, headline the first Pilton Pop Festival in September. Free milk from Worthy Farm’s dairy was also on offer to revellers, as the Glastonbury legend was born.

A second festival was organised a year later, but this time the date was moved to coincide with the Summer Solstice. The first Pyramid Stage was built on the Glastonbury Stonehenge leyline for the event, which added a cosmic, mythical allure to the festival.

It was funded, in Eavis’s words, by “rich hippies’’, who wanted to ensure no one would miss out on the delights of Glastonbury simply because they could not afford to get in. David Bowie played in front of 12,000 people, who had not paid a penny for the privilege. But not everyone was happy with the invasion of free-spirited souls descending on the rural communities surrounding Eavis’s farm. Outraged locals complained of revellers wandering the streets wearing nothing but a top hat.

Eavis also became concerned about the impact it was having on his livestock and business and vowed to end it for good.

A small ‘impromptu’ event was held in 1978 after travellers arrived from Stonehenge, having heard rumours that a festival was planned. They got what they wanted, despite virtually no planning. The stage was powered by an electric motor in a caravan with the cable running to the stage.

The following year, the Glastonbury Fayre – as it was then known – returned as a three-day festival, but continued to lose the organisers money. Eavis stepped in to save the event in 1981, by persuading the Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to help run the festival – in exchange for any profits.

A new permanent pyramid stage was built, which would double up as a cow shed for the rest of the year, as the festival’s organisation was stepped up. The event was to be a turning point in Glastonbury’s colourful history as it made money for the first time, which was handed over to a grateful CND.

But during the 1980s and early 1990s, Eavis faced yet more challenges from unwanted revellers and his fed-up neighbours, which again threatened to end the event. For the first time he had to apply for a licence from the local Mendip Council to stage the festival after a change in the law in 1983.

In more recent years, the festival site turned into a giant mud bath in 1997, 1998 and 2005 – thanks to torrential rain and thunderstorms.

The festival failed to sell out in 2008 – which some put down to the fear of poor weather and a controversial line-up. But the brand bounced back in recent years and has repeatedly sold out – with tickets for this summer’s event disappearing in record time.

The fact it still attracts young people in such vast numbers is testament to the festival’s dedication to its mission – and it looks like Worthy Farm will be paying host to stars of the music world for many years to come.

Eavis has said he always approaches each festival as if it could be the last, but its future looks safe for now - in March it was granted a new 10-year licence, which will see it run until 2024.