h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The topic came to me, when during a short holiday I found myself in Stratford Upon (rather than more succinctly, just 'on') Avon.

I was staying in the vicinity with a little time having been a few days earlier (thanks to the Madame Tussaud organisation) prompted by hearing about William Shakespeare and the conspiracy theories whilst at Warwick Castle.

I came to the source - maybe, along with many others on the penultimate Sunday afternoon in October 2011. I gather the actor manager David Garrick started it all off when he wanted to mark Shakespeare's 150th anniversary. It seems millions have gone to see his birthplace and more ever since - exactly for what I am not sure.

As that was as long ago as 1769 (that 150th celebration) I wondered to what extent that event might have been the birth of Tourism in England for relatively common folk, possibly I shall get some informative responses - I hope so.

Seems as if no one else wonders or knows about the start of modern tourism in England?

I'd be interested in knowing the history of Tourism in England. But since I live in Ireland, I haven't much chance to research it.

I know that ancient Greeks and Romans used to go to Egypt on holidays, as there is tourist graffiti all over some of the ancient Egyptian monuments. And before the Arabs stripped the facing of the pyramids in the 9th? Century to repair Cairo after the earthquake, they used to be covered in graffiti too!