The long-standing tradition is as much about the horses and hounds as it is about the array of social rituals surrounding the event. The hunt - the riders and their crops, hats and outfits, the horses and the hounds, the stags and foxes, the social rituals and the elaborate tailgating - is an emblem of the upper-class.
Hunt expert Anne Holland looks at the hunt as part of the tapestry of British life, from the introduction of recreational stag-hunting by the Normans, through the centuries-long transition from stag to fox and the partial 2005 banning of the hunt in England, Scotland and Wales, including the forms that are still attracting record numbers today around the world.
