Royal Albert Hall events in British culture, each year it hosts more than 390 shows in the main auditorium, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestra, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets. A further 400 events are held each year in the non-auditorium spaces. The Hall was originally supposed to have been called the "Central Hall of Arts and Sciences", but the name was changed to the "Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences" by Queen Victoria upon laying the Hall's foundation stone in 1867, in memory of her husband, Prince Albert,
Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Show of Hands album) by now built up a considerable fanbase through their mailing list. But despite the escalating fan base, they still could not command any London gigs. Knightley, Beer and manager O’Farrell took the gamble of hiring London's famous Royal Albert Hall for a performance on the evening of 24 March 1996, in attempt to gather all of the duo's fans, and to raise the duo's profile. The duo hired the hall "to the amusement of the media and the cynicism of sceptics" and was considered a huge gamble. Nonetheless, the performance sold out in advance. Selling out the hall was "unprecedented