Thomas Arne
Thomas Arne was one of a number of English composers who lived in the shadow of George
Handel, born 25 years earlier. He wrote a number of operas, which are not heard these days. He formed a movement to establish English opera in competition to the then popular Italian style.
He worked a lot with the theatre at Drury Lane in London. His incidental music and songs for some of Shakespeare's plays are still remembered, such as "Where the Bee Sucks, there Suck I", from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Most famous of all, the British patriotic song "Rule Britannia" was composed by Arne. It is played and sung at virtually every Promenade concert, not only at the Albert Hall in London, but also at the many such concerts around the world.