I review our current understanding of the star formation histories of
early-type galaxies, in the context of recent observational studies of
their ultraviolet (UV) properties. Combination of UV and optical
spectro-photometric data indicates that the bulk of the stellar mass in
the early-type population forms at high redshift (z>2), possibly over
short timescales (<1 Gyr). Nevertheless, early-types of all luminosities
form stars over the lifetime of the Universe, with most luminous
(-23