  We combine deep UBVRIzJK photometry from the Multiwavelength Survey by
Yale-Chile (MUSYC) with redshifts from the COMBO-17 survey to perform a
large-scale study of the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) properties of 674
high-redshift (0.5<z<1) early-type galaxies, drawn from the Extended Chandra
Deep Field South (E-CDFS). Galaxy morphologies are determined through visual
inspection of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images taken from the GEMS survey.
We harness the sensitivity of the UV to young (<1 Gyr old) stars to quantify
the recent star formation history of early-type galaxies across a range of
luminosities (-23.5 < M(V) < -18). Comparisons to simple stellar populations
forming at high redshift indicate that only ~1.1 percent of early-types in this
sample are consistent with purely passive ageing since z=2. Parametrising the
recent star formation (RSF) in terms of the mass fraction of stars less than a
Gyr old, we find that the early-type population as a whole shows a typical RSF
between 5 and 13% in the redshift range 0.5<z<1. Early-types on the UV red
sequence show RSF values less than 5% while the reddest early-types are
virtually quiescent with RSF values of ~1%. We find compelling evidence that
early-types of all luminosities form stars over the lifetime of the Universe,
although the bulk of their star formation is already complete at high redshift.
This tail-end of star formation is measurable and not negligible, with luminous
(-23<M(V)<-20.5) early-types potentially forming 10-15% of their mass since
z=1, with their less luminous (M(V)>-20.5) counterparts potentially forming
30-60 percent of their mass in the same redshift range. (abridged)
