The Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is an umbrella title encompassing seven separate festivals: the International, Fringe, Film, Jazz, Book and Television Festivals, and the Military Tattoo.

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The 2002 Edinburgh International Festival runs from 11 - 31 August.

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The 2002 Fringe programme

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Q. When did it start

The event began in 1947 with the first Edinburgh International Festival. Austrian conductor Rudolf Bing, an �migr� from Nazi Europe who had been in Britain throughout the Second World War, launched the first festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, as a way of bringing harmony through music to a Europe shattered by the war, and to enable, as he said, a 'flowering of the human spirit'.

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The debut festival featured the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Old Vic Theatre Company. The Film Festival started that same year, as did the so-called 'Fringe' Festival, when eight theatre companies not included in the official programme put on shows in smaller venues away from the city centre.

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Q. How did the Fringe get its name

A. In 1948, journalist Robert Kemp commented that the additional, spontaneous productions were 'the fringe of the official festival drama'. The name stuck, and the rise of the Fringe continued alongside the official festival.

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Q. And the Festival grew

A. Yes. These original events were subsequently joined by a Military Tattoo (1950), a television festival (1975), a jazz festival (1978) and a book festival (1983), creating a three-week long cultural extravaganza that now takes over the entire city. This year the Fringe alone is offering 20,342 performances: don't expect to see� everything.

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Q. Who has made their name at the Fringe

A. Some of the world's best-known writers and performers began their careers at the festival. Tom Stoppard's breakthrough play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, was first performed there in 1966, while Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller made their names in the legendary 1960 satirical revue Beyond The Fringe (see also the article on William Donaldson/Henry Root.

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Q. What about the Perrier Award

A. The winners, in 1981, of the first ever Perrier Award, the annual accolade for the best comedy show, were the Cambridge Footlights, featuring the then-unknown Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson and Angus Deayton. Others since then have included Theatre De Complicit�(1985), Jeremy Hardy (1988), Sean Hughes (1990), Frank Skinner (1991), Steve Coogan with John Thompson (1992), Dylan Moran (1996) and the League of Gentlemen (1997). Last year's winner was Garth Marenghi's Netherhead.

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Garth Marenghi

It's not just about the winners. Among those who have been nominated without�winning are names such as�Graham Norton, Johnny Vegas, Jo Brand,�Jack Dee, Lily Savage and Fascinating Aida.

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For more information on the Edinburgh International Festival go to http://www.eif.co.uk/

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the Fringe at http://www.edfringe.com/

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and the Perrier Award at http://www.chortle.co.uk/standup/sufeatures/perrier.html

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For more on Arts & Literature click here

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By Simon Smith

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