What's On! - Edinburgh Fringe

Its that time of year again when our friends at the east coast host the largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A three week street party throughout August in Scotland's capital city full of thousands of performers bringing all sorts of magical shows in all sorts of magical venues.

If you are looking for entertainment then this is the place for you with some of the biggest names in entertainment to unknowns looking to make their big breaks. Although comedy seems to be the main draw the festival really does cater for every art imaginable from comedy, theatre, dance, magic, music and a whole massive array of other stuff.

The fringe is well known to most of us living in Scotland and the UK and even more internationally in fact but here's a little bit of history you might not know. In 1947 during the Edinburgh International Festival (an initiative created to celebrate and enrich European cultural life) eight theatre groups turned up, uninvited and although not part of the programme decided to stage their shows anyway. Since then more and more acts and entertainment turned up resulting in the Festival Fringe Society being created.

The society allowed this collective of performances to be included in the festival programme, providing information to the artists and creating a central box office. 

Going to Edinburgh to check out the fringe is a must, if you can make go ahead you don't even need to go to a show because there is plenty going on in the streets and free events. check out listings and tickets etc here.