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THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
1
WHO came up with the original idea for the edinburgh International Festival, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year and is held in August? A. An Austrian opera impresario B. An Australian actor C. A French comedian D. A Bulgarian novelist
2
IN AuguSt, the Scottish capital’s population is said to increase by which of the following percentages? A. 20 per cent B. 50 per cent C. 100 per cent D. 200 per cent
3
WHICH of these was named best joke at last year’s edinburgh Festival Fringe? A. ‘I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free.’ B. ‘My dad suggested I register for a donor card . . . he’s a man after my own heart.’ C. ‘I’ve decided to sell my Hoover . . . well, it was just collecting dust.’ D. ‘I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.’
4
true or false? tV sitcoms the Office, Fawlty towers and Absolutely Fabulous all started life as shows at edinburgh.
5
IN 1992, graham Norton dressed as which of these figures for his edinburgh show?
6
A. Nelson Mandela B. The Queen Mother C. Adolf Hitler D. Mother Teresa true or false? A scandal erupted after a naked student sitting in a trolley was wheeled on to an edinburgh balcony, resulting in a court case dubbed the ‘Lady MacChatterley trial’.
ANSWERS
1) A. An Austrian opera impresario. Rudolf Bing, who fled Nazi Germany in 1934, was the co-founder and director of the first Edinburgh International Festival in 1947, having come up with the idea some years earlier.
The Fringe started in the same year when eight theatre companies that had not received invitations did their own thing on the ‘fringe’ of the official festival. The Fringe is now the world’s largest arts festival.
2) C. 100 per cent. The population doubles, according to tourist body VisitScotland. 3) B. ‘My dad suggested I register for a donor card . . . he’s a man after my own
heart.’ Masai Graham won the annual contest run by television channel Dave in 2016. The ‘Hans free’ joke was a winner for Darren Walsh in 2015; Tim Vine triumphed with his Hoover gag in 2014; and Rob Auton’s Wispa joke was voted the Fringe’s best in 2013.
4) FALSE. However, the BBC sitcom The League of Gentlemen did. Stars including Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant (pictured far left) also performed at the Fringe early in their careers.
5) D. Mother Teresa. Graham Norton put tea towels on his head for his show Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s Grand Farewell Tour. He said: ‘It was me dressed up . . . and sort of doing Mother Teresa like an Irish housewife.’
6) TRUE. In 1963, student Anna Kesselaar was charged with indecency after she was wheeled in a trolley across the balcony of the McEwan Hall. The subsequent case (in which Kesselaar was acquitted) was nicknamed the ‘Lady MacChatterley trial’ after the Lady Chatterley’s Lover obscenity trial of 1960.