Popular summer festival in the UK

One of the most popular summer festivals in the UK is the Edinburgh Festival. It isn’t actually one festival; 1…………….. in the city simultaneously, including the Art Festival, the Book Festival, the International Festival, the Fringe and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The Edinburgh Festival 2 ……………… every year since 1947, except for 2020. 

The idea for a festival 3…………. Rudolf Bing, an Austrian who loved and sponsored the arts. Bing was the general manager of the famous Opera House at Glyndebourne in the South of England. He wanted to organise an international festival of music and opera to help fund the Opera House. 

Different cities 4……………. Oxford, but finally, Edinburgh, which already had a long history of festivals, was chosen.

Two important events took place during the first International Festival. Firstly, a week-long film festival 5 …………… by the Edinburgh Film Guild. Secondly, eight theatre groups arrived uninvited. 

They were not allowed to perform in the International Festival, so they 6 ………….. in other venues in the city. That became the ‘Edinburgh Festival Fringe’.

The Fringe Festival is now the largest of the festivals. In 2018, it 7………………. 55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows in 317 venues. 

There are circus, music, dance, comedy, theatre performances and much more. Comedy 8……………… performance: over a third of the shows are comedy.

A popular event of the Military Festival is the Tattoo. It takes place at the castle each night. Military musicians from across the world perform, and there is a great light and fireworks display. Another popular event is 9……………………: a classical music concert in Princes Street Gardens, when fireworks shoot into the sky, in time to the music.

Attending the festival is a great experience, but planning ahead is a good idea. Hundreds of thousands of people attend each year, so you’ll need 10 ………….. and tickets for popular shows in advance. But don’t plan too much! You’ll find out about great, little-known shows and performers while you are there, and you’ll be disappointed if you are too busy to attend.