Perspective: Fringe Benefits ; Over the Past Few Decades It has Grown Into the 'Must-See' Annual Arts Event. Victoria Payne Casts Her Eyes Over the Good, the Bad and the Weird at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

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It all started with the gatecrashers . . . 60 years ago if you mentioned the Edinburgh Festival, you'd be talking about the prestigious official Edinburgh International Festival which takes place over three weeks in August. World-class performers selected by the festival director are invited to perform in a glittering celebration of opera, ballet, theatre and classical music.

So where do the clowns on unicycles come in? In fact nowadays, most visitors to the Scottish capital in August are much more likely to be visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which started when six groups of canny performers, who'd not been invited, decided to turn up anyway, knowing that there'd be audiences and media attention readily available.

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Perspective: Fringe Benefits ; Over the Past Few Decades It has Grown Into the 'Must-See' Annual Arts Event. Victoria Payne Casts Her Eyes Over the Good, the Bad and the Weird at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The numbers of these "gatecrashers" increased every year until the Fringe Festival became a festival in its own right. It's since made a name for itself as the place to see new and experimental performances of theatre, dance and every other type of show you can think of.

Over a third of the shows at the fringe are world premieres an...

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