READING HOMEWORK
A really 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; eight festivals are held 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 has happened in August every year since 1947, except for 2020.
The idea for a festival came from 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 were considered, including 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 was organised by the Edinburgh Film Guild. Secondly, eight theatre groups
arrived uninvited. They were not allowed to perform in the International Festival, so they set
up their shows 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 featured more than
55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows in 317 venues. There are circus, music, dance,
comedy, theatre performances and much more. Comedy is the most common 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 its grand finale: 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 to book accommodation 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.
Based on the reading, fill in the blanks with approrite words:
1/ The Edinburgh Festival is not a single festival; there are in fact ______________ festivals.
2/ The first Edinburgh ______________ Festival was organised by Rudolf Bing.
3/ Edinburgh was probably chosen because of its ______________ ______________ of
festivals.
4/ The ______________ festival was organised to take place at the same time as Bing's first
festival.
5/ The Edinburgh Festival ______________ started in 1947 but was unplanned.
6/ The largest festival in August is the ______________ Festival.
7/ There are more ______________ performances at the Fringe than other performances.
8/ The ______________ is a famous event of the Military Festival.
9/ The last performance at the festival is a ______________ ______________
______________ with fireworks.
10/ The writer advises visitors to buy tickets for ______________ ______________ before
the festival.
