Festival and Fringe Wraps - the Archive Lives On

Submitted by edg on Tue, 1 Sep '15 9.18pm

Another festival - Edinburgh Guide's 18th festival - has officially drawn to a close marked by last night's explosive spectacle.

The festival would seem to be in good health, financially. The official Festival reported record box office sales and the bigger Fringe festival estimated increased sales of 5.24% from 50,459 performances as it drew to a close on Saturday. It seems like every year the festival confounds expectations.

If you are curious what some of our reviewers thought of shows at the Fringe, EIF, or Book Festival, check out our Festival Reviews Archive here.

As the dust settles, I've been rooting around online to see what I may have missed. After listening to Max Richter's Recomposed (read Euan's review) I was glad to find this recent EIF clip of violinist Anne Sophie Mutter performing extracts from Vivaldiā€™s The Four Seasons. Recorded at the Usher Hall for Guardian Music, it has a welcome informality as she and her ensemble of emerging soloists, Mutter's Virtuosi, launch into the first movement of Winter and third movement of Summer (The Storm).

On a different note, if you need a little pick-me-up: here's some of the shortlisted "Dave's Funniest Jokes From The Fringe". This was Dave TV's 8th annual award. It was won by Darren Walsh. Here's the top 10 jokes:

  • "I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free" - Darren Walsh (winner)
  • "Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse... but enough about Kanye West" - Stewart Francis
  • "Surely every car is a people carrier?" - Adam Hess
  • "What's the difference between a 'hippo' and a 'Zippo'? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter" - Masai Graham
  • "If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn't go" - Dave Green
  • "Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That's not a miracle. That's tapas" - Mark Nelson
  • "Red sky at night. Shepherd's delight. Blue sky at night. Day" - Tom Parry
  • (=8) "The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves" - Alun Cochrane
  • (=8) "Clowns divorce. Custardy battle" - Simon Munnery
  • 10. "They're always telling me to live my dreams. But I don't want to be naked in an exam I haven't revised for..." - Grace The Child