The Edinburgh Fringe is renowned for being the biggest arts festival on the planet, but that wasn’t always the case.
While the capital’s famous annual arts extravaganza grew steadily after its post-war inception, it took until 1980 for it to enter the record books.
Despite fears that year that the 34th Edinburgh International Festival would return meagre box office takings, the city hosted a larger number of shows, acts and visitors than ever before as both the Festival and the Fringe hit new heights.
READ MORE: Incredible archive Edinburgh photos will take you right back to the 1980s
Speaking to entertainment weekly, The Stage, Festival director John Drummond said in August 1980: "I still get a sense of excitement knowing that across the world from Canada to India, Italy to Australia, artists are making the journey here. Studios and theatres are packed with performers, new productions are being created.
"The artists are here not just for the prestige or the fee. They are here because they recognise that in these 21 days every year something happens that goes beyond the bounds of the ordinary or the expected."
Almost 400 companies appeared at the Fringe that year, securing a place in the 1980 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. The Edinburgh Festival has retained its place at the top table ever since.
The summer of 1980 stands as a turning point for the Edinburgh Fringe, and it has never looked back.
This mostly never-before-seen collection of press photographs, recently unearthed and digitised by our hard-working Mirrorpix archive team here at Reach, reveals that Fringe-goers were in buoyant mood that record-breaking year.
The photographs, which include shots of performers and crowds both on the streets and in venues, manage to capture all the fun, artistry and magic that the Edinburgh Fringe is famous for the world over.
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