The Edinburgh Fringe Festival turns 50. “Because it is the way it is, in the place that it is, at the time that it is, it has become perhaps our nation’s most important yardstick and proof of her cultural identity and diversity. For three weeks in August, it is a living, breathing, heaving accumulation of creative energy that is unparalleled. Sound dramatic? Maybe. But it’s fact. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. On the one hand it is evil, disillusioning the naïve and pillaging the weak. On the other it is good, rewarding the strong and praising the innovative. Its thirst unquenchable, its attraction undiminishable, its value undeniable.”