A few hours before the first Edinburgh International Festival curtain-raiser at George Watson’s School, the Fringe's official opening event was more low-key but just as entertaining. Comedian Mark Watson , the latest Fringe figure to accept the challenge of delivering a welcome address to participants, took the audience at the Virgin hotel in the Cowgate through more than 25 years of memories since an initial trip inspired by a Fresher’s Week conversation at university. Watson reflected on his many “life landmarks” at the Fringe, including proposing to his then girlfriend in the Cowgate after a successful attempt to stage the world’s longest stand-up show, which ran for 24 hours.
He said: “It shows you how long ago this was that the father of the bride-to-be found out on Teletext, which is maybe not how you’d want it to happen.” Watson told how he seen “most of the greatest art of my life” in Edinburgh, but also some of the worst, including a “really shit play about a boat.” He said: “An audience member got up halfway through, unable to bear it anymore, but mistakenly chose a locked exit at the front of the auditorium and for an excruciating 60 seconds was standing on stage with the cast as if volunteering to try and make the play better.
” Turning adversity into a PR opportunity is nothing new at the Fringe but was happening on a grand scale as opening day shows were affected by power cuts. Many performances went ahead in some form outside venues, .