British Pathe

Titles read: "EDINBURGH FESTIVAL".

General view of Edinburgh, Scotland. Shots of Princes Street, crowds walking along. C/U of sign announcing the Edinburgh Festival. General view of St Giles Cathedral. Several shots of officials in robes walking in a procession to the cathedral for the opening...

Titles read: "EDINBURGH FESTIVAL".

General view of Edinburgh, Scotland. Shots of Princes Street, crowds walking along. C/U of sign announcing the Edinburgh Festival. General view of St Giles Cathedral. Several shots of officials in robes walking in a procession to the cathedral for the opening ceremony. Crowds look on. Lord Provost stands on Cathedral steps while fanfare is played then he makes a speech. Massed pipe bands march along Princes Street. Shot of the Monseigneur News Theatre. At Turnhouse Airport we see musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra alighting from a Vanguard plane and boarding coaches. General view of Princes Street. C/U of floral clock. Queues of people at the Festival ticket office.

Artistic Director of the Festival The Earl of Harwood talks to Russian composer Shostokovitch beside a piano in a room. Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya is seen with her cellist husband Mstislav Rostropovich; he shakes hands with other cellists. Yvonne Lefebure plays 'Minstrel's Prelude' at the piano during rehearsal. Tenor Peter Pears sings 'Claire De Lune'. General view of the Usher Hall. C/U of poster announcing recital by Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich. We see the group rehearsing 'Bachianas Brasileiras'. C/Us of signs advertising Polish Radio and London Symphony Orchestras.

General view of the Assembly Hall. Inside we see Dylan Thomas's play 'The Doctor and The Devils' being enacted (natural sound). General view of Calton Hill. On the top of the hill we see folk singers the MacEwan Brothers rehearsing with their guitars. General view of the Royal Scottish Academy. Posters outside announce exhibition of paintings from the Sonja Henie - Niels Onstad Collection. Film star ice skater Sonja Henie looks at pictures inside with husband Onstad and the President of the Festival. At Murrayfield sports ground we see various shots of athletic events watched by crowds. A man in a kilt tosses the caber. Girls in kilts and tartan socks do traditional Scottish dancing. Night shot of the castle. Floodlit shots of the Edinburgh Tattoo show marching bands and sailors doing a hornpipe. As the bands play 'Lets Twist Again', spectators run into the arena to twist with soldiers! Pipe band march about the square.