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Edinburgh Military Tattoo

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual Military tattoo given by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands and display teams in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. The event takes place annually in August, as part of the Edinburgh Festival (a collective name for many independent festivals and events in Edinburgh in August).

History

The word "tattoo" originally dates from the eighteenth century, when British Army units were stationed in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession. Drummers from the garrison were sent out into the towns each evening to Beat Retreat, summoning the soldiers to return to barracks for the night. The process was known as Doe den tap toe or just tap toe and encouraged the inn keepers to "turn off the taps": stop serving beer and send the soldiers back for the night.

The first official Tattoo began in 1950 with just 8 items in the programme.

Today

Now, on average, just over 217,000 people see the Tattoo live on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle each year, and it always sells out in advance. 30% of the audience are from Scotland and 35% from the rest of the United Kingdom. The event is so well known in Britain that to many people (especially older people) "The Edinburgh Tattoo" is a synonym for "The Edinburgh Festival". The remaining 35% of the audience consists of 70,000 visitors from overseas. Worldwide, a further 100 million people see the event on television. In the UK the event is broadcast annually by the BBC, with Tom Fleming commentating on every year since 1966. In Australia the Tattoo is traditionally telecasted by ABC on the evening of New Year's Day, although in a break with tradition, the 2006 Tattoo was broadcast two days earlier on December 30, and the 2007 Tattoo was broadcast even earlier on Christmas Eve.

The Tattoo is run for charitable causes and over the years has given over UK£ 5 million to military and civilian charities and organisations. However, the greater benefit has been that it, by independent count, generates an additional £82 million for Edinburgh's economy annually.

The official magazine of the Edinburgh Military tattoo is called Salute and is distributed free to sponsors, Friends of the Tattoo, and visiting performers.

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, is the current Patron of the event.

Performers

International military regiments and even African tribes have performed at the Tattoo over the years. The first regiment from outside the UK to take part was the Band of the Royal Netherlands Grenadiers in 1952. So far, over 30 countries have been represented at the Tattoo. Since 2005 a Son et lumière element to the performance has also been incorporated.

The highlight is the massed pipes and drums, provided by regiments of the British Army and regiments from around the world with Scottish connections. Each evening traditionally concludes with a flag-lowering ceremony (see Beating Retreat), with the bugles either sounding the Last Post, or the "Sunset" bugle call of the Royal Marines, and ends with a floodlit lone piper playing a Lament from high on the Castle ramparts.

The 2005 Tattoo saw one of the largest gathering of pipes and drums in the event's history, including the pipes and drums of all six regular infantry regiments of the Scottish Division. This was the last time all six appeared at the Tattoo prior to the formation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland:

In addition, there were also the pipes and drums of the Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Royal Gurkha Rifles, South African Irish Regiment, Scottish Officers Training Corps, the Rats of Tobruk and the City of Wellington pipe band. The largest gathering of massed pipes and drums was in 2000 were there was 15 bands on parade including 7 of the eight scottish regiments.

Producers

Producers of the Edinburgh Tattoo have included:

Lt Col George Malcolm of Poltalloch – Produced a pageant on the Castle Esplanade in 1947 entitled “The King’s Men” and produced the first Edinburgh Tattoo in 1950.
Brigadier Alistair MacLean of Pennycross – Director of the Tattoo from 1950, he took over as the Producer in 1953.
Brigadier Jack Sanderson – Former Scots Guards officer, he took over in 1968.
Lt Col Lesley Dow – Served with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and became producer in 1976.
Major Michael Parker – Producer of the Royal Tournament (1974-99), the Berlin Tattoo as well as the VE & VJ Day commemorations in 1995. Producer of the Tattoo from 1992-4
Brigadier Melville Jameson – Served with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and former commander of the Highland Brigade. Producer of the Tattoo from 1994-2006.
Major-General Euan Loudon - GOC 2nd Division and Governor of Edinburgh Castle. Takes over the producer's post in 2007.