The Edinburgh Comedy Awards or Eddies (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards), are presented to the best shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Established in 1981, they are the most prestigious comedy prize in the United Kingdom. The awards have been directed and produced by Nica Burns since 1984. The most recent awards were given to John Kearns, Alex Edelman and Funz and Gamez. This makes John Kearns the first comedian to win Best Newcomer and Best Comedy Show in consecutive years.

History

The award was created by Perrier in 1981 as a way of supporting young talent. The inaugural award was presented to the Cambridge Footlights, a cast that included Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery. Many award winners and nominees have gone on to forge successful careers in comedy and the media industry including Lee Evans, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace creators Richard Ayoade and Matt Holness, double act Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, QI panellist Alan Davies, Mock the Week panellist Chris Addison and many others.

A Comedy award can refer to numerous awards given for achievement in comedy, including

Edinburgh (ⁱ/ˈɛdɪnbərə/;Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˈt̪uːn ˈɛːtʲɛn̪ˠ]) is the capital city of Scotland, located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. It is the second most populous city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The most recent official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh itself and 492,680 for the local authority area. Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region with a population in 2014 of 1,339,380. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and the seat of the monarchy in Scotland. The city is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and home to national institutions such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. It is the largest financial centre in the UK after London.

Livingston was a professional basketball team based in Livingston, Scotland, founded in 1977 as Edinburgh by steel magnate David Murray and backed by sponsorship from his company Murray International Metals. Using the name Murray International or MIM Livingston, they went on to be one of the most successful clubs in Scottish basketball, playing first in Edinburgh and then later moving to Livingston.

During the height of its success, Livingston were crowned as Scottish National League Champions seven times between 1979 and 1987. The club were founder members of the British Basketball League, a professional league established in 1987 by leading clubs from England and Scotland. Playing out of the newly built 3,000-seat Forum Arena, Livingston were incredibly successful in their inaugural season and following an 81–72 victory over regular season Champions Portsmouth, were crowned winners of the first Carlsberg League Championship Final. The following year, Murray had acquired Rangers F.C. football team and sought about expanding his new acquisition and forming a 'sporting club' by purchasing Carlsberg League rivals Kingston for £100,000 and moving them to Glasgow. The Glasgow Rangers basketball team made their first appearance alongside Livingston in the 1988–89 season, becoming the league's second Scottish representatives. Under the guidance of Coach Kevin Cadle, Rangers dominated the campaign and claimed an impressive trophy haul, pipping Livingston to the regular season title and then beating them in the Final of the Championship Play-offs, winning 89–86. Livingston also finished as Runners-up in the NatWest League Trophy, losing 89–81 to Bracknell in the Final.

Edinburgh was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1885. Originally a single member constituency, representation was increased to two members in 1832. It was abolished in 1885, being split into Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh East and Edinburgh West.

Boundaries

The boundaries of the constituency, as set out in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832, were-

Members of Parliament

MPs 1708–1832

MPs 1832–1885

Under the Representation of the People Act 1832, Edinburgh's representation was increased to two members.

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1820s

References

See also