Festivals & the Famous: Turning 70 with style

2017 is a year of 70th anniversaries, including those of Edinburgh's International Festival and Fringe. We delve into some of the Platinum birthdays and commemorations happening this year...

In 1947, with rationing still in force, Austrian-born opera director Rudolf Bing settled on Edinburgh as the location for a new international arts festival, the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama - now the Edinburgh International Festival.

Since the start the Festival has attracted some of the finest performers and ensembles from the worlds of dance, opera, music and theatre, including world famous names such as Margot Fonteyn, Maria Callas, Yehudi Menuhin and Richard Burton.

Explore 70 years of the Edinburgh International Festival

It's not just the International Festival celebrating its 70th this year. Right back in 1947, eight theatre companies turned up despite not being invited and put on performances at smaller venues at the "fringe" of the official Festival. This tradition of unofficial performance continued and soon became known as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, now the world's largest performing arts festival, with over 50,000 performances of more than 3,000 shows across 300 venues (including the BBC's!)

But that's not all. Also in 1947 the Edinburgh Film Guild presented their first film festival, now the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Having taken place every year since, including in June this year, the prestigious event is now the world's longest continually running film festival.

Perhaps the most seismic event which happened in August 1947 was the Partition of India. In that year India won its independence from the British and split into two new states that would rule themselves. The new countries were India and Pakistan (with East Pakistan since becoming Bangladesh). The partition of India forced millions of people to leave their homes to move to the other state. Muslims headed towards Pakistan with Hindus and Sikhs moving to India.

A season of BBC programmes to mark 70 years since the Partition of India, explores the hidden history of what happened in 1947 and reveals the legacy Partition leaves us with today.

View 70 Years On: Partition Stories

Learn more about the Partition of India on BBC News

Established under the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, the listed building system was introduced after heavy bombing during the Second World War destroyed many historic buildings.

The list protects buildings and sites which are architecturally or historically significant enough to receive protection. To mark the 70th Anniversary of the listing, five new places, including a London cabbie’s shelter and a 'hobbit house' in Yorkshire have been added to the list.

Read more on BBC News

Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari celebrates 70 years of creating luxurious and fast automobiles for the road and the track. The company was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939 but the birthday of the cars is recognised as 1947 when the first Ferrari-badged automobile was created. Their Formula One racing team is also the most successful in history with the highest number of winning drivers and the most constructors championships.

In addition to the big anniversaries there are many performers and public figures celebrating their 70th birthdays this year. Elton John, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hillary Clinton, Glenn Close, Meat Loaf, Alan Sugar, Brian May and Iggy Pop are all hitting the big 7-0 in 2017.

Happy 70th Birthday to them all!