The Greatest Show on Earth

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is one of the greatest shows on earth. Around 220,000 people attend each year. It is seen on TV by a further 100 million. Alasdair Hutton is the Voice of the Tattoo. This book is the story of the Tattoo, told by the Narrator and prefaced by a short history of tattoos pre-Edinburgh and a history of the Tattoo pre-Alasdair. With an ever-changing cast of over 1,000 performers, each year’s show is unique. Some elements remain unchanged – the spine-tingling Lone Piper playing on the Castle ramparts, the cacophony of sound that is the closing massed pipes and drums, the welcoming voice of Alasdair Hutton as you arrive. Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats, the Greatest Show on Earth is about to begin. For the last 25 years, Alasdair Hutton has told our story to each of our audiences since he started in 1992 – a total live audience of over 5 million people. Not only has he been behind the microphone without fail, in Edinburgh and when we have taken the show abroad, but he has also researched and written the script. Alasdair’s most precious talents are his voice, his sense of timing and his feel for occasion. Alasdair Hutton is above all one of life’s great gentlemen. Not only is he impeccably polite but he has great charisma, values and a wonderful sense of purpose. This book, which is Alasdair’s own story – only a small part of it! – gives a sense of the huge contribution he has made to the remarkable institution of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. From the foreword by brigadier David Allfrey