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22-30 Aug, 2026. 1PM
Rick Conte
At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Or, Benjamin Franklin’s Scottish Enlightenment.
The Founding Father loved Edinburgh. He visited in 1759 and made pals with David Hume and Adam Smith. But what does Auld Reekie have to do with America’s Declaration of Independence? Exactly 250 years after the Declaration, Rick Conte retraces his countryman’s steps in a warm, funny and historically grounded account of how Enlightenment Edinburgh influenced a nation, and how a native of that nation found a home here centuries later.
- ‘Delightful’ ***** (NorthWestEnd.com).
- ‘A beguiling show’ **** (Scotsman).
- ‘Storytelling at its best!’ **** (ScotsGayArts.com).
- ‘Heartwarming’ **** (AllEdinburghTheatre.com).
Available Online
1776 and All That:
Reflections on 250 years of the US and Edinburgh's Unitarian Church.
Professor Frank Cogliano
This year marks the 250th anniversaries of both the American Declaration of Independence and the founding of the Unitarian Church in Edinburgh. At first glance it would seem that this is just a coincidence. However, as Miss Marple said, ‘Any coincidence is worth noticing.’
To kick off the events to mark 250 years of Unitarians in Edinburgh, Professor Frank Cogliano will discuss the connection between these two events and reflect on the significance of the US semiquincentennial based on his recently-published book, Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours (with Peter S. Onuf).
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Speakers
.......have included eminent academics, published authors, documentary producers, historical novelists, postgraduate researchers and Open History Society members. The subject matter may be anything from the Falklands War to medieval women, from Hugh MacDiarmid to Eamon De Valera, from Nazi feature films to Sicilian cultural history, from Bannockburn to Verdun.