Back in 1971, after ten years of lobbying and planning, Edinburgh announced it would build a world class opera house. But newly released documents show why the hall was never built. It was sabotaged by civil servants who dubbed blueprints an “expensive fiasco” waiting to happen. “It had taken ten years for Edinburgh’s opera house plans to be accepted – and just a few months for government civil servants to sow the seeds of doubt which eventually led to the whole idea being scrapped.”