Hello!
And welcome to my website. My name is Alex Horne. I’m a comedian and a writer who likes to write and perform things about things I like. Please feel free to have a wander round the site and if you want to get in touch, click the contact button on the left.
CURRENT WORK:
- Performing this year’s Edinburgh shows ODDS, TASKMASTER and THE HORNE SECTION.
- Following up my first documentary for BBC4; The Games That Time Forgot – an attempt to recreate Cricket on Horseback and Other Forgotten Sports.
- Writing occasional articles for the Observer Magazine.
- Continuing my attempt to become the World’s Oldest Man (see below).
After some quite unexpected enthusiasm on the back of The Games That Time Forgot I am also currently trying to set up a game of Quintain somewhere up here in Edinburgh. Any help much appreciated. More news soon…
2010 has seen the return of Wordwatching, my quest to get a word in the dictionary. The book is out and you can buy your very own copy here (or email me if you’d like a signed copy – the same book really, but with two extra hand-written words). Here’s a little video of me trying to persuade you one more time:
Whilst on the subject of books, the paperback edition of BIRDWATCHINGWATCHING is now out, published by Virgin. So that’s good. It’s much lighter than the hardback, the cover is less garish and you can buy it here.
If you want a signed copy of the hardback, get in touch and we’ll negotiate a ridiculously reasonable price (I can either do my signature or one belonging to a well-known celebrity – I may not be able to do impressions of other people’s voices but I can do their handwriting. I’m a much better forger than I am a mimic).
I should also mention that the latest series of WE NEED ANSWERS with Tim Key and Mark Watson is now finished. We’d love to do another and are doing our very best to persuade the people who make those decisions. Meanwhile there’s a charming new game called NO MORE WOMEN by the three of us still on the BBC comedy site. It’s also on my films page and on the BBC site here. Watch it! Play it! Hello!
Meanwhile I’m also still contributing regularly to The Verb, a brilliant programme on Radio 3 with the great Ian MacMillan. If you’ve got a particular story you think I should know about – whether it’s to do with word games, football chants or schoolyard slang, cracker jokes or urban myths, please do get in touch.
Whenever I’m reading things up or scribbling things down I do have one other, bigger project constantly bubbling away in the background. As those of you who have seen my shows in recent years will know, I am currently trying to break a world record. A big world record too. Not your 1500 metre sprint, or your number of eggs in one hand. No no. I’m going for, perhaps, the biggest (second only, possibly, to world’s tallest man).
I am trying to become the World’s Oldest Man. I’ve been doing everything in my power to keep this attempt on track for over 30 years now, but for the last four I have really stepped up these efforts; asking people to help, being very very careful, and giving up deep sea diving FOR GOOD.
And now, thanks to the rather surprising approach of a sponsor, I have taken it to the next level. There is a website dedicated to my quest: www.longlivealex.com. There is a blog, videos, tweets and a gadget with which you can work out your ranking in the competition. It’s exciting. Please follow my progress and wish me luck. I’m pretty healthy and all that, but to make it to 130 years old I’m bound to need a bit of luck (there’ll probably be an incident with a bull or an arrow or something).
But back to Wordwatching – do buy the book. It’s excellent value for honk. Here’s one review of the 2008 WORDWATCHING show written by Kate Copstick in The Scotsman. For more, click here.
It is beautifully structured, endearingly honest, and features not just one but three perfectly synchronised Alex Hornes. Horne is making good progress, he tells us, in his attempt to become the “Oldest Man in the World”, but that is very much work in progress. Meanwhile, he is working, with a secret cabal, on infiltrating a cluster of neologisms into the English language. He is doing quite well, with the help of the press (academic and tabloid), Countdown and the internet.
Such was the impact of this show on me that I have dedicated the next section of this review to furthering the introduction of Alex’s quest: at the moment, Alex Horne is being linguistically beaten by Beyoncé – who got “bootilicious” into the dictionary. I apologise for the fact that you will only fully understand what follows if you go and see his show. But once you have, you will appreciate that, in reading this, you have helped the English language grow. And got Alex a place in history. Please feel free to quote the following lines; Alex will thank you for it: “As a reviewer, one never actually has to put one’s honk where one’s mouth is. If a show is completely games we can throw our paddles up and call it a load of bollo, safe in the knowledge it will not be over till the honest lady sings.”
Horne is an engagingly smart man, a sort of Dave Gorman of the intellect. He has created a genuinely smart show. He not only entertains, amuses and impresses, but he makes you want to join in.
Don’t be a pratdigger, go and see the show.
In other, older news, after an amazing, exhausting and educational twelve months, Owen Powell and I finally finished our WORLD IN ONE CITY project. Thanks to appearances on BBC World, Al Jazeera and Channel 4 news, and an awful lot of help from our friends, Rachels and strangers, we eventually found and chatted to people from 189 of the UN’s 192 countries. We think that’s some sort of record. Click the link above to read all about it and listen out for news of future plans to get all these people in one place at one time for the best global gathering ever some time in the future.
After a typically frantic few months, I’m also now working on a couple of new shows, an art project called Alex Horne’s Old-Time Pub-Man Photo-Poses – more soon on that, hopefully – and I’m occasionally doing my other shows in theatres and schools around the country too. Please do get in touch about any or all of the above.
hilst on the subject of books, the paperback edition of BIRDWATCHINGWATCHING is now out, published by Virgin. So that’s good.