Hello!

And welcome to my website. It's nice to see you. 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.

Meanwhile, this is officially the homepage so I'll quickly tell you what I'm up to at the moment:

First, for those of you who have asked about the Birdwatching show, there will be some news about the tour and all that very soon I promise. I'm still not allowed to say anything just yet but as soon as I can I will.

Second, I need your help RIGHT NOW! The gestation period of an Edinburgh show is about the same as that of a baby. Ok, you may have had the idea some time ago (probably the best way of approaching both situations) but the actual conception oftens happen about nine months before the brand new thing emerges.

So we're well into the second trimester and everything's looking fine. It's going to be called WORDWATCHING and will explore language, and slang in particular. If you fancy getting involved, please do get in touch here and tell me about any words or phrases you think you, your friends or your family have invented, along with the meaning. What I'm looking for in particular are words that you use consistently (not wacky one-offs), along with the actual date or occasion (where possible) it was created. For example: Christmas 2006, Granny Horne kept saying "I'm going round the corner" when she really meant she was going to the toilet. The expression stuck and is now Horne slang.

That's it for now. There's are some secret links hidden somewhere on this website with more information if you're really that intrigued. The clue is: EDINBURGH WORDPLAY. Good. But either way, please do get in contact.

And just to sum up the rest of 2007, ater 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 later this year.

After a typically frantic Edinburgh, I'm also now working with Tim Key and Mark Watson on a BBC pilot of the divvy quiz show We Need Answers and am still occasionally doing the Birdwatching and Latin shows in theatres and schools around the country. Here's what the press said about the bird show up in Scotland last year:

 "Alex Horne not only manages to make it [birdwatching] sound interesting, but he actually comes up with a first class comedy show on the subject - and even without a trace of irony on account of the hobby itself... Combining an account of that year-long contest, sound recordings of his world-wide avian field trips, impassioned power point presentations and irresistible audience banter, this is much more of a progressively inclusive family comedy than your typical stand up, and the feel good factor is unrivalled"

Duska Radosavljevic, THE STAGE

 "Horne's wide-eyed appetite for knowlege shines through and uncovers the naturally ridiculous elements of his findings... And who on the Fringe can wield a better PowerPoint presentation?"

Brian Donaldson, THE LIST

"Horne is that rarest of creatures, the funny geek. He has a scientist's curiousity coupled with the gentle humour and enthusiasm that characterises the best lecturers. Combining these traits with his beloved PowerPoint, Horne's show tells of the year he spent locked in Oedipal combat with his Dad seeing who could spot the most birds. It is charming, warm and cosy rather than packed with killer lines, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing."

Jonathan Trew, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

"For something quieter, hunt out Alex Horne. Rather like a rare bird - his ostensible subject - he is a fragile delight, covering any subject with a daft, surreal charm."

Stephen Armstrong, THE SUNDAY TIMES

"Horne's observations are at once funny and fascinating."

Sharon Lougher, METRO

"Horne is quirky, quick-witted and affable... Duncton has a lovely speaking voice".

Dominic Maxwell, THE TIMES