Hello!

And welcome to my website. It's nice to see you. My name is Alex Horne and 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.

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

FIRST UP, my first book BIRDWATCHINGWATCHING is officially out, published by Virgin. It's exciting (both the fact I've written a book and the book itself, of course).

I'm currently doing a tour of my BIRDWATCHING show - click HERE to find out where and when then please do come along. I'm selling and signing books afterwards which isn't nearly as awkward as I'd imagined.

Second, WE NEED ANSWERS with Tim Key, Mark Watson and me is currently on BBC4. It was ordered and produced in something of a hurry but if anything that's actually helped capture some of the spirit of the Edinburgh show. Have a watch on Thursday evenings or iplayer.

Third, thanks to everyone who came to WORDWATCHING at the Edinburgh Festival. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (and if you're still struggling with the FLYER CROSSWORD, click HERE for the answers).

That's also going to be a book, probably published at the beginning of 2010, and I'll be touring it after that too. And by then, I'm sure, the likes of 'honk' and 'pratdigger' will be well settled in the dictionary...

In the meantime, do let me know if you or anyone you know has ever invented a word (ideally one that has caught on and stuck around). You can always contact me HERE. Also, I'm going to be doing a bit of 'word spying' for 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 football chants or schoolyard slang, cracker jokes or urban myths, please do get in touch.

Finally I do like to plan things a long time in advance so here's some news about my 2010 Edinburgh show. I'm trying to get a hole in one. I'm no golfer so I've been given good odds. It is, quite literally, a long shot. I'm also attempting to win a number of other tricky bets including getting a 180 in darts in 24 hours and scoring a perfect ten in ice dancing. So if you want to challenge me to any sort of proposition bet - sporting or otherwise - just drop me a line  HERE and I'll give it the most serious consideration. Get in touch too if you just fancy a game of golf, especially if it's somewhere unusual. I have to get my ace by September 10th 2010 and I'm determined.

In the mentime here's one review of the 2008 WORDWATCHING show written by Kate Copstick in The Scotsman. For more, click here.

"This is a joyous show for word-lovers everywhere. Horne is right back on form, and on a mission to get a new word into the dictionary. This is his best show since Making Fish Laugh made everyone laugh.

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 later this year.

After a typically frantic few months, I'm also now working on an art project called Alex Horne's Old-Time Pub-Man Photo-Poses - more soon on that, hopefully. 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.