ALEX HORNE EMBARKS ON QUEST TO BECOME THE WORLD’S OLDEST MAN
This summer ALEX HORNE launches his record breaking attempt to become the world’s oldest man. Over the next few months, ALEX who is currently the 3,103,235,292nd oldest person in the world, will be updating his progress daily on twitter, weekly on his blog and monthly via YouTube videos posted on his dedicated website www.longlivealex.com.
ALEX explains: “I, Alex Horne, have always wanted to get into the Guinness Book of Records. When I was 8 years old I wanted to be the fastest person in the world. When I was 10 I wanted to be the tallest person in the world. When I was 12 I wanted to be that person with all the bees on his face. But by the time I reached 27 years old I realised that almost every record in the book was out of my reach. I'm not fast, tall or brave/mental/big-faced enough to achieve my childhood dreams. But there was one record I could still go for - a big one, THE big one; I could become the oldest man in the world.
“So, for the last four and a half years I have been striving on a daily basis towards this goal. I constantly try not to die; wearing seatbelts, not swimming with sharks and breathing almost all the time. All this hard work is starting to pay off. I'm still alive. What's more, there are now just 3,103,235,291 people older than me. Now this might seem like quite a large group of people but bear in mind that when I was born, I was last. That's a meteoric rise.”
When Innocent, the smoothie company, heard about ALEX’s quest to become the world’s oldest man, they thought it made sense to support him with his record attempt. As part of the deal, Innocent will be offering a prize of one million pounds to Alex, or whoever reaches the grand old age of 150 years first.
ALEX continues: “I wasn't all that surprised when Innocent offered to support my death-defying attempt. I see myself as an athlete, a natural in the sport of longevity. It is therefore fitting that like Wayne Rooney, like Roger Federer, like Daley Thompson, someone would want to sponsor me.
“It is also quite useful. Because I'm not very good at eating healthily. I have a lot of curries, too much beer and a fried breakfast at least once a week. The Innocent stuff has got to help - or at least make me feel less guilty. And so far, it seems to be working. Since working with Innocent I have not died. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, but even that I got over fairly quickly. With only about a hundred or so years left of this project, I am looking forward to a long and healthy relationship with my sponsors. I know they believe in me, and I will break that record even if it kills me. As long as it doesn't kill me.”
DAN GERMAIN, Innocent’s Head of Creative says: “Alex’s stand up show made us laugh a lot " especially the part about his mission to become the world’s oldest man. Working with him means that we can share loads of his funny DIY films as he goes about his quest, and give a generous £1 million prize to the person who gets to 150 years old first. The smart money is on Alex.”
ends
For more information or images please speak to Jo Cross at joc@avalonuk.com / 020 7598 7222
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ALEX HORNE
Alex Horne is an award winning comedian and star and co-creator (alongside TIM KEY and MARK WATSON) of BBC Four’s comedy quiz show We Need Answers, who has established a reputation among critics, comics and audiences as a thoughtful and original stand-up, writer and solo performer.
Nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 2003 for Making Fish Laugh, his interactive Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut stand-up show, he has brought five solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe, including 2004’s Chortle Award winning Every Body Talks, and 2005’s When In Rome which went on to be ALEX’S first national tour.
In 2007 ALEX performed Birdwatching to critical acclaim at the Fringe. The show went on to tour nationally in 2009 coinciding with the release of ALEX’S debut book Birdwatchingwatching (Virgin Books).
Alex’s second book Wordwatching, based on his 2008 Edinburgh show, was released in January this year after which Alex embarked on a 35 date national tour.
Additionally, 2010 has seen Alex film his own documentary for BBC Four ‘The Games that Time Forgot: Cricket on Horseback and Other Forgotten Sports’ and become a columnist for The Observer.
ALEX’S other recent credits include The Percy Edwards Showdown (BBC Radio 4), The Verb (BBC Radio Three) and Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4).
INNOCENT
Innocent is the UK and Europe’s favourite smoothie company, selling natural healthy products in over 13 countries and employing over 220 people across Europe.
Innocent’s mission is to make it easy for people to do themselves some good and to make it taste good too. In addition to 100% pure fruit smoothies, their successful latest products " orange juice and veg pots - fit with their mission of getting natural healthy products to as many people as possible.
As a business, innocent want to leave things better than they find them. This is reflected in everything they do, from sourcing their fruit from farms with higher social and environmental standards to developing the world’s first 100% recycled plastic bottle to donating 10% of profits every year to charity.
