Alex was born on September 10 1978. He studied at Cambridge University where he became a member of the Footlights Revue. In 2000 he made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his show How To Avoid Huge Ships and was nominated for the Perrier award for best new comic with his show How To Make Fish Laugh. A man of many talents,he has appeared as a contestant on word-based TV game show 'Countdown' and written two books 'Wordwatching' and 'Birdwatching', fronted a live jazz comedy show 'The Horne Section' and ,with fellow comedian Owen Powell,conducted a survey to find a representative of every country recognized by the United Nations to live in London.