Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978) is a British comedian. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series Taskmaster, in which he also performs as the Taskmaster's assistant. He is the host and bandleader of The Horne Section, a comedic band. Horne runs the band's eponymous podcast and has appeared with them on their music variety show on BBC Radio 4 and TV channel Dave. He was a contestant on the numbers and letters show Countdown in 2008, and has been a dictionary corner guest many times on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown with his band. Early life Horne was educated at independent Lancing College (1991–1996) and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he studied classics, graduating in 2001. While at Cambridge he was a member of the Footlights. Career He made his first appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000 with his show, "How To Avoid Huge Ships". His 2003 Edinburgh show, "Making Fish Laugh" was nominated for a Perrier newcomer award. In 2004 he won a Chortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act. His shows with Tim Key have been "Every Body Talks" and "When in Rome", both of which featured unusually extensive use of Microsoft PowerPoint for a comic act. Horne toured Roman towns of the UK with the "When in Rome" show in early 2006. As a solo performer, Horne wrote and performed "Birdwatching" at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and "Wordwatching" at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival. He signed a two-book deal with Virgin Publishing to write up both of these stories as books. The first, entitled Birdwatchingwatching, came out early in 2009. The second came out in early 2010. On 18 January 2007, Horne became the first comedian to perform in Second Life for a feature on Sky News. Between 24 October 2006 and 24 October 2007 he worked alongside fellow comedian Owen Powell, in an attempt to find a person from every nationality living in London. After a year's search, they finally managed to meet people from 189 of the UN's 192 countries, and hence suggested there is nobody in the city from Tuvalu, Palau, or the Marshall Islands. Since 2010, Horne has also been performing with his band The Horne Section as the compere of comedy variety shows. Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (2012–14) ran for three series on BBC Radio 4, and The Horne Section Podcast has