BRIAN FERGUSON’S DIARY

AND we’re off. The diary has been working up a fair old sweat racing between the flurry of launches this week. The clash of showcase events before the Fringe officially kicked off yesterday seemed more acute than ever, with audiences trailing in and out of shows. It can only be a matter of time before they’re spread across the whole of “week zero”. But for the second year in a row it was left to maverick comedian and promoter Bob Slayer to get things under- way on Tuesday in his own inimitable, shambling style. The launch of Heroes of the Fringe at the Hive nightclub was an anarchic antidote to some of the sponsor-dominated events held elsewhere. Slayer seemed genuinely surprised anyone turned up at all after the previous year’s event.

Highlight of a bewildering hour or so was the discovery of “Geordie Giant” Luke Benson – surely the tallest man at the Fringe at 6ft 7in. Unless there are any other contenders? FROM one giant to another, this time courtesy of the Diary’s nomination for youngest Fringe publicist. Twelve-year-old Connor Brown is the PR guru for Reading-based Dolphin School’s first foray to the Fringe – Scatterbrained at the Quaker Meeting House.

Hats off to Connor for a polite and succinct press release on the show – which tackles issues of dementia through a story about a giant who loses his powers as his memory fades.

Connor also took the trouble to double-check the spelling of the name of the doctor he plays – Fortescue-Smythe.