Sean Connery fans snap up launch tickets

Fans of Sir Sean Connery snapped up tickets in record time to see him talk about his new book, organisers of the world's largest literary festival revealed - reports the UK Press.

The tickets sold out in under an hour after they went on sale at 10am, making it the fastest sell-out ever experienced by staff at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Hundreds of fans queued from 6.30am on Friday morning and inundated the festival's website with over 300,000 hits in the first hour as they scrambled to see the James Bond star and a host of other literary figures at this summer's festival.

Other events which sold out included audiences with veteran Labour left-winger Tony Benn, kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston, author Margaret Atwood, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby and Scotland's First Minster, Alex Salmond.

Festival bosses described the demand for tickets as "unprecedented" and said 345 customers were queuing outside the specially-created box office at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) when bookings opened.

"It is enormously gratifying that literary stars and unknown authors from Scotland and further afield are able to attract such extraordinary interest," said director Catherine Lockerbie.

"This year we have invested a significant amount of time, staff and financial resource to develop a system to cope with the demand and we are delighted that we have been able to deal with so many customers satisfactorily.

"We know that due to the extraordinary demand a large number of potential customers are finding it difficult to get through on the phone or via the internet, and would ask them to be patient and keep trying."

The world-exclusive launch of Sir Sean's memoirs comes right at the end of the two-week festival on August 25 and coincides with the veteran actor's 78th birthday.

The Bond star's first book - Being A Scot - will shed light on his views about many aspects of Scottish life and culture.



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