By Dave Lord

A PERTH teenager who hopes to become a doctor yesterday told how he turned into a human fireball when attempts to advertise a show at the Edinburgh Festival spectacularly backfired.

Matthew Hastings (left), of Kinnoull Terrace, planned to capture the attention of tourists by setting fire to his trousers on the packed Royal Mile.

However, the publicity stunt went badly wrong, leaving the 18-year-old with second degree burns and permanent scarring.

Recovering at his Fair City home yesterday Matthew said he had been trying to stand out from the crowd as he promoted his three-man show A Youth In Asia.

Ambulance crews treated him at the scene and he was rushed to hospital.

However, Matthew—who intends to study medicine at university—was soon released, and even managed to perform in the black comedy the next day.

“There are so many shows at the festival and so many performers on the Royal Mile that I felt we just had to do something a bit different to stand out from the crowd,” he said.

After several practice runs in a friend’s garden, all of which Matthew described as “immaculate,” the budding thespians took to the Royal Mile.

“We had filled a water bottle with petrol and I think we just used a bit too much,” he said. “Loads of people were watching and we squirted plenty of petrol on to my trousers before I applied a light.

“It was pretty spectacular. The flames were huge. My trousers were cotton and they really flared up,” he said.

“I managed to get the trousers off but my legs were badly burnt and one of my friends called an ambulance.”

Matthew, a former pupil of Glenalmond College, was treated for the burns in hospital before being released.

“My legs were and still are extremely painful.”

The stunt did not have the desired effect and made no tangible difference to crowd numbers.

“We had a few people there on Saturday for the finale, but none more than we would have otherwise expected,” he said.

Matthew returns to Edinburgh to perform in A Single Numberless Death from August 19-29.

He will probably be hobbling around with walking sticks as doctors said he will take around six weeks to fully recover.

“Perhaps I should have known better, and I agree that my preferred career choice could be seen as a bit ironic,” he said.