I thought, 'Lucky guy, he got a snog for free.' And I had to audition for that role. Talk about exploitation."Many extras, though, are in it for quick cash, and the little add-ons assistant directors ask them to do are worth the embarrassment. Sam Ingleby, 25, now a teacher, was working as an extra on the set of Wimbledon when he heard from a runner that there was cash to be earned by getting his kit off for a shower scene "Of course I got involved," he says. But the scene will only be remembered for one thing - a trumpeting extra who forgot to take his watch off.So who'd be an extra? Well, quite a lot of people as it turns out. "You do meet some wannabe professional 'actors' who are slightly ashamed of what they're doing," says Adam Smith, 39, a regular extra. "But I think most people treat it as good supplementary income It attracts people from all walks of life. They're mostly self-employed or retired people with a creative bent."And has he ever suffered for his art? "Definitely I had to play rugby, in the nude, with a cabbage It was for this cheesy soap called Mile High We were meant to be military officers.
There were three of us just chucking a cabbage around naked in the officer's mess. It was weird, but I got paid extra for it."Juliet Diamond, 27, now a professional actor, recalls that working as an extra while she was at drama school brought its fair share of humiliations too "I had to snog somebody in Messiah He was one of the leads and he wasn't attractive But they never used it in the final film. Exotic salads, antipasti and meze, and almost collectable cakes for all at the all-day caf?45 Market Street, Edinburgh (0131 226 1843) Wapping Food Stunning gallery venue for weekend brunch, bargain communal table lunch (£6.50 with a drink), zesty dinners and all-Australian wines inside an old pumping station Wapping Project, Wapping Wall, London E1 (020-7680 2080). Tapas in the bar, Lundy lobster upstairs; both floors full of the not-so-YBA's oeuvre. Ilfracombe, Devon (01271 868090) CCA Caf?trium courtyard in Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts encloses an exemplary brasserie. Minimalist decor, maximum flavour in risottos, soups, salads and espresso cr? br?.
350 Sauchiehall Sreet, Glasgow (0141 332 7959) The Fruitmarket Gallery Caf?illionaire's shortbread (with macadamia nuts) isn't only for art dealers. Fortunately the desserts offer a kind of cease-fire - or at least they do if you steer clear of the chocolate pudding with orange, ginger and dried chilli or the mango and papaya salad with mint and ginger. Spiced nectarine tart and lemon cream pot with summer berries (£5) are both fine and soothingly tonal in their composition. In the evening they offer more ambitious main courses - all similarly dedicated to the notion of piquancy and attack. Lunch is good enough to suggest it would be worth trying but be prepared to wait for your pleasure.
