In the past, artist Antony Gormley has brought us such memorable figures as The Angel of the North and the hundreds of statues descending down the beach into the river Mersey in his Another Place work.

But his next masterpiece could be you.

For the next 100 days, Gormley is placing a different member of the public on to the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square – one person for every hour, 24 hours a day until October.

The lucky 2,400 "statues", chosen by lottery, include half-a-dozen Bristolians in the first wave to be announced.

Dr Stephen Roser, 52, from Montpelier, became the first person from the city to head to the ominous plinth in the centre of the capital – making his stand on the first day of the "exhibit".

Stephen climbed on to the plinth at 9pm last night.

"I was delighted to get 9pm on the first day – it was a prime slot when people in Trafalgar Square were still really interested in the idea," says Stephen, a chemistry lecturer at the University of Bath.

"I first heard about it on The Archers, strangely enough. The good folk of Ambridge were getting very excited about the fact Antony Gormley was coming to the village, and they were going to apply to be on the plinth.

"I thought if they can apply, and they're not even real, then I should get my name down, too. I didn't really expect my name to be pulled out of the hat, and when I got the email to say I'd been chosen, I was horrified.

"I sat there and thought, what on Earth am I going to do while I'm up there for an hour?

"You could just go and stand like a statue on the plinth, which some people have done. But I think I'd feel a bit like a pillock if I did that.

"It's a bit like being Prince Charles for an hour – having the position to be heard without any actual power. So I thought I should make the most of it.

"I didn't have any charities I felt I could represent, or any political points to make. So I thought I should just try to encourage people to do things that make them happy.

"So I took 50 chocolate bars up with me to throw out to the crowd, because chocolate always makes you happy.

"I read a few poems, and I took my book up and had a read because I had to get through The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for my book group, and it seemed like a good opportunity to get some reading done.

"I was briefly tempted to contact some big multinational like Coca Cola and pimp the advertising opportunity, but eventually my scruples got the better of me.

"As I teach chemistry at the university, in the end I also decided to blow some bubbles out across the square too."

The first 615 participants, who will take part in the project during July, were chosen randomly from 14,500 applicants, and include a cyclist who will use pedal power to light up his specially created suit and an 83-year-old armed with semaphore flags.

From Bristol those taking part include a cross-section of the city - from a professional puppeteer to a social worker.

Tim Jones, 66, from Bristol City Centre, says he was also stunned when his name was drawn.

Though now retired, Tim coincidentally, also comes from an academic background – teaching international affairs at Bristol University.

"When I filled in the application form, I'd forgotten I suffered from vertigo" he said.

" That came flooding back to me when I realised I'd be standing on a plinth for an hour, 22ft above Trafalgar Square.

"If it had been Nelson's Column, I might have turned it down. But I couldn't let a bit of vertigo get in the way of becoming a piece of Antony Gormley art."

Tim will take to the plinth at midnight tonight (Tuesday into Wednesday), and plans to theme his time in the public eye to promote healthy living.

"I ran the first two London marathons, and only had to stop because the impact from the running had damaged my retinas. But for the hour I'm up on the plinth, I'm going to jog on the spot to try to encourage people to think about their physical fitness – to me it's terribly important to exercise and keep fit."

Click here to see a live video stream of the plinth.