Rupert Murdoch's historic appearance before MPs has generated huge interest, with some people queuing for eight hours to be in the same room as the media tycoon during his grilling.

The first members of the public arrived outside Portcullis House in Westminster at 6.30am and within hours the line extended along the side of the building.

Those in the queue included students, off-duty foreign journalists gripped by the phone hacking story, and even a Canadian theatre producer who described the Commons culture, media and sport committee hearing as "the best show in town".

Politics student Max Beckham, 21, got to Portcullis House for 6.30am and was the second person in the queue. He said: "It's a historic day. I can't remember anything like it. I've always been interested in media and politics, and I live so close that I thought it's a great opportunity to get the atmosphere and listen to the Murdochs in person."

Andy Thompson, 40, managing director of Canadian theatre company The Virtual Stage, was on a working holiday to London to see West End shows and visit friends. He decided to attend today's hearing after friends told him it was open to the public.

"This is the best show in town this afternoon," he said. "How often do you get a chance to sit in a room with the Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks while they get grilled by MPs? It's a completely historic day to be in London."

Also in the queue outside Portcullis House was Guilio, 31, a writer from Italy, who did not want to give his surname. He said there were parallels between Britain's phone hacking scandal and controversy about the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's huge influence on his country's media.

"It is a very interesting story, especially for us because Murdoch in the UK has less media power than Berlusconi has in Italy - and he is not the prime minister," he said. "You can see from that when a powerful proprietor chooses to be so involved with politics, it is just damaging. It's much worse in Italy. It is interesting to see how the British deal with it. I think there is a difference in culture also. Here you say sorry when you make a mistake. In Italy, we're not asked to, we're not even supposed to