The king of world records
QUESTION Who holds the world record for the most world records?
Ashrita Furman is a serial Guinness World record breaker, having set 551 official Guinness records, and holds more than 200 records.
he was first awarded the record for the most current records held at the same time by an individual in 2011 with 131 records.
Furman’s records involve at least 70 discrete skills, the bulk of which, such as bowling backwards, gluggling (juggling underwater), riding a unicycle backwards, slicing apples in the air with a samurai sword and bouncing a golf ball on a golf club, he learnt for the record attempt.
One of his most famous creations is land rowing: he added wheels and brakes to an indoor rowing machine before land rowing 1,500 miles around Bali in 1991.
Furman was born Keith Furman on september 16, 1954, i n Brooklyn, new York. he was fascinated by the Guinness Book Of World records as a child, but didn’t believe he could ever break a record.
in 1970, he became a devout follower of the spiritual leader, sri Chinmoy, who taught him meditation and self- control, and it was Chinmoy who inspired him to participate in a 24-hour bicycle race in new York City’s Central Park in 1978. When he came third after only a fortnight’s training, he believed he could do anything and embarked on his record-breaking feats.
his first world record was 27,000 star jumps, done in six hours, 45 minutes. the previous record was 20,088. Endurance is a hallmark of many of his accomplishments. he has clapped for 50 hours (140 claps a minute). in 1999, he carried a 9lb brick in one hand for 85.05 miles, which took 31 hours. the record that still stands.
his most arduous record, set in 1986, was doing 8,341 somersaults over 12 miles. it took ten hours, 30 minutes. he still holds the record for the fastest mile somersaulting at 19 minutes, 11 seconds, set in 2000.
Other records include: catching ping pong balls with chopsticks, most in one minute — 32; walking in the heaviest shoes ever — they weighed 146.5kg (323lb); lawnmower balancing on chin, longest duration — five minutes, 1.53 seconds; slicing potatoes while hopping on a shovel, most in one minute — 38; inflating balloons with nose, most in three minutes — 28; poetry reciting — poem translated and recited in the most l anguages — 203; and underwater unicycling, longest distance — 1.3 miles.
G. E. Roper, Lancaster.
QUESTION What are some of the greatest unscripted
movie scenes?
Further to the earlier answer, the late robin Williams proved his natural comedic credentials in the film Good Will hunting (1997). in one scene, Williams’s therapist character, sean maguire, breaks down the barriers between himself and Will hunting by describing his wife’s unfortunate habit: ‘my wife used to fart when she was nervous. she had all sorts of wonderful little idiosyncrasies. she used to fart in her sleep. i thought i’d share that with you.
‘One night it was so loud, it woke the dog up. she woke up and went “Ah, was that you?” i didn’t have the heart to tell her.’
this amusing dialogue was entirely improvised by Williams. the cameraman laughed so hard the scene briefly goes out of focus.
in a key scene of stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange ( 1971) malcolm Mcdowell breaks into a happy song as he and his ‘droogs’ perform a bit of ‘ultraviolence’. Kubrick filmed this scene several times and wasn’t happy with it each time — until he told Mcdowell to do what he wanted. Mcdowell decided to belt out singing in the rain while committing unspeakable acts and Kubrick was so pleased with t he contrasting emotions created that he acquired the rights to use the song.
For the classic mirror scene from martin scorsese’s film taxi Driver (1976), the screenwriter, Paul schrader, wrote ‘travis talks to himself in the mirror’. Everything that insomnia-plagued taxi driver travis Bickle ( robert De niro) said was improvised, including the famous ‘You talking to me?’ line.
Mrs T. Elland, Bewdley, worcs.
QUESTION The Undertones’ biggest hit was My Perfect Cousin. Did Feargal Sharkey have someone in mind?
My Perfect Cousin, from the group’s second album hypnotised, was the undertones’ sixth single. it reached no 9 in the UK chart in 1980. most of the band’s songs were written by John O’neill, their guitarist, but this song was the first written by Damian O’neill and michael Bradley, the bassist.
it was about Damian’s cousin, Kevin Downey, ‘the perfect cousin’ who was ‘his family’s private joy, his mother’s little golden boy’. Kevin was sent up for all the world to see: ‘he will never be left on the shelf, ’cause Kevin he’s in love with himself.’
interviewed for a BBC documentary about the band, Kevin came across as shy and wasn’t very pleased: ‘i was sitting in a pub in Derry having a quiet pint with friends, when another friend came in and sniggered in my direction,’ he recalled. the friend said his ears must be burning and that he should go and talk to his cousins. ‘i got a lot of stick for it,’ said Kevin.
ironically, sharkey did have a cousin called Kevin sharkey who got stick, too.
Tom Coleman, Aberdare.
QUESTION Did the ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright trash the referee’s dressing room after being sent off in a match at Highbury?
this was in fact a 1992 match at upton Park when ian Wright was playing for West ham against Leeds. Jimmy Floyd hasselbaink gave Leeds the lead after 20 seconds but over the 90 minutes, West ham had three players sent off and the referee, rob harris, made ten bookings.
ian Wright was the first hammers player to receive his marching orders, for two bookable offences. he had to be dragged away from the referee by a team-mate before storming down the tunnel.
On his way down he kicked open the door to the referee’s room, threw harris’s clothes in the bath and trashed the TV in his room. he then left the stadium without changing his kit.
the FA fined Wright £17,500 and banned him for three matches.
Ed Clare, London N17.
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