Six of the Best of the United Kingdom
First published: Sunday March 2nd, 2025
Report this blog
Introduction
I got the inspiration for this blog whilst browsing through a book I received from my daughter at Christmastime. Many of you may have heard of it. It is called "Guinness World Records 2025" and it contains world records of the best, the worst, the tallest, the smallest....well, you get the idea. A new issue is released every year and many records are updated. The name is a slight misnomer in that the book is published in 2024, so calling it "World Records 2025" isn't really true. Any records broken in this year will be in the 2026 edition. In fact some records are broken that never get featured in the book. For example, at the Olympic Games, some records are broken on an almost daily basis.
Anyway, in this weighty tome are some , shall we say, frivolous records. Just opening the book at random, I came across a record for "The most people dressed as vampires" and "The largest collection of Casper, the Friendly Ghost memorabilia". And they're both on the same page. If you're interested there were 1,369 vampires and Vanessa Irino of Texas has 1,153 items related to Casper!
In this blog I shall highlight six records from the United Kingdom, but hopefully go into a little more detail than the entry in the "Good Book". The problem I may have, which won't be a problem if I do my research correctly, is finding pictures to accompany my words. Just writing facts without any pics just gets boring and readers switch off and go somewhere else. Although, a quick Google search found an article from the local papers for both of the random entries I found, so perhaps it won't be that bad after all.
"Why six ?", I hear you ask. Well, here in the UK, and possibly elsewhere, many, many, moons ago, teachers in school weren't the same as nowadays. Some of them were sadists, and possibly psychopathic, and corporal punishment was still a thing. If a pupil was naughty, or broke the rules, they may eventually have been invited to the headmasters office. This invitation wasn't voluntary, it was mandatory. The ultimate punishment was known as "Six of the Best" and consisted of six lashes of the cane, either across the palm of the hand or, if the teacher was particularly sadistic or maybe even a paedophile, across the buttocks. Thankfully this practice is outlawed now, at least in civilised countries anyway. But the phrase "six of the best" remains. Plus, I did "Five Islands" and the capitals were in groups of ten, so why not?.
Most Rabbit Tattoos
A man from Cardiff, has sixty-nine unique tattoos of rabbits on his body. The record was confirmed in 2023 when his latest inking was performed by a tattoo artist in his home town.
Craig Evans began his quest in 2009 and his tattoos have been inked by various artists from around the world. TV camera operator Craig reckons he has spent over £10,000 on his art. Each rabbit is different and he gives the tattoo artist free rein to design the rabbit. He does have one non rabbit tattoo, it's a picture of his dog, but wearing a rabbit themed bandana!
Most Wins of the World Gurning Championship
Firstly, I suppose I had better explain what Gurning is. Basically it is face pulling, whenever you pull a face to either scare or amuse someone, that is "gurning". The World Championships have been held in Egremont, Cumbria for at least 150 years during what is known as the "Egremont Crab Fair", an annual festival that has been held since 1267, it was over 500 years old when the USA gained their independence!
The actual date of the first Gurning Championship is unknown, the first report is from a local newspaper in 1852. The man who has won the competition the most times is Tommy Mattinson, who in 2023 won his 18th title. It may appear frivolous and comedic, but in Egremont, Gurning is taken very seriously, honest it is. Contestants must make their "gurn" through a horse collar for special effect.
Tommy Mattinson claims the title runs in the family, his father was the champion ten times, and his grandson and granddaughter are carrying on the tradition.
First Bungee Jump
The first modern "bungee" jump was made on 1st April 1979, from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol in the south west of the UK. The first jumper was David Kirke, followed by Simon Keeling, both members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club.
The bridge spans the Avon Gorge and is 101m (331ft) above high water level. It was opened in 1864 and built using plans inspired by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the famous 19th century engineer. It carries a road connecting two parts of Bristol.
They came up with the idea after reading about and discussing the "land-divers" of Vanuatu. These native islanders on Pentecost Island jump from towers with tree vines tied to their ankles. It is a ritual that is associated with the yam harvest, but has become a "rite of passage" for young boys of the island. Men who decline the jump are usually humiliated as cowards.
Once the Oxford students had bungee jumped from the Clifton bridge they were promptly arrested, but they went on to jump from several other bridges around the world including the Golden Gate Bridge in California. Just three years later, the intrepid duo were jumping from hot air balloons and cranes. The first commercial bungee operation began in 1986 in New Zealand jumping from the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge in the South Island.
Fastest Wheelie Bin
For those of you not in the United Kingdom, a wheelie bin is a trash can that sits outside your house for rubbish. They are emptied regularly by waste collection services. They have two wheels and a handle to aid movement, hence the name "Wheelie Bin".
Back in 2023, a, possibly insane, person known as Michael Wallhead, decided to equip one of these bins with a motorcycle engine and gearbox, and additional wheels to attempt to break a world record for the fastest wheelie bin. He successfully beat the previous record, set in 2020 at 45 mph, by travelling at a speed of 54.9 mph on Elvington airfield in Yorkshire. There is Video coverage on YouTube of the attempt.
Deepest Hand Dug Well
Just outside the city of Brighton in the south of England lies the village of Woodingdean. Back in 1858, there were plans for a new workhouse and school in the area, but the cost of pumping water from the nearest source was prohibitive. Therefore, it was decided to dig a well to provide fresh water for the project and for workers afterwards. The initial plan was to dig a six feet wide shaft, 400 feet deep to the water table. However, two years later the well was almost 450 feet deep and no water had been found.
Digging continued for several years, the shaft getting deeper by the day, work was continuing 24 hours a day at this point. All the earth was winched up to the surface by workers in a relay system from various platforms built into the side of the shaft. One poor soul fell to his death.
Locals joked that the workers were digging to Australia, and costs were spiralling out of control. But on Sunday, 16th March in 1862, the new shift of workers noticed that the bottom of the well seemed to be rising slowly. The workers all scrambled up the well to the top, and just managed to escape before the water broke through. At this point, the well was deeper than the height of the Empire State Building.
Fastest Time to Complete the Oceans Seven
What is the Oceans Seven ? Well, it has nothing to do with the films starring George Clooney, it is actually the swimming worlds answer to the Seven Summits that is undertaken by mountaineers. It consists of Seven open water channel swims around the world.
The seven marathon swims are..
North Channel - between Northern Ireland and Scotland - 35 km / 22 miles
English Channel - between England and France - 33.7 km / 20.9 miles
Strait of Gibraltar - between Spain and Morocco - 14.2 km / 8.9 miles
Catalina Channel - between Catalina Island and California - 32.1 km / 20.1 miles
Moloka'i Channel - between O'ahu and Moloka'i - 42 km / 26 miles
Tsugaru Strait - between Honshu and Hokkaido - 19.5 km / 12.1 miles
Cook Strait - between North and South Island - 22 km / 14 miles
Andrew Donaldson of Scotland holds the record for the fastest cumulative swim, the actual swimming time. He swam all seven challenges in a total time of 63 hours and 2 minutes. He did hold the overall record time between starting the challenges and finishing them as well, but was beaten in 2024 by a Bulgarian who completed all seven swims in 173 days.
Donaldson also currently holds the world record for the Manhattan Island swim, completing the 45.9 km course in 5 hours, 41 minutes and 48 seconds, as well as the fastest swim across the Cook Strait at just under 4 hours 34 minutes.
Fancy a swim anyone?
Summary
So, that's it, what do you think? Should I class this as a one-off stand alone blog, or should I attempt to make it a series? Obviously I couldn't do the full 196 countries, there aren't enough records, but I could probably try the larger nations. Let me know what you think in the comments.
That will do for now, see you all next time.
Good job Mattinson, two world records isn't bad.