Record Breakers: Epic challenges of endurance
We’ve caught up with some of our home grown heroes, to see what makes them tick, and what possesses them to try to be the best in the world.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:16 The Guinness Book of Records is officially amazing.
00:20 The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London in August 1955.
00:29 Just before Christmas that year, the fact-packed book topped the charts and became a bestseller in the UK
00:35 thanks to impressive human beings, wonders of nature, jaw-dropping pictures and marvellous scientific facts.
00:42 It celebrated everything from the tallest, the shortest, the heaviest, the longest, the fastest and everything in between.
00:51 It spawned record attempts like the largest human bicycle, the biggest simultaneous taekwondo display,
00:58 the world's oldest dog - Bobby here is 30 by the way - and even the largest gathering of Smurfs. Cheers!
01:06 Feats of endurance are regularly attempted, like the most push-ups in one minute - 63 -
01:12 or the longest static wall sit - 2 minutes and 8.24 seconds -
01:17 and you can even break a record for sitting in a barrel at the top of a pole for the longest time - 64 days.
01:25 We've caught up with some of our home-grown heroes to see what makes them tick
01:30 and what possesses them to try and be the best in the world.
01:34 Coming up, we'll meet a record-breaking sea-swimmer, a man who likes to jump out of helicopters
01:40 and a Geordie whose world record is a bit pants.
01:44 But first, let's join firefighter Glenn Bailey as he prepares for the challenge of his life.
01:51 [Music]
02:18 So the challenge is the most weight deadlifted in a 24-hour period.
02:24 [Music]
02:53 [Music]
02:57 We're all rooting for him, we hope he does it.
03:01 Of course, if he doesn't do it, we'll give him lots and lots of grief.
03:05 [Music]
03:21 Originally, I was an emergency response officer at Rolls-Royce,
03:27 which is basically, that's kind of an industrial firefighter/security role.
03:32 I enjoyed doing that and I worked with some fantastic people who were also on-call firefighters
03:39 and that led me to take the path of becoming an on-call firefighter myself.
03:43 So just over two years now, I've been a firefighter with Lanx Fire and Rescue on-call.
03:50 I've always trained since being a teenager really, but predominantly my forte is strongman,
03:59 powerlifting sort of training, out-competing strongman.
04:03 Up until my late 20s, early 30s, got a couple of injuries,
04:09 so it became more of a hobby then really, a bit of a sidetrack.
04:12 Took a family, had a family and things like that.
04:15 Because strongman, it takes up a lot of your time, training, food,
04:22 and it's kind of hard to do that and have a family as well, that I found anyway.
04:27 So it was like sacrificing my family time.
04:31 So with the injuries, I sort of pulled back and just became a hobby then.
04:41 Being a firefighter, there's the Firefighters' Charity, which is a great charity.
04:46 It helps firefighters, present, past, and the families as well, with all kinds of support.
04:52 Mental support, people who have been injured, rehabilitation, things like that, traumatic situations.
05:00 So it's like doing a little part to help them, because who knows, one day I might need them.
05:05 So I think it's a good thing to do.
05:07 And then also, a close friend of mine, Clint, he's my training partner for many years.
05:14 We used to work together, prior to me joining the fire service.
05:18 He was a powerlifter and a boxer, and he had a life-changing accident at home.
05:24 Fell down the stairs, broke two vertebrae, four and five, paralysed immediately.
05:31 Very life-changing accident.
05:34 This happened during COVID lockdown, so his rehabilitation has been near to nothing really.
05:41 He's been struggling, struggling mentally and physically.
05:44 And it's just to raise a little bit of money to help him with his rehabilitation as well.
05:48 So I'm doing it for two good reasons, I think.
05:59 So the challenge is the most weight deadlifted in a 24-hour period.
06:05 So it's currently 580,220 kilograms.
06:11 So I'm aiming for 600,000 kilos, and that's in a 24-hour period.
06:18 So the weight I'm attempting to lift at is 100kg on a bar.
06:26 So I'm going to be doing five reps every minute, and then it takes me roughly five or six seconds.
06:32 And then I get a little rest, recovery, and then do it again.
06:36 That works out 300 reps an hour.
06:40 So, all going well. If I can stick at that weight, I could have that done in 20 hours.
06:47 And that gives me four hours for food breaks, toilet breaks, little recoveries in between, really.
06:53 We're all rooting for him. We hope he does it.
06:58 Of course, if he doesn't do it, we'll give him lots and lots of grief.
07:02 But we still definitely hope that he does it.
07:06 If he does it, we'll be obviously chuffed that he does it for him, and obviously for us as a unit.
07:11 It just puts us on the map a little bit, just to show that we actually do a little bit other than put fires out.
07:17 So, the more money he can earn for his friend and the firefighters charity, the better.
07:23 They're both good causes.
07:25 But 600,000kg is an awful, awful amount of weight.
07:31 So, he's really got a task there, but I think he'll do it.
07:35 He's done a lot of training, put a lot of effort in.
07:44 I've trained non-stop for the last four months.
07:47 I've kind of become super dedicated to do it, really.
07:52 It kind of took over my life. I've been training many hours every day.
07:56 Confident. I've got a strategy.
08:01 If the strategy works, I'll break the record.
08:04 I don't know. I'll be there at the end.
08:08 I'll be there at the start and I'll be there at the end.
08:10 That's what happens in the middle. I'm not 100% sure.
08:12 But I will give it my all. That's all I can say, really.
08:16 You mentioned nutrition. What are we eating at the moment?
08:19 How was your Christmas?
08:21 My Christmas? I didn't really have much of a Christmas, I'll be honest.
08:24 I work on Christmas Day.
08:26 But I've changed my house into a gym, pretty much.
08:33 So, my front room has got a rowing machine for conditioning.
08:36 It's the closest cardio movement I could see to a deadlift.
08:40 So that's why I've chosen that.
08:42 It's good to warm up. It's good to condition my legs and my lower back, I believe.
08:47 And then in my kitchen, I've got a bar.
08:49 But not like a normal person's bar. I've got an Olympic bar with weights on.
08:53 So, pretty much, I've spent my time in my house just training over Christmas.
09:00 Experimenting with different foods that help me recover.
09:04 The thing that I find helps me recover the fastest
09:07 and helps me maintain my strength throughout the repetitions is peanut butter sandwiches.
09:17 It's got a good amount of carbs, good amount of fats,
09:20 and a good amount of protein, and that keeps me sustained, really.
09:24 What about the family? You mentioned family.
09:26 Yeah, supportive. I kind of feel sorry for them, in a way.
09:30 But they know how dedicated I am, and they know how much it means to me.
09:34 So, yeah, they've been quite supportive, especially my son encouraging me.
09:39 And it kind of acts as a role model, just to show that if you really want something,
09:43 and if you work hard enough, fingers crossed, you can do it.
09:48 I think that's the most important thing I get out of it, to show my children that.
09:55 [Clapping]
10:04 Even if I don't break the record, as long as I can do the full 24 hours and I don't fail,
10:11 it's a bit like a marathon, I guess, isn't it?
10:13 It's like that old saying, "To finish first, first you've got to finish."
10:16 So, I'd be happy if I do that, and obviously, if I do break the record, I'll be over the moon, I think.
10:22 We'll come back to Lancashire later in the programme to see how Glenn got on.
10:27 But in the meantime, we're off to Sheffield to meet Lee Edwards, who's facing an equally gruelling task.
10:34 I'm Lee from Sheffield, and I broke a record late last year, swimming from Sealand to Felixstowe.
10:44 So, it was a 7.5-mile swim, which is further than I've ever swum before.
10:48 It's actually the first time I've done a sea swim.
10:52 So, I was in the North Sea.
10:54 It took three hours, 24 minutes.
10:59 I travelled out to Sealand, and the pilot, the guy on the boat, asked me what I wanted to do, basically.
11:06 He said, "It's the worst conditions you've seen."
11:09 It was quite a serious swim to do in those conditions.
11:12 I said, "Well, we're out here now. Let's give it a go and see how it goes."
11:17 And the rest is history.
11:18 The sea was choppy, but I think there's a crosswind as well, which made it worse.
11:24 It wasn't ideal for the boat either.
11:28 To be honest, because it was my first swim, I was quite naive anyway.
11:31 I wasn't fazed by it, just purely by naivety, really.
11:39 So, yeah, we got in, and it felt all right.
11:41 I felt a little bit seasick at times.
11:43 But as the swim progressed, it calmed down, so it was great.
12:08 So, the plan was to break every 45, 50 minutes for a drink or some banana or gels or anything.
12:17 So, we were doing that, and the guy, the pilot, had said to the crew on the boat, my friends, that the swim was fast.
12:26 So, at the first break, they said we were doing really well, we were making good time, so I was happy with that.
12:31 And then the second break, they said it again.
12:36 But I wasn't getting excited, because the endurance races I've done before have been running, and I know how quickly it can go wrong.
12:46 So, at the fourth stop, I think it was, they said, "What do you want to do? Do you want to go for this?"
12:53 I said, "Do you want to stop and have a drink, or do you just want to continue?"
12:58 I said, "No, I'd better stop and have a drink, because, like I said, it can go wrong, but quick."
13:04 So, I had a drink, and I didn't have it in my mind, I just wanted to get it done, and I was happy with just the finish.
13:11 And then we got on shore, and we stopped the watch, and then you have to get back on the boat and go back to the port.
13:18 In the meantime, the organiser drove round, and that's when he brought the nurse to us. It was the fastest anyone's ever done it.
13:25 So, the swim is organised by a SPIRE charity, which is for spinal cord injuries.
13:32 So, yeah, we wasn't connected to the charity, but it did give you a lot of time to think, while training.
13:41 Swimming's quite a lonely sport, you're just on your own, and you can't talk to anyone, obviously.
13:46 So, it gives you a lot of time to think about people less fortunate, and just what to appreciate, really, what you might take for granted.
13:56 Now, from in the sea, to high above the sea, meet John Bream, otherwise known as the Flying Fish.
14:03 Three, two, one, go!
14:05 I'm John the Flying Fish. Yeah, I'm a, predominantly, I'm a rope worker, a stunt rigger, and a daredevil performer. That's what I like to do.
14:23 [music]
14:49 The way all my stories came around, or the way I became, you know, doing these performances, was, I was doing a lot of stunt rigging.
14:59 So, I was rigging stunts, preparing stunts, you know, coming up with ideas and stuff.
15:04 So, for some of the world's leading adventurers, all around the world, and it was good fun, it was really good.
15:11 You know, I'd become quite a good rope tech, and so performing, rigging these stunts was great.
15:18 And I was watching people, and I was thinking, maybe I could do a bit more, you know, maybe I could go that bit further.
15:26 And there was something in me, all along, thinking, you know, I could perhaps do something great.
15:32 And, yeah, so I thought I'm going to go for a big performance myself, and I thought the world's highest jump from an aircraft into water was one to keep people smiling, keeping them entertained.
15:44 So, the moment before I exited, I was up there, and the pilot, excellent pilot, army fighter pilot, brilliant fellow, Andrew Harvey, mega.
15:55 He is in this little aircraft, trying to keep it steady, and he was doing such a fine job, and he kept looking around at me, you know,
16:03 "John, John!" I was going, "No, we're doing this!" And he's holding it steady, and the winds are going, and the waves are higher than this room,
16:11 and my safety divers are getting washed off, and everyone's in the boat, "Ahh!" You know, the pump for the water to break the surface tension wasn't even hitting the water, it was flying off.
16:20 And it was going crazy, and before I'm jumping, I can just see down below, I saw this smoke, smoke got popped to me, and to where they're going, it was just disappearing.
16:31 And I was thinking, "Hang on a minute, that wants to be the area where I'm jumping," but it was just blowing away.
16:36 And the waves are going up and down, and that's taking the altimeter from the helicopter pilot, and yeah, it was really exciting.
16:43 And I got a friend of mine, Hugh Keer, excellent bloke, he was there dispatching me, ready to go, he was the jumpmaster for the day,
16:51 and he's giving me the thumbs up, and I remember just there, I took a few deep breaths, and I felt good, I felt strong, I thought, "Yeah, I'm going to go for it."
16:59 But then I jumped, and the wind coming in, it took my legs, and I was going down, and I thought, "Ooh!" I thought, "I better brace up before I hit the water."
17:08 And yeah, it was alright.
17:12 And it was all over in a flash.
17:14 It was, yeah, it was about three and a half seconds of, "This is going to sting."
17:20 So when I surfaced, I came up, and I got the boat sped around, and we all got together, and we all climbed in the boat,
17:28 and I really felt my backside was quite sore, and I said to the guys, I went, "How was my entry?"
17:36 And a couple of the lads kept quiet and just ignored me, and one of them turned around and went, "Yeah, it was awful, John. That was probably one of your worst jumps."
17:45 But no, it was okay. It turned out good.
17:51 And then you guys came up with the cameras and stuff, and someone shouted, "John, how did it go?"
17:57 And I said, "Swimmingly!" just thinking it was great.
18:01 The feeling before you jump, it's actually known as a thing called the flow state.
18:06 So what happens with that is your body, your in-body, your mind, you get an out-of-body experience.
18:17 You just go on adrenaline.
18:20 But the feeling you get is just, there's none like it.
18:24 Not a single worry that you had is on your mind.
18:28 Everything, you're focused on this and nothing else, and it's a real escapism.
18:32 It's good fun.
18:33 So I have been in talks with certain energy drink companies, but nothing's confirmed yet.
18:41 It's all just chat and things like that, so nothing is confirmed and nothing's official or anything like that.
18:49 But if something does get ticked, yeah, definitely be looking up, because there are going to be some serious world records coming from myself.
19:00 [Music]
19:03 Hair-raising stuff, but you don't have to be a steel-nerved daredevil to break a world record.
19:17 This is Gary Craig, who's earned himself the title "Geordie Pants Man".
19:22 Our reporter, Graham Murray, takes up the story.
19:25 I've been speaking to a resident of Whitburn in South Tyneside, who for a period back in 2010, held a surprisingly hotly contested world record.
19:34 Gary Craig, aka the "Geordie Pants Man", held the Guinness World Records for wearing the most pair of underpants at one time.
19:41 It was 211 pairs at the time.
19:43 It was funny, I was watching Rude Tube, which is one of my favourite programmes.
19:47 I had this guy on who set a world record for wearing the most T-shirts at one time.
19:51 I'm the kind of guy who always comes second in life.
19:55 If there's a cross-country run, I run five miles and come second.
19:58 If there's a game of football, I'm the substitute who doesn't get on and stands for 90 minutes in the pouring rain.
20:03 And I decided I wanted to be number one at something.
20:06 Somehow along the line, I came up with the idea of underpants.
20:09 Cheaper to buy!
20:11 And I was buying the cheapest, biggest underpants you can possibly imagine.
20:15 I had to order them in online to get the bigger sizes.
20:18 I approached Guinness to try and find out what the current record was.
20:21 I think I was told it was about 170 pairs, which was a lot more than I was imagining.
20:26 I thought I was just going to push 40, 50 pairs of knickers on and away I go.
20:30 You know, Guinness World Record holder.
20:32 What happens is that you let Guinness know what you want to do.
20:36 They give you a set of rules to follow.
20:38 You've got to do it in public, it's got to be filmed continuously, this sort of thing.
20:41 It was a charity event as well.
20:43 At the time, I was the chairman of a local drop-in centre for the unemployed and underprivileged.
20:48 And I shared the charity money between that organisation and Cancer Connections in South Shields.
20:54 They confirm at the last minute what the current record is.
20:57 And literally a day before I was due to do my record attempt, the total of the record was 190.
21:03 And that was actually the number of pairs that I was thinking of putting on to beat the 170.
21:09 So I had to somehow come up with an extra 20 pairs of underpants at the very last minute to try and beat the record.
21:16 You had to get groups of the right size, so you start off with the smallest pants that will fit you.
21:21 I'd had to order in 3XL, 4XL, 5XL pants, the biggest pants that were available in Britain.
21:28 I've got a Guinness World Record certificate.
21:30 I was the record holder on the 1st of April.
21:33 I did it on the 1st of April, so everybody would think it might be an April Fool's joke.
21:37 So it was a bit of sarcasm there.
21:39 But I actually never made the Guinness Book of Records,
21:43 because it's the record that's broken the nearest to the date that the book's printed.
21:49 And for some reason or another, after I broke the record, everybody seemed to start showing an interest in it.
21:56 And there was a lot more attempts to break it, whereas it hadn't had a lot of interest for quite a while.
22:01 An American lady took the record off us with 249 pairs.
22:07 But I was always aggrieved at that, because she was putting on...
22:11 She was stick thin, which annoyed us greatly.
22:14 So she had a better starting point than I had.
22:17 And she was putting women's knickers on.
22:19 Well, I'm sorry, but they don't have the same thickness and the same waistband that men's underpants have got.
22:24 And I'm amazed that Guinness didn't pick up on the rules.
22:28 I mean, I wasn't allowed to put briefs on, it had to be underpants.
22:31 But she's allowed to put women's knickers on, so obviously you can tell I wasn't entirely happy.
22:36 Gary Lather had a crack at reclaiming the world record, but things got a bit tangled.
22:41 I had such a grievance about having the record taken off us that I decided that I wanted to break it once more.
22:47 But when I did it the second time, I was determined to make it such a high figure
22:51 that nobody would ever want to attempt it ever again in their lives.
22:55 So I thought I would try for about 300 pairs of underpants.
22:59 And the guy who was supposed to be counting me pants, somebody started talking to him.
23:03 It's like in the middle of this record attempt, and he lost track of how many pairs I'd put on.
23:08 So at the end of the attempt, the singer tells everybody that Gary...
23:14 Sorry, Brian has just broken the record with 311 pairs of pants.
23:18 And I'm thinking, "I haven't got 311 pairs of pants with us."
23:22 You know, I can't complain. I've been featured on Have I Got News For You.
23:26 I got to go on Britain's Best Dish.
23:29 I presented Mary Nightingale with a pair of Britain's Best Dish underpants.
23:33 I auditioned for a programme called Cannonball on ITV.
23:37 Trip to Malta, it was all filmed over there.
23:41 I didn't win as such, but I kind of became the people's champion.
23:46 I managed to get through to one of the finals and had a really good time.
23:50 Met my jammer. Not going to do better than that.
23:53 Welcome back, and welcome back to Lancashire,
24:10 where firefighter Glenn Bailey's marathon 24 hours is about to start.
24:15 We've got to have two judges at all times.
24:19 You've got a digital clicker that's on camera with the clock
24:24 that's going to be filmed off static cameras throughout the 24 hours.
24:29 You've got a write-down manually and a manual clicker there.
24:35 Time started, time finished, how many reps done.
24:40 You've got a witness evidence book,
24:43 so any time you have to have a toilet break
24:46 or two witnesses can only do a duration of four hours,
24:51 and then they've got to have a break, so sign the next two witnesses in.
24:55 CCTV is on, well, throughout it.
25:03 It's got to be side-on view and front view.
25:06 First thing we had to weigh this morning
25:09 was weigh all the weights on camera to prove the weights are what they are.
25:14 Everything meets the criteria.
25:16 Afterwards, it's just assigning all the official documents
25:20 to tally them up to all the other stuff,
25:23 and then sending it all off, and fingers crossed it all goes well.
25:29 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
25:35 [whistle]
25:37 [music]
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25:48 [music]
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25:55 [music]
25:59 [music]
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26:07 [music]
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26:19 On Sunday morning, the end is in sight,
26:24 but after a Herculean effort, it's clear that Glenn isn't going to beat the record.
26:29 [music]
26:33 [music]
26:37 [music]
26:41 [music]
26:45 On the home straight now, and in touching scenes,
26:48 Glenn is joined by his son Harry for some family support.
26:52 [music]
26:56 [music]
27:00 [applause]
27:04 [applause]
27:08 [applause]
27:13 [applause]
27:16 [applause]
27:20 [applause]
27:24 [applause]
27:28 [applause]
27:32 [applause]
27:39 [applause]
27:43 [applause]
27:47 [applause]
27:51 How do you feel?
27:53 I feel alright. I feel tired, relieved, glad it's over.
27:58 A bit of mixed emotions, happy that it's over, sad that I didn't break the record.
28:04 I think everyone that's here will agree I put a tremendous effort in.
28:09 It's unfortunate it wasn't enough really.
28:11 Massive respect to the guy who has the record,
28:15 because he set an amazing record that would be very hard to beat.
28:19 How was your night?
28:21 Ups and downs. I'd have moments where I felt good,
28:27 and then I'd have moments where I felt bad.
28:30 It's a mental thing, isn't it?
28:32 I knew I just had to carry on really.
28:35 Luckily there were people here all night in jibs and jabs cheering me on.
28:40 Donations coming through as well. I got some large donations.
28:44 That makes it worthwhile.
28:47 My friend Clint turned up as well.
28:50 He's one of the people we're raising money for, so it was nice to see him out.
28:55 Yeah, it was good.
28:57 Lots of support for the lads.
28:59 Yeah, really good. The last few minutes it was hard,
29:02 but it made it worthwhile really.
29:06 Your son is here as well.
29:07 Yeah, he likes to train with us Harry.
29:11 Obviously he's very supportive.
29:15 He's been at home the last four months while I've been training.
29:19 I feel a bit...
29:21 I can't think of the right word.
29:25 I'm not sorry really, but I'm glad it's over for him and we can get our house back to normal.
29:30 He's been very supportive as well and I think a little bit excited at what I'm doing.
29:34 I was just watching the live stream there and a lot of comments calling you a legend.
29:38 Right, well, I'm not a legend.
29:41 I'm just somebody who likes helping out and likes pushing myself and doing challenges.
29:46 There's lots of people like that I think.
29:48 Do you think a lot of people will disagree with you?
29:50 Well, possibly.
29:54 Will you have another go?
29:55 No, not at this.
29:57 I gave absolutely 100%.
30:00 You can see the last few minutes I put the extra effort in as well.
30:05 I trained as hard as I could.
30:07 I didn't cut any corners.
30:09 I'm happy that that's the best I can do.
30:11 I don't think I could do any better.
30:13 What's next?
30:15 I said I'd be there at the start and I'll be there at the finish.
30:17 And you were?
30:18 Yeah, I was.
30:19 Fantastic.
30:21 Cheers, mate.
30:22 I'm going to be there at the start and I'll be there at the finish.
30:24 [Music]
30:36 (whooshing)