My weekend was riddled with record breaking attempts for some unknown reason. Maybe June just seems like a good time to try fun and yet irrelevant stuff as a means for claiming fame.
On Friday I covered the record breaking fight attempt for the Largest Bun Fight (yep, you heard me) for a local Horsham newspaper, photos and all. To make it even weirder - although I do admit, fantastic because I did feel like I was 10 years old again - 90's phenomenon Get Your Own Back host Dave Benson Phillips was there chanting 'Another One Bites the Crust' as what seemed like millions of tesco-provided bready missiles flew through the air. I'm glad to say he hadn't aged a day.[Here's some footage from the Midhurst and Petworth Observer - you can see me for about 2 seconds at 0.20, behind the barrier, next to the woman with the red trousers and the camera] http://www.midhurstandpetworth.co.uk/horsham-news/Kidz-Stuff-world-record-bun.6343380.jp
The whole two minutes of mayhem was part of a day-long activities for kids with special needs and their friends, families and carers and I had as much fun watching it as everybody in the arena did lobbing buns at each other - it was weird and wonderful and something worthy of BBC's Oddbox. And that was only one part of a three-day Kidz Festival which was also attempting to break the Largest Wet Sponge Fight and the [Guinness World Record] Largest Three Legged Race Over Multiple Locations on Saturday and the World's Largest Gunge Fight on Sunday whilst a continuous attempt at the Most People Dressed as Story Book Characters spanned across three days. The previous bun fight record of 251 people was incidentally broken by 2 extra people - so a grand total of 253 people turned up to the pastry-chucking madness.
Saturday was supposed to be an unofficial attempt (note: the bun fight was official, with a solicitor there and everything) at Brighton's Big Spoon - which, in essence, was supposed to be a massive session of people 'spooning' or hugging each other from behind. Unfortunately, as somebody mentioned, it was more of a 'Big Fail' [ROFL] than a 'Big Spoon' because it ended up with about twenty sheepish people who didn't really know each other sitting at The Level - one armed with a megaphone shouting quippy comments at passers-by (such as "Mr. Postman, are you here for the Spoon?"). My two spoonees and I eventually edged away from the group of people we didn't know and were yet supposed to embrace from behind, and admitted defeat. So we got hold of some soft toys and made them spoon each other instead.
Arguably neither the Bun Fight nor the Big Spoon were records worth putting in the Guinness Book of World Records - and I'm pretty sure neither of them will be put in there. The three legged 'do might be though, although it in itself is pretty unimpressive. The great records are fastest, tallest, smallest, fastest man or woman, etc etc etc.
A lot of people, including a partial part of me, poo-poo these banal attempts to be recognised. But after going to the bun fight and the (albeit failed) spooning sesh, I realised that the point of these events is for amusement, and being able to laugh at the banality of the event, rather than glory of breaking a world record. I am amused that somebody came up with the idea of a glorified food fight as a means to break a world record, but it was fun to watch and I'd bet hilarious to actually do. And even though the Big Spoon wasn't even recorded, I bet all 20 people who showed up just went along for mild entertainment and the chance to spoon a stranger. Technically I could break a world record in a second as according to research nobody has recorded banana fight to date, so if I gathered a couple friends armed with bananas and recorded it the same principle as the bun fight would ensue. And why not. Shmeh.
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