In A Bathtub

A comedian…not someone you would expect to be a world record holder, exactly. Nevertheless, Tim FitzHigham, an English comedian, author, artist, is also, a world record holder. His feats are not necessarily things anyone would think of doing, or would bother to do, for that matter. Still, he found things that were unusual…maybe because the more unusual the feat, the more memorable the record would be. His unique feats include paddling a paper boat (yes…a paper boat) down 160 miles of the River Thames, rowing a bathtub across the English Channel, and inflating the world’s largest man-inflated balloon. These records seem crazy to most people, but then I guess that without crazy feats of daring, The Guiness Book of World Records wouldn’t even exist.

FitzHigham’s comedian days began when he started telling funny stories in a rum shop in the West Indies, while working as a pig and nutmeg farmer. He performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with James Cary and Jonny Saunders in “Infinite Number of Monkeys – Sketch Comedy of Hypotheticals” in the UK in 1999, where he was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award (now the Edinburgh Comedy Award) for best newcomer.

The first of his world records was achieved in 2003, when he paddled the paper boat down 160 miles of the River Thames in order to raise money for Comic Relief. He set himself a goal of raising £500 for the charity. The international attention the stunt received resulted in thousands of pounds in donations. His boat, named the Lillibet is now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The record, for a boat, constructed out of brown paper and inflated animal bladders, had stood for 383 years, having been set in 1619 by John Taylor, a Jacobean poet and River Thames Waterman. Somehow, I wondered is FitzHigham had been the first to even attempt it, but that would make no real sense.

The paper boat feat was quite interesting, but in the tame water of the river, it might have been more feasible. So FitzHigham decided to try something new…crossing the English Channel in a bathtub. Now that had to be a funny thing to see. In this one, he was the first person to try this. His first attempt was in 2004 for Sport Relief, when he tried to row from France to Tower Bridge, London in a bathtub made by Thomas Crapper and Company Ltd, named “Lilibet II”, after the childhood nickname of Queen Elizabeth II. This did not go perfectly, however. A storm on July 14, 2004, consisting of Force 6 winds resulted in the attempt failing and bathtub being damaged. In 2005, FitzHigham made a second attempt, this time for Comic Relief, and successfully crossed. He later wrote about the experience in his first book, “In the Bath,” later retitled “All at Sea,” and the story was turned into a show that was performed at the Fringe. In honor of the event, Thomas Crapper and Company Ltd made a special lavatory named after him. It is only the second commemorative lavatory in history, the other being made for Queen Victoria’s jubilee. Now that had to be a “great honor,” don’t you think?