Roger Guy English | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roger Guy English 1950 (age 74–75) Orange, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
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| Known for |
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| Notable credit | Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Relatives | Valerie Mayers (cousin) |
Roger Guy English is an American businessman [1] and disc jockey who achieved seven Guinness World Records in San Diego County in less than three years during the 1970s.
English was born in 1950 in Orange, California. [2] He attempted a major in cinematography at San Diego Mesa College [3] and was a literary student at University of California, San Diego [4] but dropped out. He wrote two books, which he was unable to sell. [5]
In 1970, English walked from his home in La Jolla, California to Vancouver, Canada [6] with his cousin, Valerie Mayers, in hopes of spreading awareness about environmental pollution and smog. [7] [3] [8] Upon returning home, crowds deemed him a local celebrity. English was tipped to do a publicity stunt to help build his popularity. This started his desire to attempt setting world records [6] such as throwing 200 bottles with messages into the ocean [9] and living in a car on a dealer's lot for a month. [9] In 1975, English played Pong [10] [11] [12] for seven days in a Mission Valley trailer. [6] By 1979, English's record for the Twist was the only record that remained unbroken. [13]
English set his first four world records in under a year, from July 1973 to April 1974. [13] After flipping through a book of Guinness World Records, he decided to do the Twist. [6] English set the Twist record at 102 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds [14] which began on July 11 and continued through July 16th in La Jolla. [15] He set the record for water treading for 18 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds [16] in a La Jolla pool. [6] [14] He set another record by kissing 3,000 women in 8 hours. [17] [13]
In 1974, English set the record for sleeplessness after a waterbed shop [14] on University Avenue wanted to play part in his attempts by allowing him to do it in their front window. Starting at 10:30am on March 20, [18] he did not sleep for 12 days, 5 hours and 15 minutes. [6] To pass the time, English drank coffee, [19] smoked cigarettes and played Monopoly with friends. [14] When he finally slept at 10:30am on April 1, [18] he was out for 26 hours. [6] [14] Because of health and safety concerns, [19] Guinness discontinued the category after that. [6] English later proposed the idea that he would like to swim the English Channel. [4] English attempted to swim the length of the Mississippi River in August, [20] but was held up because of weather and damage to a camper and rowboat. [21] [22] On December 27, English set a joke telling record over 5 hours and 15 minutes at Winner's Circle Lodge in Del Mar. [23] [6]
In 1975, English started his own store, a nostalgic American Graffiti shop in Pacific Beach. [16] [24] [1] In 1989, English was a disc jockey in San Diego. [6] He later moved to Poway, California. [6]
In 2022, Thorn Brewing Company named a beer after English called Full Tilt Boogie Hefeweizen. [25] In 2021, filmmaker Tyler J. French recorded over 60 hours of footage of English for a documentary about him called Full Tilt Boogie, Daddy-O. [6] The film was submitted to Sundance Film Festival. [14]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea | Saltie | |
| TBA | Full Tilt Boogie, Daddy-O | Himself | [6] [14] |