Prisoner Sweat Box

My Guinness World Record

I hold the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of StraitJacket escapes in a working day (8 hours!!), raising over £2,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care along the way!

 

On Saturday September 27th 2003, I escaped from a regulation Posey straitjacket (correctly utilising both the front and side hoops) a staggering 193 times, at the YMCA in Chelmsford, Essex.

 

Guinness World Record Certificate

 

 

The record was confirmed as accepted on March 9th 2004 by Guinness World Records. I think I got the documentation to them in October 2003, so it took just over 5 months to be approved.

 

I found the waiting really difficult, and the funniest this was that they got the certificate wrong the first time around. They approved it as 163 escapes in 24 hours. I wondered what I had done wrong to have 30 escapes disqualified! Of course, when I finally got hold of someone on the phone, it was all sorted our quickly.

 

Here's a short video of a news broadcast on the day from our local TV station, Anglia News.

 

 

The next video clip is of the final escape, number 193. Every time I watch this clip, it reminds me of how tired I was at the end of the day.

 

 

The rules that I had to follow were quite strict, and the paper trail that I had to create was comprehensive. After being asked by a number of people, I have now made available the documents I used.

 

 

Documentation

It's funny, but preparing the documentation for the day was a lot more work than the day itself. There was absolutely loads to do to ensure that we could get into the building, set-up, run the whole event, and clear up afterwards. Without the many volunteers, this could never have taken place.

 

I think that with hindsight, I may have gone a little over the top with gathering my evidence that all all of the rules had been followed. Having said that, hopefully the level of documentation I produced will help you if you ever want to take the record away from me. Be warned, though ... I will get it back!

 

Name Description Link
GWR Rules A copy of the rules for any World Record attempt are supplied by Guinness World Records themselves. PDF
Official Capacities I created a quick list of the people who would be volunteering in an official capacity. PDF
Day Plan There was a great deal of planning required to make the day work. I created a plan of every job that needed doing, and made sure I had a team of volunteers on hand to fill the slots. PDF
Event Logbook It was important to be able to prove that all of the rules were met, and therefore I create a logbook for people to sign in and out on the day, and what function they fulfilled. PDF
Staff Guidance When staff arrived, they had instructions to follow, so I was not left trying to explain what to do whilst trying to escape! PDF
Identification A couple of the witnesses didn't know me, so I provided a sheet for identifying me (passport & drving license). PDF
Morning Checksheet One of the most vital roles was that of the Authenticating Witnesses, who had to be independent. I created a checksheet for the morning to ensure that everything they needed to check was done in the right order. PDF
Ad-hoc Checksheet I then created another checksheet to be used when the authenticating witnesses visited throughout the day to make sure the rules were being followed. PDF
Evening Checksheet I finally created an evening checksheet, so everything was covered properly at the end of the day. PDF
Checksheet I then created a checksheet for each escape, to ensure that the rules were being properly followed, and also to ensure that it was properly recorded. PDF

Break Checksheet

 And leaving nothing to chance, I then created a different checksheet to record the times that I took breaks, so there was no gap in terms of time. PDF
Press Release This is a copy of the press release that I sent out to all of the local and national press. PDF

 

Of course, I didn't just provide the stack of paperwork to GWR, I also provided over 8 hours of video footage, too. I feel sorry for the person who had to sit and watch it all!!

 

I hope that this page has given you some idea about the work involved, and how the day was put together!