Roger Guy English is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

who achieved seven

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

in less than three years during the 1970s.

Early life

English attempted a major in

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of Film, motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (o ...

San Diego Mesa College San Diego Mesa College (Mesa College or Mesa) is a public community college in Clairemont Mesa in San Diego, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges and the San Diego Community College District. It is the largest communit ...

and was a literary student at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

but dropped out. He wrote two books, which he was unable to sell.

World records

In 1970, English walked from his home in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

Vancouver, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

with his cousin, Valerie Mays, in hopes of spreading awareness about

environmental pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

and

smog Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words '' smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor. The word was then in ...

. 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 such as throwing 200 bottles with messages into the ocean and living in a car on a dealer's lot for a month. In 1975, English played

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan A ...

for seven days in a

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Miss ...

trailer. By 1979, English's record for the Twist was the only record that remained unbroken.

1973–1974

English set his first four world records in under a year, from July 1973 to April 1974. After flipping through a book of

, he decided to do the Twist. English set the Twist record at 102 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds which began on July 11 and continued through July 16th in La Jolla. He set the record for water treading for 18 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds in a La Jolla pool. He set another record by kissing 3,000 women in 8 hours. In 1974, English set the record for sleeplessness after a waterbed shop 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, he did not sleep for 12 days, 5 hours and 15 minutes. To pass the time, English drank coffee, smoked cigarettes and played

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

with friends. When he finally slept at 10:30am on April 1, he was out for 26 hours. Because of health and safety concerns,

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ...

discontinued the category after that. English later proposed the idea that he would like to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

. English attempted to swim the length of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

in August, but was held up because of weather and damage to a camper and rowboat. On December 27, English set a joke telling record over 5 hours and 15 minutes at Winner's Circle Lodge in

Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...

Later life and career

In 1975, English started his own store, a nostalgic

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronn ...

shop in Pacific Beach. In 1989, English was a disc jockey in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. He later moved to

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

Legacy

In 2022, Thorn Brewing Company named a beer after English called Full Tilt Boogie Hefeweizen. 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''. The film was submitted to

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

Filmography

References

External links

Roger Guy English
at

Classmates.com classmates.com is a social networking service. It was founded on November 17, 1995 by Randy Conrads as Classmates Online, Inc. It originally sought to help users find class members and colleagues from kindergarten, primary school, high school, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:English, Roger Guy Year of birth missing (living people) People from La Jolla, San Diego People from Poway, California World record holders American DJs Businesspeople from San Diego 20th-century American businesspeople People from Pacific Beach, San Diego San Diego Mesa College alumni University of California, San Diego alumni American environmentalists Living people