Roger Guy English

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]

English set his first four world records in under a year, from July 1973 to April 1974.^[10] 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^[11] which began on July 11 and continued through July 16th in La Jolla.^[12] He set the record for water treading for 18 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds^[13] in a La Jolla pool.^[6][11] He set another record by kissing 3,000 women in 8 hours.^[14][10]

In 1974, English set the record for sleeplessness after a waterbed shop^[11] 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,^[15] he did not sleep for 12 days, 5 hours and 15 minutes.^[6] To pass the time, English drank coffee,^[16] smoked cigarettes and played Monopoly with friends.^[11] When he finally slept at 10:30am on April 1,^[15] he was out for 26 hours.^[6][11] Because of health and safety concerns,^[16] 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,^[17] but was held up because of weather and damage to a camper and rowboat.^[18][19] On December 27, English set a joke telling record over 5 hours and 15 minutes at Winner's Circle Lodge in Del Mar.^[20][6]

In 1975, English played Pong^[21][22][23] for seven days in a Mission Valley trailer.^[6] By 1979, English's record for the Twist was the only record that remained unbroken.^[10]

In 1975, English started his own store, a nostalgic American Graffiti shop in Pacific Beach.^[13][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.^[11]