We will have a world record holder in our midst when Jay Rawlings as Muddles takes to the stage for Worthing’s big pantomime this Christmas.
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00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this
00:06 morning as we start thinking about Christmas to be speaking to Jay Rawlings, who is going
00:11 to be part of the Big Panto Worthing Theatres this Christmas, Sleeping Beauty, Friday, December
00:17 the 1st to Monday, January the 1st. Now in the shape of you, Jay, we have coming to Worthing
00:23 a world record holder, and these are very interesting, very useful world records that
00:29 you hold. I don't know about useful, but yeah, I'll go with it. You have a wondrous chin
00:35 by the sound of things. Tell me about your own particular place in history. Well, the
00:45 first world record I broke was for Breton's Got Talent, and that was the most chairs balanced
00:50 on the chin, where I balanced 11 chairs, which was quite painful. I also have the world record
00:58 for the longest distance travelled and longest duration with a lawnmower on the chin. During
01:07 lockdown I got the most toilet rolls balanced on the head, at the time when there was the
01:12 shortage. On the top of your head? Yes, at the same time as well, otherwise it would
01:17 be much less impressive. And yeah, lots of other very weird records that kept me busy
01:24 during lockdown. Now, what does it say about you that you do these things? Does it worry
01:29 you? I think I was dropped too much as a child. I think that's the main conclusion. But what's
01:37 the essence of it? Was it just naturally very still? I was going to say stable, as it was.
01:47 Even the really stupid sounding records, it always takes a lot of work. With what I do,
01:53 I do a lot of chin balancing in my show normally. So for a lot of these records, I've been training
01:57 for years without even realising it. And there's just a lot of practice, finding different
02:03 ways you can do things. I've got a world record for the fastest time to throw 10 soft toys
02:11 into a target from three metres away. Sorry, say again, how many loo rolls was it on your
02:19 chin? On your head? Oh, 46. Without anything attaching them all, that's all freestanding.
02:27 Did you have to go for the 40 seconds? It took me about half an hour to put it all up.
02:38 And about half an hour, 45 minutes. And it wasn't the first time I tried it. The world
02:44 record before I attempted it was 60. So yeah, I was quite happy with 46. Fantastic. But
02:51 in addition to all these wonderful and useful skills, you are a panto performer, and this
02:56 is going to be your third panto. You must be looking forward to it. Yeah, and loving
03:00 every minute of it. And why do you enjoy panto? What makes it a good thing to do? Because
03:07 it does look like hard work from the outside. Yeah, it is. But it's also great fun. It's
03:13 incredibly British. No matter where you go in the world, there's not really anything
03:17 else like it. And you're together with people for like quite a long time, and you just instantly
03:22 become a family. And there's something special about knowing and working beside these people
03:27 for such a long time, and being able to play off each other on stage. It's just great fun.
03:34 And in Worthing, you might just have a chance to demonstrate some of your unusual abilities
03:38 there. Yes, there may be a large quantity of chairs being balanced. Without audience
03:46 members sitting on them, ideally. Preferably not. We ask them to move first. Brilliant.
03:54 Well, lovely to speak to you. Congratulations on this fabulous achievement. Thank you. And
04:00 have a great time at Worthing. Really good to meet you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks
04:04 for having me.
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