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Roger Guy English
Roger Guy English
Born	Roger Guy English; 1949 or 1950 (age 74–75)
Nationality	American
Education	La Jolla High School; San Diego Mesa College; University of California, San Diego;
Occupations	Businessman; disc jockey;
Known for	Guinness World Records; Full Tilt Boogie, Daddy-O;
Notable credit	Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Relatives	Valerie Mays (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.

Early life

English attempted a major in cinematography at San Diego Mesa College^[2] and was a literary student at University of California, San Diego^[3] but dropped out. He wrote two books, which he was unable to sell.^[4]

World records

In 1970, English walked from his home in La Jolla, California to Vancouver, Canada^[5] with his cousin, Valerie Mays, in hopes of spreading awareness about environmental pollution and smog.^[6]^[2]^[7] 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^[5] such as throwing 200 bottles with messages into the ocean^[8] and living in a car on a dealer's lot for a month.^[8] In 1975, English played Pong^[9]^[10]^[11] for seven days in a Mission Valley trailer.^[5] By 1979, English's record for the Twist was the only record that remained unbroken.^[12]

1973–1974

English set his first four world records in under a year, from July 1973 to April 1974.^[12] After flipping through a book of Guinness World Records, he decided to do the Twist.^[5] English set the Twist record at 102 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds^[13] which began on July 11 and continued through July 16th in La Jolla.^[14] He set the record for water treading for 18 hours, 28 minutes and 37 seconds^[15] in a La Jolla pool.^[5]^[13] He set another record by kissing 3,000 women in 8 hours.^[16]^[12]

In 1974, English set the record for sleeplessness after a waterbed shop^[13] 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,^[17] he did not sleep for 12 days, 5 hours and 15 minutes.^[5] To pass the time, English drank coffee,^[18] smoked cigarettes and played Monopoly with friends.^[13] When he finally slept at 10:30am on April 1,^[17] he was out for 26 hours.^[5]^[13] Because of health and safety concerns,^[18] Guinness discontinued the category after that.^[5] English later proposed the idea that he would like to swim the English Channel.^[3] English attempted to swim the length of the Mississippi River in August,^[19] but was held up because of weather and damage to a camper and rowboat.^[20]^[21] On December 27, English set a joke telling record over 5 hours and 15 minutes at Winner's Circle Lodge in Del Mar.^[22]^[5]

Later life and career

In 1975, English started his own store, a nostalgic American Graffiti shop in Pacific Beach.^[15]^[23]^[1] In 1989, English was a disc jockey in San Diego.^[5] He later moved to Poway, California.^[5]

Legacy

In 2022, Thorn Brewing Company named a beer after English called Full Tilt Boogie Hefeweizen.^[24] 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.^[5] The film was submitted to Sundance Film Festival.^[13]