Worst Impression Infographic

There's an art to a good impression, but an impression like this is harder to describe.

©2015 James Mathurin

Most albums at the same chart position Inforgaphic

This will have led to some interesting playlists on someone's MP3 player.

©2015 James Mathurin

Shortest hardback novel Infographic

Sometimes, you do just have a lot of people to thank, I guess.

©2015 James Mathurin

Shortest-running Television Series

Still not as bad as Two And A Half Men. Just saying.

©2015 James Mathurin

Highest number of accents in a minute Infographic

The new information that came out since this originally appeared here has changed the story somewhat.

©2015 James Mathurin

Most Annoying Ringtone Infographic

Phones can be the cause of a lot of stress, but some people do seem to want to take it to extremes.

©2015 James Mathurin

Most Delicious Edible Clothes Infographic

I've never really had much of an interest in fashion or haute couture. Edible fashion could be the future, though.

©2015 James Mathurin

The world’s most lethal cinema infographic

While it is a shame that cinema chains are pushing out smaller, independent picture houses with more charm, there are some that are probably better of out of business.

©2014 James Mathurin

Shortest Guitar Solo Infographic

I'm more of a hip-hop head myself, but you've got to give credit to musical achievement from all genres.

©2014 James Mathurin

The Worst Office Party Infographic

I work in education now, but I used to work in the private sector, and I've done my time in offices. Fortunately, I never had to sit through a party like this, and I thank my ex-colleagues for this.

©2014 James Mathurin

Crank up that Cheese Infographic

Personally, I'm not a big fan of gameshows, but maybe because more stuff like this doesn't happen.

©2014 James Mathurin

Infographic - Worst ever recorded orchestral recital

From 2010, one of the key pieces of overlooked operatic history.

©2013 James Mathurin

Mickie the Chinchilla - Infographic

Here, in infographic form is the sad tale of Mickie the Chinchilla.

©2013 James Mathurin

The final edition of Crank Up That Cheese

Jersey McClair was a presenter on the local Minnesota quiz show Crank Up that Cheese between 1984 and 1999. His final show became notorious after some unexplained comments he made during the live finale of the 1999 season.

McClair announced that the show would return after a commercial break, and then greeted the live audience with a "shocking announcement":

"I was supposed to explain to you that our two contestant, Darryl and Rebeca, are expecting a baby, but I feel that the time has well and truly come, where I have to explain that I am, despite appearances, a lizard man from the year 5000."

The signal was then cut, and McClair announed his resignation from the KBBOP channel the next day.

Darryl Marks and Rebeca Lampley, the contestants on the show, look on confusedly during McClair's statement. After transmission was cut, the couple signed a gagging agreement with the channel, so have not given any statement on what was going on behind the scenes. It is believed they were compensated with cruise tickets.. Photograph by jone.nyborg.

  ©2013 James Mathurin

fastest throwing of Chicken’s feet at circus clowns

The record for fastest throwing of Chicken’s feet at circus clowns was set by Canadian Pierre Kalynuk in March 1975. He threw 50 chicken’s feet in 1 min 12 seconds when the touring Crispin Circus visited his hometown of Buddirok. He said, “I’ve always hated clowns, but loved chickens. I feel that in setting this record I’ve expressed myself in a way I couldn’t have done otherwise.”

In this photograph, Kalynuk can be seen, entering the Crispin Circus from the North entrance, silhouetted in the door with a hat on. He purchased the chicken's feet from Todd Plinth, a food vendor outside. Plinth told the Buddirok Chronicle later, "Of course I was suspicious. I mean, some fella buying 9 packets of chicken feet ain't normal. Still, I thought, just how much damage can he do? Turns out that boy was fixing to do something wonderful with those feet."  Photograph by Bob n Renee.

 ©2013 James Mathurin

Music videos in the mountains

Cone Beat were a 1980's Irish band, a politically-oriented 4-piece, led by front man Mich Faighlty, ("nicknamed Moto"). On 15th April 1982, the band were travelling to film a video for their song, Ascension Day, when the private aeroplane they had rented was forced to touch down for an emergency landing in a remote expanse of snow in Poland. Although the video shoot was supposed to be filmed at Lublin Główny train station in the city of Lublin, Poland, Dave Moreign, their video director, decided to film it in the snowy hills where they had landed.

"The song was, well, OK," Moreign said in 1998, in an interview with Sight and Sound magazine, "And Moto's being a diva like always, so I says to the fellas, 'is there anyone here who wants to drag this bollocks out for another 3 days, or shall we just get it done while they're fixing the feckin' plane? An the vote was 3 to 1, so, yeah, we ended up making a bit of music history, if you want to call it that.'

Cone Beat fans meeting at the Snow Muzyka Skifarm, a Ski Resort set up by a local entrepreneur in order to capitalise on the annual pilgrimage of fans to the spot where the Ascension Day video was filmed. On 15th April every year, fans meet in order to re-enact the video. Since the addition of the chair-lift in 2000, some fans have used it to also re-enact the emergency landing of the plain, carrying papier-maché replicas of the entire plane, or pieces of the fuselage and wings. Photograph by KT Bell. 

 ©2013 James Mathurin 

The shortest running television series

The shortest running television series ever was ‘My Boss Is A Wheelbarrow’, an American sitcom which was cancelled 8 minutes into its pilot episode. Buddy Marvin, a network executive said, 

“We’ve put some real bilge out over the years, but this was just really bad.”

The specially-modified wheelbarrow that was used to play the charcter of "Robson McGonnagle", the titular boss of the show. It had had attatchments fitted that allowed it to be moved by a stagehand, and bounce. Photograph by Rocpoc.

 ©2013 James Mathurin 

Landmine Challenge - the Boardgame

‘Landmine Challenge!’ is generally considered to the the worst toy ever - a board game based on “the skill and suspense involved in negotiating a mine field,” according to the description on the back of the box. The game comprised a 4 centimetre-thick board, decorated to resemble a minefield, and containing several small, pressure-sensitive explosive devices. A review in Board Gamer Monthly from November 1998 said, “Not only is this game tasteless, with the playing pieces being little blue, red, or green plastic Third-World children, whose limbs you must remove each time you lose a round, but the game is profoundly unsafe. To randomise the placement of the ‘landmines’, you are expected to load them into the base of the board and shake it vigorously, with often horrific consequences.” The producers of the game MS Funtime, hoped to resell the recalled games is countries with less stringent Public Health laws, but the warehouse where they were stored for shipping exploded in early 1999.

This toy shop in the South Coast UK town of Mordley was the scene of protests from residents and landmine charities soon after the release of Minefield Challenge. The shop's proprietor, Alan Mauspan, told the crowds on the third day,

"Look, I understand your outrage, and your disgust. I should have looked into the game more before I added it to the annual board-game tournament, but I'm planning to remove it, and replace it with a round of Cupcake Mayhem."

Photograph by morebyless.

 ©2013 James Mathurin

The worst ever game-show host

The worst ever game-show host was Mickie the Chinchilla. Given the presenting gig on the New Zealand show Dung or Dosh in 2004 on the strength of winning pet talent show And He Can Lick Himself Too…., Mickie was shocked by the loud applause of the crowd, and spent the show urinating frequently in a panic, biting 3 contestants and eventually dying of a heart-attack when an on-stage pyrotechnic went off by mistake.

A publicity photograph of Mickie, which his agent Sam Mackie circulated to the press for use in obituaries. In a statement, he said,

"Mickie had a tiny body, a smooth coat, and one of the biggest bloody hearts ever. He had a great future in front of him."

 Photograph by Greencolander.

©2012 James Mathurin