Forty-one years ago Armagh’s champion fundraiser Willie Nugent was quite literally on top of the world!
For after successive attempts to break a world record he finally did it in style.
And now, to celebrate that milestone and reflect on what was truly an incredible achievement, he has written a new book for children to inspire and encourage, his message to them simply: “Never give up on your dreams!”
Live Aid wasn’t the only show in town in that summer of ’85. For on June 25 that same year, Willie ensured his name would finally appear in the Guinness Book of Records, having stood motionless in a London shop window for a leg-numbing 13 hours.
It was a day that he remembers like yesterday – and an opportunity he could easily have missed as initially he thought it was all just one big joke!
“I did about five or six record attempts before that,” Willie told Armagh I, bringing it all back to mind. “The first one was crawling on the Mall, then walking backwards, eating ice lollies, pushing a pea with my nose.
“In those days there were no iPads or mobile phones. It was all through the post or telephone. I was contacting the Guinness Book of Records that much that one day they rang me!
“The woman said we’re having a birthday celebration for the Trocadero shopping centre in Piccadilly in London. For the celebrations, she said, every day we want to have a record attempt if we can. Somebody from England, somebody from Scotland, somebody from Wales, somebody from here. Your name’s come up and we wanted to know if you had anything planned or a record attempt in mind.
“It happened out of the blue about February time. At the start it was hard to know if it was true or if it was somebody acting the cod. I had been thinking about the motionless one and maybe doing it in Armagh until they rang. I said to the girl could I think about this and ring you back. She said no bother, it’s not until June, but we need to know just to get everything organised.
“She gave me the number and after she hung up I rang the number back right away. A receptionist answered and said Guinness World Records. I hung up but I knew then that it was genuine.”
Willie waited for a couple of weeks before ringing his Guinness Book of Records contact back and pitched the idea of standing motionless.
And they lapped it up as an opener to a week which would also include a visit by Britain’s tallest man and another who was hoping to break a world record for shaving!!
It’s official – Willie’s certificate as a record breaker!
“The record for standing motionless was 12 hours and 45 minutes,” explained Willie. “She asked do you want to go as far as you can or set a target? If you run a marathon and you get to 25 miles you know there’s only a mile to go, but if there’s no end to the marathon you might give up if there’s no finishing line, so I said, no, I’d rather set a target.”
That target was to stand motionless for 13 hours and, within a month or two of finalising the details, the tickets arrived to take the anxious Armachian to London.
He had started to work on his attempt, standing still for an hour or two, here and there, to see how it would work.
But then days before he was due to travel, his late mother took a phone call from the organisers who insisted it was very urgent he call them back.
“The first thing I thought was that it was cancelled and I was actually kind of glad,” recalled Willie. “This was on the Tuesday and I was doing the record attempt the following Monday. The girl came on the phone and said we want you to come over now on Friday instead of Sunday. She said we’ve got you a spot on the Michael Aspel Show to publicise your record attempt! At the time I nearly took a heart attack – instead of being cancelled it was getting bigger!”
Willie flew into Heathrow and, like a true celeb, was met by a sign-holding driver who promptly whisked him off to the TV studios to take part in rehearsals for the popular weekly chat show.
A special presentation piece from the Guinness Book of Records marked the achievement.
The next hours flew by and, before he knew it, Monday morning had arrived, with Willie making his way to his next ‘appearance’ in the middle of Piccadilly.
“I started at nine o’clock in the morning and finished at 10 o’clock that night,” said Willie. “It was in a shop window in June and I remember it was a very warm day. There were people standing and coming in non-stop, shoppers and all. Some of them were holding up ice-creams. I was trying to look above head height.
“The Guinness Book of Records ones were in the window with me watching.”
Two stools were placed in the window and one had an electric fan on it. Willie had been asked to indicate by giving “two good blinks” if he wanted the fan turned on if he was too warm or off again if it got too cold.
“I had started at nine but by about one o’clock everything started to go black,” he remembers. “I thought I was going to faint. I wasn’t standing too far from the window and the glass and I thought if I fall I’ll fall through the window and take two or three with me! I didn’t know whether to give up or not.
“One of the girls came over and asked are you alright, you’re very white looking? I couldn’t really answer because if I’d answered it was over, but after about 10 minutes, maybe less, everything started coming back again. I was very lucky.”
By the end of the evening, he had done it! The countdown was followed by the clapping of those who had stood to cheer him on.
Armagh had its own World Record holder and Willie had achieved his goal.
That record stood for several years and Willie still has a copy of the Guinness Book of Records and a special framed certificate to prove the success of his incredible stunt.
It came shortly after Willie had to call short a record attempt for crawling around the Mall. Having started at 3pm on a weekday afternoon, the following morning – and after an ill-timed interruption by a well-meaning but well-oiled man bearing a bag of chips when the pubs closed – he sadly had to abandon his bid based on doctor’s advice.
The old adage, therefore, rings true: ‘If at first you don’t succeed try and try again.’
Willie did that. Again. And again. And again. Over the years. And then it happened.
Willie’s new book, which will raise money for ‘Little Heroes’.
And, as his new children’s book is designed to direct, if he can do it then why can’t you?
“Follow your dreams,” he urges.
The story book – with lots of illustrations – focuses on a young Willie Nugent, born at 11 Gas Lane in Armagh. It follows his adventures as a boy, dreaming that one day he would make it to the top of the world.
It was after many years of pain and disappointment that he finally made it and did just that.
All these years later – and having raised thousands upon thousands of pounds for charitable causes too many to mention – he can still look back proudly to June 1985 as a key moment in a wonderful life well lived.
Now 77 years of age, Willie still possesses an enthusiasm and energy which would put many half his age to shame.
As he jokes, with a smile and twinkle in his eye: “I was thinking whenever I get to 90 I might slow down a bit.”
Willie’s new book is available now, priced at just £5 each, with the entire proceeds going to ‘Little Heroes’ Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. Books are on sale at Curran’s Spar shop , Raffles, Macaris, Trimprint and Dessie’s.
