On Wednesday 18th March, SamSam Bubbleman succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest free-floating bubble. The event was held to promote the new Dreamworks film 'Home' which is out in UK cinemas on the 20th March!
After the World Record attempt had finished Lydia Kay took part in an interview with SamSam:
Lydia
What got you into bubbles in the first place?
SamSam
You know I always why other people didn't really. I mean is there anything more magical than a bubble, really? You know I see people juggling and doing circus tricks and that's cool, but I see a bubble and it just takes me to another place completely. My mind, my heart, my soul. It fires my imagination like nothing else really. It all started back in 1989, I had, um, what I call my bubble epiphany. I was sat in a field watching a bubble, about a football sized bubble, just float across my field of vision; and it was a beautiful sunset, lovely calm winds, I just watched the bubble for what seemed like half an hour but was actually probably only a couple of minutes. And then suddenly it pops, and it completely disappeared. Was it ever even there in the first place? What could be more magical than a bubble really?
Lydia
When I was younger I used to catch bubbles on the stick and then try to stack them in like a Jenga tower, so would you ever do a record to see how high a bubble tower you could create?
SamSam
I do have that record actually as it happens.
Lydia
Do you! How high is it?
SamSam
It's not high because to keep it high you really need to fill it with a mixture of helium and air. So what you do is you drop it downwards, so you hold it from the top, and I made a bubble chain of 26 bubbles which almost stretched down to the ground from about a 5 foot height.
Lydia
Yep, miles ahead of me!
So some children, and adults, like to run around popping bubbles. What are your views on people popping bubbles and has anyone ever popped a bubble that they shouldn't have?
SamSam
Well, you know what, it's very hard to get kids to not pop bubbles. It seems to me kids and bubbles go together quite closely I tell you. And I have various things up my sleeve to try and get them to stop popping my bubbles if I don't want them, including a water pistol that I find works quite well. Sometimes we play dodge-bubble, and the kids have to make sure they don't pop the bubble that time. And then I have other equipment like the net, which, did you see the net that I use which make huge clouds of bubbles, so those are really for popping. It's the big ones which I try, I really want them to survive.
Lydia
Has anyone tried to pop a World Record attempt before?
SamSam
Um, yep, when I put the most kids inside a giant bubble we had one naughty little child who kept reaching over to pop the inside of the bubble.
Lydia
Do you also like bubble-wrap?
SamSam
Not as much as my kids.
What got you into bubbles in the first place?
SamSam
You know I always why other people didn't really. I mean is there anything more magical than a bubble, really? You know I see people juggling and doing circus tricks and that's cool, but I see a bubble and it just takes me to another place completely. My mind, my heart, my soul. It fires my imagination like nothing else really. It all started back in 1989, I had, um, what I call my bubble epiphany. I was sat in a field watching a bubble, about a football sized bubble, just float across my field of vision; and it was a beautiful sunset, lovely calm winds, I just watched the bubble for what seemed like half an hour but was actually probably only a couple of minutes. And then suddenly it pops, and it completely disappeared. Was it ever even there in the first place? What could be more magical than a bubble really?
Lydia
When I was younger I used to catch bubbles on the stick and then try to stack them in like a Jenga tower, so would you ever do a record to see how high a bubble tower you could create?
SamSam
I do have that record actually as it happens.
Lydia
Do you! How high is it?
SamSam
It's not high because to keep it high you really need to fill it with a mixture of helium and air. So what you do is you drop it downwards, so you hold it from the top, and I made a bubble chain of 26 bubbles which almost stretched down to the ground from about a 5 foot height.
Lydia
Yep, miles ahead of me!
So some children, and adults, like to run around popping bubbles. What are your views on people popping bubbles and has anyone ever popped a bubble that they shouldn't have?
SamSam
Well, you know what, it's very hard to get kids to not pop bubbles. It seems to me kids and bubbles go together quite closely I tell you. And I have various things up my sleeve to try and get them to stop popping my bubbles if I don't want them, including a water pistol that I find works quite well. Sometimes we play dodge-bubble, and the kids have to make sure they don't pop the bubble that time. And then I have other equipment like the net, which, did you see the net that I use which make huge clouds of bubbles, so those are really for popping. It's the big ones which I try, I really want them to survive.
Lydia
Has anyone tried to pop a World Record attempt before?
SamSam
Um, yep, when I put the most kids inside a giant bubble we had one naughty little child who kept reaching over to pop the inside of the bubble.
Lydia
Do you also like bubble-wrap?
SamSam
Not as much as my kids.
Listen to the rest of the interview here:
You can read more about the day on our Past Events page here.
Interview in association with The Fan Carpet.
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