Unconventional Brits: Episode 4

National World - Broadcast Video

Coming up this week, we’ll ride the lights with some incredible machines in Blackpool, we’ll talk to a man who has tried over 50,000 beers, and we’ll get fit with an extraordinary runner, and hand cyclist.

Transcript

00:00In the bustling tapestry of Britain, where centuries-old traditions blend seamlessly with modern life,

00:07there exists individuals who march to the beat of their own drum.

00:11Unconventional Brits is a captivating film series that dives into the lives of these extraordinary local characters

00:19who defy the norm with their unusual hobbies, quirky lifestyles and fascinating pastimes.

00:26Meet the inventors, the dreamers and the eccentrics whose daily lives are anything but conventional.

00:33Whether you're inspired, amused or simply amazed, this is a programme that reminds us all of the beauty in being different.

00:43Coming up this week, we'll ride the lights with some incredible machines in Blackpool,

00:46we'll talk to a man who has tried over 50,000 beers and we'll get fit with an extraordinary runner and a hand cyclist.

00:56This year, we do a costume every year, something that we can all do, but this year we needed something quick,

01:02so we thought everybody can be aliens and then we have a couple of men in black as well, so, chasing us.

01:12This year, we'll ride the lights with some incredible machines in Blackpool,

01:16we'll talk to a man who has tried over 50,000 beers and a hand cyclist

01:22It's an illness, it takes all your life if you're not careful.

01:25You start with one, then you make two, and then you make two more in the last 12 months,

01:30and then I've got a yard full of them to make. I've got another five I think.

01:34How long have you been doing this?

01:36About three years.

01:37Three years?

01:38Yeah, since Covid.

01:40This is a coin-operated rider outside an arcade.

01:43I've cut it up, then I make a mobility scooter to fit it.

01:47We're from the new Esplanade Hotel, on the front, next to the Pleasure Beach,

01:51and we've got a lovely guest called Mark Harper, and he brings his dodgem with us,

01:55and he brings his postman pat-a-van, and we have a goldmine, Paul brings a goldmine,

02:00and they're all amazing guys, and they hook us all up with this amazing dodgem.

02:03It brings different ones every year.

02:05Yeah, it brings different ones every year.

02:07It brings different ones every year.

02:09It brings different ones every year.

02:11It brings different ones every year.

02:13It brings different ones every year.

02:15It brings different ones every year.

02:17We've had a log flume, what else have we had?

02:19A swan, a blackpill tower, every year it tries to bring something different.

02:28We've added to it, we didn't have lights last year, we had the butterfly cape,

02:34but now we've added the lights.

02:36We represent the Clear Migos, we're a bike club from Cleethorpes,

02:50so we're just over the road in Hull.

02:53We've come first time to ride the lights, we were invited by another group who came last year,

02:59and he just said there's too many normal bikes, vanilla bikes,

03:03so there's about 20 of us come on cruises this year.

03:06You're mixing it up a bit.

03:07Yeah, I like entertaining, I like seeing people smile,

03:11what better way to do it than come to Blackpool with thousands of other cyclists.

03:15And what's with the amazing get-up?

03:17The get-up is because I'm a bit of a showman, I like to entertain, I like to see smiles on faces,

03:23so this is a unicorn bike, to ride the unicorn bike you've got to be a unicorn.

03:34Paul Smith has raised more than £2 million for charity over the last five decades,

03:40and is currently on his last challenge of hand-cycling from Mount Snowdon to Portsmouth.

03:46In 1991 I had a road traffic accident, someone was overtaking on a blind bend at night,

03:54hit me head on, and I had a broken leg.

04:00And I have a brain injury.

04:04I've been fundraising for 48 years now,

04:08and I always believe that there are people in the world that are worse off than myself,

04:17and I feel that we should be helping them and helping brain tumour research in particular.

04:27I am taking on the challenge in memory of my grandmother, a good friend of mine Jenny Weller,

04:35and another friend of mine Theresa.

04:39I'm out 100 miles a day most days, in all weathers, rain, we've had the heat,

04:4729 degrees, set off at 5 in the morning, not got back home until about 4 in the afternoon.

04:57And it's just keep pushing myself, knowing that the hills that we are going to face at the end of the month

05:07are going to be a challenge on their own.

05:17So Paul, how was the journey?

05:26Tough, basically, yeah.

05:29Some real big mountains to climb, and hot temperatures.

05:35Yesterday, 32 degrees, the brake cable snapped as well,

05:40and that happened earlier as well, on Tuesday.

05:45So twice the brake cable snapped, it pushed me to my limits, I know that.

05:50I'm proud of the guys and that, because you can set these challenges,

05:55but you can't always achieve them alone.

05:59Because there's people in this world that are worse off than me,

06:04and I believe if you can help somebody, do it.

06:11All that exercise has made me a bit thirsty, who's for a quick beer?

06:16Probably when I was at university in the late 70s,

06:19the beer in the students bar was not that sparkling, to be honest.

06:23So a few of us went and ventured out to find a little pub, and in Cardiff it was Brains.

06:28So that's where I got a taste for real ale, so I've been having Brains in Cardiff.

06:33And then after that I came home, started going around Sheffield,

06:37real ale, Ward Stores and Tetley's were basically the beers you could get.

06:42But then we discovered Pubs Like Me, which is just open,

06:46and were somewhat different beers I'd never heard of before.

06:50One of which I had on the first day, which is Tooth & Fever's Landlord,

06:53it's still on, they still have it on.

06:55But then we started looking a bit further afield,

06:57and we saw a beer festival in Chesterfield.

07:00So we went to that, and that was it then.

07:03Basically a variety of choice compared to what you normally get in a pub.

07:06So well, at least in the early days, that's how it all started, really.

07:10And you sort of then start to meet other people who were doing a similar thing.

07:15Because I always think in them days there was no internet, no social media, no nothing.

07:20So you turned up at a pub, you had no idea what they were on,

07:23there were no websites and films.

07:25So you just took a pop look and went to a festival, didn't know what you were going to get.

07:28And that was part of the fun.

07:30And it sort of took off a while.

07:32At that time there were a few people you kept seeing all around the circuit.

07:36Not the same people, not from Chesterfield, but all across the country.

07:38And you were usual to meet up at a festival.

07:41And then you go to Tokyo.

07:42Well I've tried, have you tried this?

07:44No, no.

07:45No, maybe I've had some before.

07:46And then a couple of people started keeping numbers, totals of people.

07:49A lot of beers people have had.

07:52And after that, there was somebody who set up a list of the first 10,000 beers.

07:59And I think it was probably somebody called McNateek.

08:01Because a lot of people have got nicknames.

08:04So it was called McNateek from West Midlands.

08:07He's sadly no longer with us.

08:11But I think I crept in about number 11 or 12 in the list of 10,000.

08:17So that's how it sort of became.

08:19Not everybody knew, because there's no rules for drinking.

08:22You can drink a half, a third, a pint.

08:25You can take it away in a bottle if you want.

08:27As long as you have it, it's all right.

08:29I just tend to drink in situ and have a half.

08:32Sometimes a pint being 99% is hard.

08:36And then you just keep a record of how many you've had.

08:40Some people call it camp breweries.

08:42They've got new breweries now.

08:44I don't particularly do that.

08:45I just count beers.

08:46But there's no rules to it.

08:49So it's what everybody wants to do and enjoys doing.

08:53And yet your 55th birthday was in Sheffield.

08:55It was. It was a 2 and 6 micro pub.

08:59It was on Steak Hill in Sheffield.

09:02It was ambideal beer.

09:04But that was purely by chance really.

09:06You don't necessarily know how many you've been having a day

09:09when you set out.

09:12Hello, my name's Joe Larkin.

09:14I ran from South Shields to Paris to raise money

09:16for mental health charities, Samaritans and Space North East.

09:20It took a forging 85 mile over 13 days

09:24to reach the middle of Paris.

09:26I like helping and inspiring people, especially young lads,

09:31because being in difficult situations

09:34and facing a lot of mental adversity in my past,

09:38I know what it feels like to be feeling worthless and not strong.

09:43And this is why I do challenges like this,

09:45to show people that what happens when you don't give up

09:48is an achievement on the other side of fear.

09:50Two years ago I lost my grandad and we grew this bond together

09:54that we were best friends.

09:56I got to say goodbye to him before he passed away

09:59and the last thing I did say was,

10:01I'm going to make you proud and I'm going to take you on a journey.

10:04And this is what I do all these hard things for.

10:07Do my marathons, do all these hard challenges

10:10where I do struggle and I do go into a dark place during,

10:13but I know at the end when I achieve the goal,

10:16I know he's watching and there was a lot of signs on that challenge

10:19where I knew he was there helping me, so that's what I do it for.

10:22So I started running in 2020, just before Covid started.

10:27Just started off small, one mile, two mile, three mile,

10:31and I ended up just running my first marathon around the streets.

10:34I can remember I finished work, I used to work for the NHS.

10:37I just finished work and I thought, I want to push myself a little bit more

10:41and I ended up just running the marathon

10:42and that's when I started to realise,

10:44other people realised I was getting really good at running.

10:47That's when I started really finding out who I am as an individual

10:51and realised actually I was quite really unhappy at that time.

10:54I kind of just started working and putting them both together

10:57and realising how good running is for your mental health

11:00and that's when my business came along, Believe to Run,

11:03because I wanted to help people get better at running and get stronger in life.

11:07To be honest, after the first day,

11:10it was probably the first time I ever thought,

11:13wow, can I actually do this?

11:15Because I've never really run that much consecutively every day

11:19and I remember my first day running 38 miles,

11:22I woke up the next day and I couldn't even walk

11:24and I thought, wow.

11:26But I just kept going every day and it was hard, I was getting injuries

11:31but I just knew my purpose was, I was going to do this for my granddad

11:35and do this for people struggling and that I would never ever give up.

11:40It was just over like a flash but then the past couple of weeks

11:45I've just took in a lot of gratitude of, I can't believe I've just ran to Paris.

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