Tim FitzHigham (/fɪtsˈhaɪəm/ fits-HYE-əm[1]) FRSA FRGS is an English comedian, author, artist and world record holder.
The feats he has performed include paddling a paper boat down 257.5 km of the River Thames, rowing a bathtub across the English Channel, and inflating the world's largest man-inflated balloon.
[4] It featured break dancers, a chanteuse and comedians such as Simon Pegg, Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Briain, Ed Byrne, Jason Bryne, Jim Jeffries.
[6] for his live show The Gambler The Guardian's Brian Logan wrote, "his unflappable pluck in the face of impossible (or at least ridiculous) odds seldom fails to amuse".
After drinking a pint of claret, FitzHigham came joint-first in the initial live version of Horne brainchild Taskmaster, losing to Mike Wozniak in a hastily added nod-off.
It has become a long-running joke between Mark Watson and FitzHigham that he is the only original member of the live show not to appear on the TV version (there are others, with Stuart Goldsmith being one).
The first was achieved in 2003, when he paddled a paper boat down 160 miles of the River Thames in order to raise money for Comic Relief.
Having set out with an initial goal of raising £500, the international attention the stunt received resulted in thousands of pounds in donations.
The record,[19][20][21] for a boat, constructed out of brown paper and inflated animal bladders, had stood for 383 years, having been set in 1619 by John Taylor, a Jacobean poet and River Thames Waterman.
[2][23][26] In June 2006, FitzHigham, along with impressionist Alistair McGowan, the UK Environment Agency and the United Nations set new British and European records assembling the longest washing line in the country in Trafalgar Square, London.
[2] In November 2006, FitzHigham inflated the world's largest man-inflated balloon to raise awareness of environmental issues, which held 19,000 pints of air.
These include being a Freeman of the City of London, Freeman of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames, Fellow of the Royal Society of Art, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Commodore of Sudbury Quay, Pittancer of Selby and Most Puissant Knight de Santa Maria.