Bristol man dies in his bed 44 years after attempting world's first ever bungee jump bristolpost.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bristolpost.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
David Kirke, the inventor of bungee jumping, has died at the age of 78, a friend of his family told The Independent. The co-founder of the Dangerous Sports Club based in Oxford and London completed the sport’s first jump off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol on April Fool’s Day in 1979 while grasping a bottle of champagne. In a resurfaced 2019 interview, Mr Kirke told ITV News that he covered his face with a scarf so his mother wouldn’t recognise him in newspaper coverage of the stunt. On his arrest for breaking local by-laws, Mr Kirke recalled: “They [police officers] let us off with a £50 fine.”
The Independent uses the word "maverick" to describe him, and a friend says he was an "anarchic buccaneer" who pioneered the extreme sport of bungee jumping.