Christmas is an important traditional holiday in Western countries where people celebrate by singing Christmas carols among other ways. Recently, in the UK, a man embarked on a mission to break the Guinness World Record by continuously singing Christmas carols for a staggering 42 hours.
According to the South West News Service in the UK, Dave Purchase, a 63-year-old man who runs a sandwich shop in the city of Gloucester in the southwest of England, took on this challenge. He selected 38 Christmas songs, including popular ones like “Jingle Bells” and “Last Christmas”, and sang from midnight on December 10th to December 12th, lasting 42 hours. He sang each song 18 times, totaling 684 songs.
This surpassed the Guinness World Record set by Nigerian woman Confidence Survival Eyong on December 21, 2024, for 40 hours. However, whether Purchase has broken this record is still pending official verification from the Guinness World Records.
Despite feeling like he was “hallucinating” after singing for 32 hours straight, Purchase almost gave up but ultimately persevered without abandoning the challenge.
During this marathon singing event held at Gloucester Docks, there was a dementia choir, a children’s choir, and some local residents who came to show support, assisting him in completing this feat.
Upon finishing, he stated that this challenge was both a test of his vocal abilities and physical endurance. Purchase expressed, “I almost gave up around 4 am on December 12th. I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore because I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep. I was falling asleep while singing.”
He continued, “I thought to myself, ‘I don’t know if I can last another 10 hours,’ but strangely, as the crowd started to fill the venue, adrenaline kicked in and got me excited. I knew that as long as I stayed awake and focused, I could complete the challenge.”
He added, “This is a world record, and that’s the significance of world records. You have to truly push yourself to the limits to ultimately break the record.”
As per the Guinness World Records guidelines, Purchase was allowed only 5 minutes of rest per hour. He could also opt to sing continuously for 4 hours to earn a 20-minute break. In between each song, he was only allowed 20 seconds of rest.
He successfully completed the challenge at 6 pm on December 12th.
Purchase mentioned that he has been singing since he was young and is able to sing for several hours continuously. He told himself that since he could sing for several hours, he could achieve this challenge.
He said, “Singing has always been a hobby of mine. I have experience in singing as I have worked on cruise ships and in theaters.”
He also expressed that he hoped this event would help attract business to the docks, but most importantly, it turned into a “fantastic” community event, fostering great social interaction.