Whoooppeeee!

You would be correct to assume that anyone who is born named David Antony Christopher Potter, who later changes their surname to Kirke—their mother's maiden name—to prevent the family name from gaining too much unwanted attention because they've decided to bungee cord jump off bridges and take part in other dangerous stunts is British, you'd be 100% correct.

A testament to David Kirke, who has just passed away at 78, is that he didn't die doing any of the "out there" stunts that got him and his Dangerous Sports Club members so much attention. He died in Oxford, in a council flat, surrounded by all the memorabilia of his life as a Merry Prankster.

His claim to fame started when he became the first to bungee cord jump off the Clifton Suspension Bridge (or any bridge, for that matter) in Bristol England on April Fools' Day in 1979. It was a 245' drop, risking his life while dressed in morning clothes, a top hat and carrying a bottle of Champagne on untested, but military grade elastic cords used to keep landing fighter jets from sailing off an aircraft carrier's flight deck on landing. 

There was no rehearsal. The cords were purposely not tested before the jump. Mr. Kirke claimed the jump couldn't be declared dangerous if it was known it was going to work out. Thank God for military specs. 

His family said David lead from the front, and on that day, after a night of  drinking and waking with a massive hangover, he showed up at the bridge with a coterie of followers who were willing to do the same thing—if he survived.

Mr. Kirke was dressed formally, as if he was going to a wedding, or being laid out in a coffin. He told BristolLive "the main thing going through my wind  was "Whoooppeeee!" on the way down, which could have been his last word if the military grade bands didn't hold. If he hadn't survived anything that would he written about him could have been titled "One Jump and a Funeral."

He patterned his bungee jump after young men in the Pacific Island country of Vanuatu who used vines  to break their fall from towers. Now there's a Jeopardy answer/clue. Anything to do with Vanuatu should earn you big bucks.

David was born of privilege, but was not from nobility. He was the first of seven children whose father was a schoolmaster and whose mother was a concert pianist, descended from a heroic military family. The family vacationed in Switzerland and France, employed 15 servants and drove around in a vintage Rolls Royce.

Mr. Kirke's friends were interested in hang gliding, so then he was too. He formed the Dangerous Sports Club to promote out-there doings like bridge jumping, skiing down the Alps on a piano, or the best one, sailing off a cliff in the pouch of an inflatable kangaroo suspended by helium balloons making his way across the English Channel.

To hear his friends talk, David was hardly ever sober, said to be able to drink a bottle of wine with breakfast. Going out with him required stamina, for one friend claimed if you went to lunch with him it might last six weeks.

Mr. Kirke did some work in publishing, but pretty much lived out his life doing stunts. This past Sunday was the NYC Marathon and I distinctly remember a story from a few years ago where a group of buddies left a Brooklyn bar at the 4 A.M. Sunday closing and thought it would be a good idea to repaint the blue marathon line the runners are supposed to follow and divert then into the Gowanus Canal.

Marathon Sunday in New York has a police presence greater than if the president is in town. The line diverters were arrested and charged with whatever you get charged with for repainting the pavement.

Mr. Kirke, still being able bodied, celebrated the 21st anniversary in 2000 of his Bristol bridge jump. It's not known if he was arrested, as he and his buddies were in 1979 for their mischief. When they leaped from the Golden Gate bridge six months after Bristol they were also arrested.  

Mr. Kirke never married. A friend of his claimed, "that would have been a very brave lady" if he had found a bride.

No doubt one nut in the family is enough.

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