Inventor of bungee jumping dies aged 78
David Kirke launched himself off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1979
A man, credited with inventing bungee jumping when he threw himself off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1979, has died aged 78.
David Kirke was promptly arrested after throwing himself off the famous bridge on April Fools Day that year, dressed in a top hat and tails and holding a bottle of champagne.
A founding member of a group called the Dangerous Sports Club, him and his friends had not tested the rope they used in advance.
"We hadn't tested it, or anything like that," he was quoted as saying by the Bristol Post in 2019.
"We were called the Dangerous Sports Club, and testing it first wouldn't have been particularly dangerous."
Kirke said he had been inspired to try the jump after witnessing a ritual on the Pacific island of Vanuatu known as land diving, where young men jump from high towers and use vines to break their fall.
In a post on Instagram Dafydd Jones notes one of his other exploits, saying: "He was hospitalised after being fired by a cannon into the Irish Sea - a stunt for a Japanese tv station....
"He'll be much missed."
Bungee jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge has since been made illegal.