Have you ever had a stupid idea in a pub, then woken up sober and decided against it?! Not so Stephen Preston from Princes Risborough, also known as Stupid Steve, who yes, you've guessed it, does stupid things! But while we've all been guilty of that from time to time, he does absolutely ridiculous things - all to raise money for charity! From running through mud, to having eggs chucked at him to running through the streets of Wales dressed as Santa, is there nothing this man won't do?! It seems not! He told us his silly plans for this year! You do stupid events to raise money! This year you're doing something called the Insane Inflatable Drag, what's that all about?! Stupid Steve: Yes, I'm going to be dragged from Calais to Dover (or from Dover to Calais, Calais to Dover depending on if the Guiness Book of Records want to recognise this) on an inflatable and the boat is going to be driven by a blind man! OK. [pause!] How did you come up with this idea then? Stupid Steve: I don't know. Normally when I'm down the pub I know my thought process but I really can't remember doing this. But it was one drunken evening down the pub! Have you got the blind man lined up?
 | | Stupid Steve at the Egg Throwing* |
Stupid Steve: Yes. I've got a company who are willing to provide the boat and they suggested this guy who's partially sighted, he sees about a foot in front of him, if that, and he's agreed to do this. Aren't you a bit worried about it? Stupid Steve: No - not really. I think he'll be fine. There's a chap next to him saying left or right so he should be fine! So he's not completely blind in that way? Stupid Steve: No - I'm Stupid Steve not Suicidal Steve! And the Guinness Book of Records may recognise this event, but it depends on which way you're going? Stupid Steve: Yes - I've seen a few other records where you have to do two runs, so if they recognise this as a record of some description they may insist on me going from Dover to Calais and then back again. So - you'll be clinging onto an inflatable on the back of a boat - just literally clinging on? Stupid Steve: Yes - if I was tied on and the inflatable flipped over in anyway I could drown so I need to be able to fall off. I asked what happens if I do fall off and they said that by the time I've gathered myself they'll have spun round and be picking me up again. So they seem all very confident that this is quite easy. But I was quite surprised to find somebody so quickly when I was looking for someone to provide the boat and I thought I'd need to convince them to do this but they rung me up and they were pretty much up for it straight away. Which was nice! They're as mad as me! What's the inflatable like? Stupid Steve: I need corporate sponsorship so I've found a company who can make one and they can make anything from cans of drink to a boat or a ship. It's got to be stable enough to be dragged but it can be tailored to be anything really. When are you planning to do this? Stupid Steve: The week starting 25th September. You have to give a week because of weather conditions and sea conditions. The company Ramora who are going to drag me across have said that they could drag me across to Calais and the weather could change and I could be stranded in Calais for a day or two, so you've got to give yourself a few days just in case. It all seems so organised as if it's an everyday normal thing to do?! Stupid Steve: Well - they're ex-military so thay know exactly what they're doing. They said you need to think about this and that and the other, stuff that I'd not even considered, so they're very good and I should be fairly safe! So it's not as stupid as people might think? Stupid Steve: No but it's quite silly! They've said it's going to take about two hours and I'm going to need a dry suit. September is a good time to do it though because the water warms up through the summer but it's still going to be cold and I'm going to need to protect my hands - that's the major thing - so that they keep working. Why are you doing this then?! Stupid Steve: Well, I wanted to do the cheese run this year, and while I was looking for that on the Internet, I found all these other ridiculous events like bog snorkling, shin kicking and world pooh sticks and I thought that they all sounded quite a good laugh to do at weekends. I told all my friends I was going to be doing five or six different events. They said "You're an idiot" but thought it sounded like a good laugh.
 | | The Maldon Mud Run!* |
Then my friend Sarah who works for the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf said "why don't you raise money while you're doing this?" I thought "why not?" and started looking up more ridiculous events. One Website led to another and I've now found about 20 or 30 ridiculous things to do. The Internet is a terrible thing isn't it?! Stupid Steve: [laughs] Yes - Very informative but also very dangerous! Hearing Dogs for the Deaf is a locally-based charity isn't it? Stupid Steve: Yes it's in Sanderton, just outside Princes Risborough. It takes £5,000 to train each dog. What the dogs provide for the deaf is confidence. If they know somebody is coming round that day, they'll be watching the door because they don't want to miss that person. If they have a dog, then the dog will alert them to that. It will also alert them to a smoke alarm, the telephone (they have technology now so that deaf can use phones) the kettle boiling - all sorts of things, everything and anything that we take for granted. It gives them confidence and they can run a normal life. So what other stupid things have you done so far? Stupid Steve: The first one I did was the Santa run in Newtown in Wales where you dress up as Santa and run for four and a half miles. I dressed up as Scooby Doo and then dressed up as Santa. As I was doing it for Hearing Dogs I thought I'd dress up as a dog and Scooby Doo was the only outfit I could find. That was great fun - it was very strange wandering through a town and everybody was dressed up as Santa Claus. The second one was the Mad Maldon Mud Run on Boxing Day. That was cold, and you had to run 600 metres in mud on an estuary and the mud is knee deep, and thigh deep in some places. That was really difficult, really hard work. It took me about 40 minutes to go 600 yards. I can understand now why people who wander out into mud get stuck and need to be rescued because I was spent by the end of it. I was really tired and it didn't help seeing all these young fit chaps finishing while you were still so very far away! It broke my spirit - but it was still good fun! How much money have you raised so far? Stupid Steve: I've given about £300 to the Hearing Dogs so far. When I do things I don't just want to say "give me money" and give them nothing in return. So now I've made some T-shirts with Stupid Steve on them and got some beanie hats and I've also just got some wristbands. A lot of the people who organise these events are raising money for charities too, and when I ask if I can collect for my charity as well some say yes and some say no. They might say no because if I'm collecting for mine it takes money away from their charity, so that's fair enough.
 | | Stupid Steve as Scooby Doo Santa* |
Then I thought to myself I should start to organise my own stupid events, hence the Insane Inflatable Drag and I'm doing Dodgeball Mayhen and I've also got in contact with the World Rock Paper Scissors Society and I'm organising the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championship as well. There's a World Championship in Canada and about 1,000 people take part. So I got in contact with the Managing Director of that and asked if I could run a UK one and they said they'd sanction it. The winner will get a place in the World Championship in Canada in October and also a flight as well. Do you know where and when will that take place yet? Stupid Steve: If enough people itake part I could just about cover the costs so I need about a 1,000 person venue. I've contacted a few Student Unions to see if any of their bars at universities could possibly entertain the idea so I'm still organising that at the moment. To be a champion at Rock, Paper, Scissors though is surely just luck?! Stupid Steve: No, No! I said that to a chap I met and he said no, there's a book and a strategy - and it's like poker - you can read people! So it can get quite serious! What's Dodgeball then? Stupid Steve: There are six players on each team, and six balls. You run down, you pick up your three balls, the other team pick up theirs and you start throwing balls at people. If you hit someone then they're out, but if you throw the ball and they catch it, you're out! It all sounds a bit dangerous?! Stupid Steve: No - I got the balls yesterday - they're quite soft! When's all this happening? Stupid Steve: 27 May 2006 at the Wycombe Sports Centre, on the top of Marlow Hill just off Junction 4 of the M40. How do people get involved in that? Stupid Steve: You can download an entry form from my Website. It's £33 to enter and I'll send you a DVD training video so you understand the rules and also an official rule book and £3 of the entry fee is returnable once I get the rule book back. So are these your three main stupid ideas for this year? Stupid Steve: Yes - well - I've had another idea, I had it last night! The Wycombe cinema has just been taken over by another company and I'm hoping to have a Star Wars marathon where you watch all six episodes of Star Wars, but I haven't asked them yet! I worked it out that if you have a half an hour break between each film it would take about 16 hours! I did it one New Year's Day and by 4.00 in the morning I could hardly keep my eyes open! What do you need from people for all these events then? Stupid Steve: For the Inflatable Drag it's quite expensive to get this done. The majority of the the money is for fuel, I'll need at least £2,000 just for that alone. So I'm going to need in the region of about £5,000 to get that project up and running. Hopefully I will be able to find a corporate sponsorship. Sponsorship for the Rock, Paper Scissors event as well would be lovely! It would take a lot of the pressure off me! And also - if an airline company want to donate a flight to Canada around October time that would also be lovely! What do your friends think about all this? They think it's just something to do for the weekend - come and watch me do something stupid! | 
