Tuesday, March 12, 2013

  Highest Harlem Shake: British Airways breaks Guinness world record (VIDEO)

LONDON, UK -- Some 128 British Airways passengers who won tickets started a Harlem Shake with Tony Hadley and Kim Wilde performing their hits on a red-nosed Boeing 767 aircraft at 43,000ft for Comic Relief; the stunt was part of the airline's "Flying Start" charity partnership with Comic Relief in celebration of "Red Nose Day," a UK-wide fundraising event which sets the world record for the Highest Harlem Shake (in the Sky) according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/ .

  Photo: British Airways has set two World Record titles including the 'Highest Harlem Shake' and 'Highest Concert' in the sky, with Tony Hadley and Kim Wilde performing their hits on a red-nosed Boeing 767 aircraft at 43,000ft for Comic Relief. ( enlarge photo )

 The previous Guinness world record for the Highest concert (aircraft) was set by James Blunt (UK) who played a concert at 42,080 ft (12,825 m) to a ticketed audience of over 100 people.

  Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the highest concert on land, set at 6,069 m (19,911 ft) by Musikkapelle Roggenzell - 10 musicians from Germany and Bolivia - on Mount Acotango, Bolivia.

  Ahead of the flight, passengers enjoyed performances from Bananarama and Go West in the lounge. The girls sang a string of hits including Love in the first degree and Venus, while Go West performed We close our eyes and King of wishful thinking.

  To keep the authenticity of the era, canapés inspired by British Airways 1988 menus were served in the lounge, and cabin crew donned original 80s Roland Klein uniforms – nicknamed 'the deckchair' for their fetching vertical stripes and shoulder pads!

  Passengers won tickets through a text competition, which donated profits to Red Nose Day. It was promoted through Magic 105.4 as well as through Twitter using #BAgiginthesky.

  Keith Williams, British Airways' chief executive, said: "I've visited a number of Comic Relief funded projects and know how important it is to continue to raise money for our Flying Start partnership. The 80s Gig in the Sky is just one of the great fundraising initiatives that our teams have been working on. Many congratulations to everyone involved for this fantastic achievement."

  This is the 25th year of Red Nose Day and in that time the airline's raised £4.5 million (almost $7 million) for Flying Start.