Most people settle for a few pints down the pub to mark their birthday, or perhaps a celebratory meal.

But for Barry Donovan, his quarter-century demanded a bit more attention. So he drew up a list of 25 things to do – including breaking a world record, looking at his own DNA, and llama trekking.

He achieved one of those ambitions today, breaking the world record for eating three mince pies in least time.

Although not strictly the time of year for it, Mr Donovan decided that the current record, of 1 min 26 secs, would be easier to break than say, lying on a bed of nails, or growing the longest fingernails.

His record attempt nearly got off to the worst possible start when the supply of mince pies he had managed to source from Cheshire failed to arrive in time. Luckily, he found some in Asda, despite Christmas being a distant memory – the Guinness Book of Records stipulates that they must be “commercially available”, so home-made ones were a non-starter.

His activities caused quite a stir among shoppers in Beccles today, as he ate his pies outside the King’s Head in the town centre.

It took three attempts, including the first which was curtailed when he thought he was going to be sick, but eight pies later he managed it, shaving three seconds off the record time.

He said: “I feel triumphant. And a bit sick.”

The record attempt was filmed for sending to the Guinness Book of Records, and there to act as an independent observer was Hektor Rous, son of the Earl of Stradbroke.

“I quite like mince pies actually. But I am glad I don’t have to eat any for a while,” he said, adding that “it just doesn’t seem right” without brandy butter.

“I might have broken a record for the number of pints in a night, or for kebab-eating, but not mince pies.”

Mr Donovan, of North Cove, near Beccles, is still working on the rest of his list up to his birthday on Saturday. He has already been llama trekking – near Halesworth, of all places – and got a tattoo.

He said: “The llama trekking was a bit weird. We weren’t allowed to ride them but they carried our bags for us.

“The tattoo is of the Innocent smoothie logo, because they are good for you and it says funny things on the bottle – like ‘If you are reading this, you must be bored.’ And they sent me a load of them for my birthday.”

The network manager at Bungay High School has a history of unusual birthday celebrations – last year’s was spent in the Innocent offices. As for next year, he is already thinking about which record to break – but is confident that it will not be mince-pie related.

“I don’t think it will be anything to do with them. If anyone else breaks the record, they can keep it.”

Original Article from the EDP24 – Eastern Daily Press