Latest news with #DarrenWatkins
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Annual cheese rolling race to take place
Update: Date: 11:26 BST Title: Event declared 'unsafe' Content: As popular as the cheese rolling is, it puts a strain on the emergency services. The local Tewkesbury Borough Safety Advisory Group (SAG) has raised concerns over public safety. The group says one particular concern is how the emergency services would respond if there was a "major incident" with multiple casualties. Tewkesbury Borough Councillor Murray Stewart said that although the authority does not want to prevent the event from going ahead, it has a duty to the public. 'The Safety Advisory Group has been left with no alternative other than to declare the event unsafe and has a duty to share this with the public," she added. At previous cheese rolling events, several people have suffered injuries which required emergency treatment by paramedics. Ambulances have also struggled to access the site. Update: Date: 11:23 BST Title: Youtuber IShowSpeed took part last year Content: iShowSpeed (in the white t-shirt) at the bottom of Cooper's Hill at the annual cheese rolling event American Youtuber and rapper Darren Watkins, better known as IShowSpeed, took part in Gloucestershire's famous tradition last year. But Cooper's Hill is no respecter of celebrity status. The influencer, who has nearly 40 million subscribers, had to take a trip to the medical tent after he was bashed and bruised from tumbling down the hill. Update: Date: 11:18 BST Title: Steeper than the steepest street Content: How steep is Cooper's Hill? With an average gradient of more than 45 degrees, Cooper's Hill is steeper than the steepest street in England - understood to be Vale Street in Bristol - which has an almost 22-degree gradient. That means for every foot a competitor travels, the slope also drops a foot. The hill is not man made, it is a completely natural slope, and the the cheese can reach high speeds - travelling as fast as 70mph. Update: Date: 11:12 BST Title: A snapshot of the event Content: This video can not be played The Gloucestershire cheese rolling competitions are taking place today Never seen the cheese rolling before? Here's some footage from down the years on Cooper's Hill. Update: Date: 11:07 BST Title: So, what's it all about? Content: How does today work? What are the timings? Where does it happen? Who can take part? All those questions and more are answered in this handy guide we put together earlier. Pull up a seat, maybe have some cheese and crackers and read all about it. Update: Date: 10:38 BST Title: Welcome to the cheese rolling live page Content: It's back. Today is the day hundreds of people will take on the challenge of Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, chasing a cheese down the incredibly steep slope watched by enthusiastic crowds. The traditional event, whose roots are shrouded in mystery but may well date back 600 years, now attracts competitors from across the world, and is classed as an extreme sport. The hill, which has a 1:2 gradient, is not for the faint hearted, but that does not deter the people who slip, slide and bounce down it for the honour of being named the winner and keeping the cheese. We'll be following this year's cheese rolling all day, with plenty of live updates, insights and footage from the scene.
Economist
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Economist
How China became cool
The leaders of the Communist Party might be surprised to find they are indebted to a bouncy 20-year-old livestreamer from Ohio called Darren Watkins junior. He goes by the screen name IShowSpeed and has in one visit done more for China's image abroad than any amount of turgid party propaganda. On a two-week trip in March and April he showed his 38m followers the country's rich history (with a backflip on the Great Wall), friendly people (he joked with China's finest Donald Trump impersonator) and advanced technology (he danced with a humanoid robot, got a KFC meal delivered by drone, and tried out a flying taxi). As he drove into a lake in Shenzhen, safe within an amphibious James-Bond-style electric SUV, Mr Watkins could not believe what was going on. 'Oh my God, this car is not sinking…China got it, these Chinese cars got it!' Or as he says frequently throughout his visit, 'China's different, bro.'
