Colin Furze is a BritishYouTube personality, stuntman, inventor, and filmmaker, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. Furze left school to become a plumber, a trade which he pursued until joining the Sky1 programme Gadget Geeks. Furze has used his plumbing and engineering experience to build many unconventional contraptions, including a hoverbike, a wall of death, a jet-powered motorcycle made with pulsejet engines, and the world's fastest mobility scooter, pram, and dodgem. Certain projects he has undertaken have been funded by television and video game franchises for promotion, including a spring-loaded hidden blade and grappling hook from the Assassin's Creed franchise, an artificial-turf-covered BMW E30 containing a hot tub and barbecue grill, and a bunker underneath his back garden to promote Sky1's television series You, Me and the Apocalypse. He celebrates reaching YouTube subscriber milestones by staging ever-more-extravagant firework stunts.
Biography
Colin has said that he attended Malcolm Sargent Primary School as a child until he transitioned into secondary school. By then he had already begun making underground dens and a few tree houses. He became a plumber after leaving school at 16, which allowed him to focus working on tools, gadgets and engineering. Shortly after the death of his father, he discovered the video-sharing website YouTube on which he shared his inventions beginning with his wall of death ramp in 2007. He and his wife have a son born in 2012 named Jake who is often featured in Colin's videos.
Inventions
Furze's many contraptions are publicised on his YouTube channel. On 13 March 2010, he uploaded a video of his converted scooter, incorporating a flame thrower that could shoot flames up to in the air. On 25 March 2010, Furze was arrested by Lincolnshire Police, for possessing an object converted into a firearm. He was released on bail without charge the next day. This was Furze's third attempt at artificing such a device, as the first did not ignite and the second burst into flames. On 5 May 2014, Furze posted a video to kick off his 3-week long X-Men characters special by designing a set of realistic Wolverine claws based on a pneumatic system. Within its first week it had received over 3 million views. On 23 October 2015, Furze released a video showing off the start of a new multi-part build, in which he would construct a Hidden Blade to promote the new Ubisoft game, . Furze went on to make the Hidden Blade, a spring-loaded concealed blade that activates at the flick of the wrist with the help of a ring-triggered wheel mechanism, a rope launcher, and a winch device, all built onto a frame that fit his wrist. In November 2015, Furze constructed an underground bomb shelter beneath his garden, as part of a request by Sky1 to promote the series You, Me and the Apocalypse. The bunker contains a corridor and a large main room, as well as a fully functional air filtration system, and has an entrance shaft concealed by a garden shed. In 2016, Furze created a "hoverbike" using two paramotors. Colin has completed three Star Wars themed challenges in partnership with eBay. In 2016 he completed a giant AT-AT garden playhouse followed by a full size Kylo RenTie Silencer in 2017. In 2019 he completed a moving Landspeeder from the Star Wars A New Hope, the vehicle was auctioned off on eBay with all of the funds going to BBC Children in Need. Furze's YouTube channel has 10 million subscribers as of 22 April 2020.
Achievements
On 24 October 2008, Furze revealed a 14.26 metre motorbike that he had built to break the world record of the longest motorcycle. This was done by attaching beams in place of the back. He completed the record by riding it a minimum of 100 metres. On 14 October 2010, it was announced that Furze had modified a mobility scooter to give it the ability to reach in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of Records. It took him nearly three months to build and has a 125 cc motocross engine. On 10 October 2012, Furze posted a video showing a pram fitted with an engine which, if it travelled over, would make it the world's fastest pram. The pram was featured in the October 2013 copy of Popular Science Magazine, in which Furze was interviewed about his reasons for having modded the pram. On 30 March 2017, Furze posted a video showing a restored 1960s dodgem fitted with a 600cc sport bike engine producing around 100bhp. The dodgem achieved a top speed of, with an average speed of from a run in each direction – making it the world's fastest bumper car, as approved by Guinness World Records. BBC Worldwide asked Furze to complete the project for The Stig to drive.
Television
Furze appeared as one of the experts on Gadget Geeks, the short-lived Sky1 series, in which the trio of experts would consult a member of the British public to test an invention idea in the workplace, along with Tom Scott and Charles Yarnold. Furze has been 'number one' multiple times on the Science Channel show Outrageous Acts of Science and has appeared on the E4 show Virtually Famous twice, demonstrating his wolverine claws on 28 July 2014, and again, the following year, showcasing the "toaster knife". Colin's inventions were featured on the 11 February 2020 episode of Great British Inventions hosted by David Jason.
Books
Colin Furze authored "This Book Isn't Safe", a collection of projects intended for children and adults to recreate at home and spur an interest in engineering.
