How do you pass the time when standing in a barrel high above a Wolverhampton street?

Reporter John Swallow scales a high platform to chat to Rob Jackson, who has been standing in a barrel 40 feet above a street in Wolverhampton for 30 days and 30 nights, in an attempt to break the world record for this unusual feat.

However, it appears that Mr Jackson's research on the subject was pretty poor, as a quick check of the 1982 records show that several Americans had already sat for far longer on poles across the Atlantic. In fact, this stunt appears to have been quite the fashionable pursuit stateside, popularised by Alvin 'Shipwreck' Kelly - a colourful character who caused a sensation during the 1920s with multiple acts of pole-sitting endurance.

Going back even further, we find Symeon the Stylite, a figure from Syrian antiquity, who, it is claimed, sat for 37 years (!) on a similar platform. We are happy to report that Mr Jackson came down from his perch safely four days later.

John Swallow talks to Rob Jackson who is spending his time in a barrel 40 feet above the street in Wolverhampton.