August 25th: The Day a Human Cannonball Didn't Work Out So Swimmingly

August 25th 1974 marks the date of a human cannonball failure. As an attempt to break the world record, a woman from Bristol fired herself out a cannonball, with the aim of clearing the River Avon and landing in a safety net on the other side. Mary Connors, a 21 year old secretary, had failed once before at this attempt earlier in the week, but this incident turned out to be more unsuccessful than the last.

And....Fire!

   Confident in pulling off her stunt, Ms Connors said beforehand: "We've been working flat out on the cannon ever since Wednesday, and I think we've ironed out all the faults." Famous last words, indeed. Seconds after being fired out of the cannon, Connors slowly started to feel the effect of gravity taking its toll, and SPLASH! into the River Avon. 

    Things just got worse and worse (but extremely comical) when two rescue men arrived at the scene to assist Ms Connors, but then capsized themselves! Consequently, a secondary rescue boat had to then help the 3 soggy people out of the river to safety. So ultimately, August 25th 1974 didn't achieve any new world records, however it did result in creating a fine example of 'don't try this at home' type behaviour.