9th January 2004

A version of this article was published on BBC Staffordshire on-line

WHACKING LYRICAL

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure

Stafford's Dave Gorman spent 2003 on a 'Googlewhack Adventure' that took him round the world three times and sold out Sydney Opera House. I caught up with him for BBC Staffordshire as his book was launched to find out what went on.

Dave Gorman just can’t help himself. After a long night in a London pub a few years back, he woke up to find himself drawn into a challenge to find 54 other Dave Gormans. He travelled the world to meet them – and then thought he’d calm down a bit. But then he discovered googlewhacking.

A googlewhack appears when two words are entered into internet search engine Google that yield only one result from the billions of pages scanned. Dave was informed that he had one on his website – and became hooked on finding more.

“I was trying to write a novel and googlewhacking is the perfect displacement activity. I’d already rearranged the CDs and defrosted the fridge. But you can googlewhack at your computer, it’s horrible and dangerous. You spend hours finding one – and then you want to find a better one.”

Before he knew it, via a coincidental encounter with a friend and fellow Dave Gorman and a spectacular New Year that landed him at Heathrow clutching a ticket to Washington DC, he had been challenged to initiate a chain of 10 googlewhacks and meet each constituent whacker.

“I was hoisted by my own petard, really, because of stuff I’ve done in the past. My friends get a bit bored and think, ‘he’s a performing monkey, let’s get him to do something crazy’.”

The rest is history, and off he went, on his quest to discover these unique events and the people that care about them. The web is constantly expanding so googlewhacks are precious because they cannot be preserved – “just like snowflakes”, says Dave. Does he have a favourite? “I have a particular fondness for ‘dork turnspit’. Rather like a torture machine for geeks.”

Anyway, the novel went out of the window and Dave had to pay back his advance. Trouble was, he’d spent it on travelling the world – and so his hugely successful stage-show was born, telling his story in his own inimitable style, from the Edinburgh Fringe to Stoke’s Regent Theatre to … Sydney Opera House?

“That was a dream, completely and utterly, and it was the most enjoyable phonecall ever to my Mum back in Stafford. For two weeks I had the best walk to work anywhere in the world!” And he also became his venue’s biggest selling act ever – no mean achievement.

Dave is so earnest and infectiously enthusiastic about all the stuff that happens to him – so doesn’t it annoy him when people say he’s just ticking all the boxes and churning out contrived wackiness, just to cash in?

“I don’t care if the press says it, though usually they’re very generous. But I am a bit annoyed if someone comes out of my show and thinks it, after I’ve told them my story. If people think I’m being disingenuous, I think in fact that they’re just being a bit cynical.”

So what could possibly be next for Dave Gorman? “Well, I’m not googlewhacking any more. I’m through that – there should be a support network for people like me. The book tells a cautionary tale: if you read it and then googlewhack, you’re an idiot.” And if the novel gets written, it’ll be in secret: no pressure, no cash to fritter.

Dave had a relatively quiet time seeing in 2004. “I went to Stockholm with friends, figuring that the worst thing that could happen was waking up on a plane back to London.” But I bet we haven’t heard the last of him. He’ll be doing something crazy and improbable before you can say 'schmaltzy phlebotomist'.

I know, it's cheating. But, go on. Whack it into Google. Whet your appetite. And, don’t forget: beautiful snowflakes melt.

Links:

Dave Gorman - Latest news on Stafford's funniest man.

Google - The search engine

Googlewhack.com - A complete resource for whackers, including the complete rules of the game and 'The Whack Stack', to which you can officially submit your discoveries.

Disclaimer: Ben is not responsible for large amounts of time wasted on external sites.

© Ben James 2004