Bungee jump inventor David Kirke recounts arrest after first-ever attempt

David Kirke, the inventor of bungee jumping, has died at the age of 78, a friend of his family told The Independent.

The co-founder of the Dangerous Sports Club based in Oxford and London completed the sport’s first jump off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol on April Fool’s Day in 1979 while grasping a bottle of champagne.

In a resurfaced 2019 interview, Mr Kirke told ITV News that he covered his face with a scarf so his mother wouldn’t recognise him in newspaper coverage of the stunt.

On his arrest for breaking local by-laws, Mr Kirke recalled: “They [police officers] let us off with a £50 fine.”