S.African bids to talk his way into record books

A South African man has been speaking on the phone non-stop since Thursday in a bid to talk his way into the record books.

Andre van Zijl, 63, who has been living with HIV for over 30 years, is due to complete his 50-hour feat on Saturday at noon and has used the publicity to raise AIDS awareness.

He has been fielding telephone calls from six mobile phones and a landline, connected under a gazebo at a shopping centre in Centurion south of Pretoria.

“It gives me such great pleasure to do something for a good cause… people take notice,” he told AFP in a phone call 38 hours into the attempt.

To keep talking Van Zijl said he relied on family and Facebook friends to call him.

“When they don’t call me, I call them,” he said.

According to the Guinness World Records, the world’s longest telephone conversation by a team of two people lasted 54 hours and 4 minutes.

Van Zyl claims to have broken 39 unusual records, ranging from dancing to disco music non-stop for 345 hours, to sitting in a jacuzzi for nearly 12 hours.