How near-fatal train accident launched Mr Methane's record-breaking career as a flatulist
The world’s only performing flatulist got into the unique profession after his job as a train driver nearly killed him.
With 30 years under his belt, Paul Oldfield (UK), better known as Mr Methane, holds the record for longest career as a flatulist, a direction he never thought his life would go in.
Paul had wanted to be a train driver since he was a little boy.
But when a freight train he was on started experiencing problems and there was no way to stop it, he became terrified he was about to die.
The train ran away for miles and went hurtling through Sheffield station.
Paul driving a train in 1988
“There was a red signal and by luck we didn’t hit any other trains,” Paul told us during a recent visit to Guinness World Records HQ in London.
“There was a train departing that was coming on to our line but we just managed to nip that in the bud.
“There was no communication in those days between the cab and the signal man so all you could do was whistle, you had to just keep whistling, but because the signal box was in a tower in Sheffield and we were miles away, they couldn’t hear us.”
He added: “The next thing you knew we came rushing through the station. It was too fast to jump off, but the other idea was to maybe go into the engine room but what would have happened then if we’d hit something, it would have exploded and there would have been hot oil and fuel and nearly 2,000 tonnes of stone at the back would have just come over the top of you.”
Thankfully, Paul made it out alive and uninjured, but of course, it left him with some psychological scars.
While taking some time off, he decided to start up a bit of a side hustle using an unusual skill he’d always had… passing wind on command.
He’d long been entertaining his classmates when he saw a trailer for Le Pétomane before a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
“All my friends were telling me there was a movie out about me,” Paul said.
Le Pétomane was based on the life of Joseph Pujol, a famous 19th-century French music hall artist who possessed the ability to control his abdominal muscles and sphincter in order to “inhale” air into his rectum and release it on command, just like Paul can.
It’s something he would do in the playground at school to entertain his friends, while earning a little extra cash too.
“I used to do it for pocket money in the squash courts at school,” he confessed.
“I had a syndicate and I bet I could do so many farts in a minute and my friends would say ‘no way’ but they were leading the others on because they knew I could.
“Others would put money in and then afterwards we’d split it.
“People said I should be performing but I wanted to be a train driver and became one.”
Read about more record-breaking performers in our Arts and Entertainment section.
It was during time off after the train accident that Paul decided to finally give being a professional parper a go. He donned a green and purple superhero-style suit, complete with mask and cape, and the rest is history.
Little did he know back then, that his career would still be going strong more than 30 years on.
Paul has his own YouTube channel with 32,000 subscribers, films personalized videos for people, has appeared on numerous TV shows including Britain’s Got Talent, and even has his own merchandise.
See him here on Britain’s Got Talent…
Paul, who describes his talent as the “art of controlled anal voicing”, said: “During my time off I started to perform and then I just didn’t want to go back, I found a love for it.
“I thought I could carry on train driving at first.
“My mum had died as well and she was only 65, so I had this thing where you think ‘life is too short’.
“I thought if I could do this, even if it lasted a few years, then who cares and it’s lasted far longer than I ever thought.
“It’s like anything when you’ve done it a long time, I’m 60 now and you think ‘I’ll just put it to bed, I’m quite happy with what I’ve got now’, but then something else will come along and you’ll think ‘I can’t give it up now, I’ve got to keep going’.”
Paul’s alter ego enjoyed massive success in the 90s, when “lad humour” was prevalant in the UK.
But it’s been up and down over the years as things have become a bit more serious and attitudes have changed.
Paul said: “I used to do a lot of corporate stuff as well and that dried up, it went a more serious world and then the internet and YouTube taking off really rescued it.
“There was a TV show in Norway that, pardon the pun, gave me a second wind. It went viral on YouTube and then I started to get TV offers off the back of that.”
Paul has even released his own original music, including a song called "Cut the Cheese", which you can watch here…
He has some sidekicks too, poop puppets named Richard and Judy after the famous UK TV presenter couple, and a lavatory brush called Lou.
Although lad culture and TV talent shows have given Paul’s career plenty of boosts, he’s very aware that his particular brand of entertainment is somewhat of an acquired taste, and he’s faced more than his fair share of backlash.
He said: “Farts are funny but you’d be surprised by how many people get really offended.
“It’s like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it, and the thing is, if the haters weren’t so vociferous it wouldn’t cut through the way it does, it’s the fact that it gets reaction either way.”
He added: “I get some proper abuse on social. I think if you just don’t let it bother you that’s the main thing because they don’t know you, they just see a character.
Mr Methane with British comedian, actor and presenter Frank Skinner
“The internet can be a horrible place.”
Despite the haters, Paul says his career still “rumbles on” three decades later and it shows no signs of coming to a halt.
“Once you’ve come out of a normal job and get into some eccentric bits, you can’t go back,” he said.
“I’ve been approached probably twice to go back to the trains but I just couldn’t do it.
“A few years ago, I saw a train hit a sinkhole and I saw it burying itself in the ground and it brought back the trauma.
“You’re thinking what the driver has to do and what’s going on and I think, ‘I don’t need to go back, do I?’
“As long as you’re having a good time and you can pay your bills, that’s all that matters.”
Mr Methane can be spotted on the cover of Guinness World Records 2027 – get your copy now!