Roy Maloy

Roy Timothy McPherson (b. 27 October 1975) is an Australian stilt walker, stunt performer, entertainer, and the current holder of four world records: the world record for the tallest stilts walked on—56.5 ft— the world record for the heaviest solid object smashed on a person lying on a bed of nails—a 550 kg block of ice on 10 October 2009. and the World Record for walking 40 paces on the heaviest stilts ever walked on at 34kg per leg on 23 December 2010 and for walking the furthest distance on 3' wooden stilts in one hour - 6.2km in June 2011 in Tasmania.

Early life
Maloy was born in Melbourne, the son of Salvation Army missionaries. He began performing as a hobby after seeing the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hong Kong in 1982 at the age of 7. His mother performed an illusion show for Sunday school events, which Roy assisted in; dressed as a clown.

Career
Homeless in his late teens, Roy began performing balloon tying in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, in the late 1990s as a busker. Learning stilt walking during this time, at the age of 19, he began performing in street parades and at large events such as the opening of Homebush Stadium in Sydney and outdoor festivals. Maloy continued performing comedy style shows, adding stilt walking to his skills in 1998.

Roy Maloy currently holds six world records, all have been registered and certified by the official body, the World Record Holders Republic.

Stilt-walking records
In 2003 Maloy was invited to 'perform a stunt' by a school fete in Victoria Ave. He arrived with 15-foot stilts and announced that he would 'break the Australian record for the tallest stilts ever walked on'. Shortly thereafter he began touring his stilt-walking and comedy magic/circus shows to regional Australian agricultural shows - demonstrating 'extreme stilt walking'.

In 2004 Maloy toured a solo show titled 'The Roy-All Variety Performance' across Australia and New Zealand. Maloy included knife throwing, a guillotine illusion and a bed of nails with his stilt-walking act.

In 2008 Roy announced that he would break the world record for tallest stilts ever walked on in human history. Roy Maloy, while wearing an overhead safety wire, took five independent steps on 56 ft. 6 inch stilts weighing 50.6 lbs. each leg on 1.11.2008. His stunt received national media coverage.

On 23 December 2010 Roy broke the world record for walking on the heaviest stilts ever walked on. The stilts were made from red gum telephone pole segments and Roy walked the necessary 40 paces with each stilt weighing 35kg per stilt. The event was hosted in front of 3000 fans in Townsville, Queensland.

On 24 June 2011, Roy Maloy broke his fourth world record, for the greatest distance walked on 3' (91.4cm) wooden stilts in under one hour. The stilt walk took place between MONA Art Gallery in Tasmania, through Elizabeth St Mall and finished at the ABC lawns in Hobart. In total, he walked 13.4km, with the furthest distance walked in one hour being 6.2km.

On 4 December 2012 Roy Maloy broke his fifth world record for the most fireballs breathed in under an hour, in Brighton, Tasmania. Roy smashed the existing world record to breathe 501 fireballs in just 28 minutes.

On 5 December, less than 24 hours after breaking his fifth world record, Roy broke his sixth world record and fourth stilts world record, when completed the fastest kilometer ever walked on stilts in 7.28 minutes at the Circular Heads Agricultural show. The previous world record stood at 9.35 minutes.

Heaviest solid object broken on a bed of nails
On 10 October 2009 Roy Maloy broke the world record for the heaviest solid object broken on a person while laying on a bed of nails at the Derwent Entertainment Centre, Tasmania. Lying on a bed of nails, Maloy had a 550 kilogram block of solid ice placed on his chest by a forklift, which was then smashed with a sledge hammer. The previous record was held by fellow Australian Neal Hardy who had a total of 532.3 kilograms placed on his chest and broken at Vikings Auditorium, Erindale, Canberra, Australia, on 16 February 2008. (Ref Guinness 2009)

Honorary titles
Maloy has been described by the Australian media variously as ‘The Prince of Australian Vaudeville’ (Herald Sun 2002), ‘King of Carnival’ (Border Mail 2006), ‘Sultan of Circus’ (Hopetoun Courier 2007), and ‘King of Australian Circus (Leader 2010) and 'Circus King' (The Age) Australian Fire Brathing King (Sunday Herald Sun 2011).

When performing on stilts in the 2010 Moomba parade in Melbourne, Victoria, Roy served as a pseudo royal escort to the Moomba King and Queen, alongside their court jester.

On 10 October 2009, Roy was presented with a civic medalion by the Mayor of Glenorchy, Tas, after breaking the bed of nails world record. (Mercury newspaper)

On 16 March 2010, Roy was crowned King of the Brimbank on Parade festival in Sunshine, Victoria by Peter Hitchener of Channel 9 News. (Brimbank Leader)

On 24 June Roy Maloy was presented with a civic medaion by the Mayor of Brighton Council at the ABC studios in Hobart Tasmania for breaking his fourth world record (ABC Radio Hobart)

Carnival Culture
In 2010 Roy Maloy produce a comic mockumentary of their tours to different carnivals, titled Roy Maloy's Carnival Culture. The DVD featured a cast including a hapless and talentless juggler named Singe, Rick the 'Sketchy Hitchhiker', Emberella and his own real life daughter, J'ette.

Art and Non-Blended Impressionism
Painting under his real name, Roy McPherson, Roy held his first large scale public exhibition, Circus Portraits, at Melbourne's Block Arcade in January 2012. The exhibition was seen by more than 60,000 people and where Roy's unique style of painting was first noticed by the art world. During his second exhibition, Laneway Days, was supported by Melbourne's Novotel on Collins and held at Australia on Collins,and was where McPherson's unique style of painting was first recognised as 'Non-Blended Impressionism'.

McPherson has received wide scale media coverage and praise from the critics and public alike for the new genre of art is pioneering and is scheduled to hold further exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles later in 2013.