Unusual activities of other worlds. The strangest hobbies of stars and ordinary people

21.07.2013

A hobby is a hobby on which you spend your free time. And there are a lot of such pastimes. Maybe interesting hobbies, it relieves stress or gives you the opportunity to step away from reality, at least for a short time. But the fact that it gives pleasure is a fact. Fishing, hunting, stamps, coins can be classified as common hobbies. However, collecting coins in dollars or, at worst, in rubles, the same activity is not entirely ordinary, you will agree. But in this scenario, we will look at hobbies of a slightly different nature. This is the Top 10 The most unusual hobbies interesting hobbies.

No. 10. This hobby was called good

Many people who have extra money do charity work. Not bad at all. But then one “comrade” appeared who turned this good deed into a hobby. His name is Reed Sandridge. After he was fired from his job, he decided to give money to everyone who needed it. Reed gives ten dollars a day to those in need. And then he writes in his notebook about this good deed. Original, right? Not a single good deed should be left unaccounted for. I wonder how long it will last.

No. 9. This is an interesting hobby - dog grooming.

After a haircut, it can be very interesting to look at your handiwork. What the dogs themselves would do if they could appreciate the creativity of some groomers. There are a huge number of different competitions in which our cute four-legged friends participate. And everything in them should be perfect, as Chekhov himself said (though not in this regard): physical training, training, etc. But an original haircut, or, as they say now, “glamorous”, should also be present. Owners can allow their pets to look “stunning.” Nowadays this type of hobby is very common. And it is considered very unusual.

No. 8. This is an interesting hobby - cards

Cards and related games are not a very good hobby. Disastrous, one might say. But, there are options. Architecture, wealth and fame. What do the cards have to do with it? One man from Los Angeles proved that by combining all this into one whole, you can live happily ever after. He's just building houses of cards.

No. 7. Train license plates

There are people who like to take notes and write things down. Some do it professionally. What if it's a hobby? For example: the number of a train that left a certain station and its route. Unusual? However, these people are becoming more and more numerous. And so all over the world. It should be noted that such a hobby has its advantages, since it requires concentration and attentiveness.

No. 6. Extreme ironing

There are extreme sports, recreation in the same sense is present, and it is becoming more and more popular every day. But ironing clothes on some rock? You also need to drag the ironing board and some underwear in there. Insurance, i.e. a safety rope, a hundred meters above sea level and calmly smooth out the accumulated things in a suspended state. How do you like this? interesting hobby? The most interesting thing is that a large number of people are passionate about this hobby.

No. 5. Polishing the dirt

Another unusual hobby. In a country where the seasons change exactly on schedule, i.e. sunbathing in summer and playing snowballs in winter, it’s not difficult to come up with a suitable activity. What if they only see winter in movies and don’t know where to start building a snowman? And here you can come up with something interesting if you approach this issue creatively. Dirt, of course, is everywhere. Rolling a ball from this “product” is very simple, but this process is done manually. But the fate of the ball does not end there. They begin to polish him. And they bring it to perfect condition. Some "mud" balls become works of art that are sold and, most interestingly, bought.

#4: Collecting Milk Bottles

There lives a guy on earth whose name is Pavel. It seems like nothing supernatural. But he really loves milk. “What a miracle,” our near ancestors would say. Many people love this product for its properties. Only Pavel also collects milk bottles. And there are already more than 10,000 of them. And this collection of bottles is considered the largest. Pavel himself wants to open a museum where he will display all this wealth.

No. 3. Cutting figures from soap

One sculptor answered the question: how does he create such masterpieces? — I answered: I just take a stone and remove everything unnecessary. The same can be said about those who make something from wood or metal. How do you like soap carving? The most interesting thing is that the resulting figures are very unusual. True, how to “wash them away” later, because the beauty will go away.

No. 2. Pictures from cassette tape

Anyone else remember audio cassettes? It may be objected that this is already ancient history, of no use to anyone. But no! Especially if he is a talented person whose imagination is great. It turns out that you can make a picture from this tape. Since the material is elastic, there is plenty of room for imagination. Similar works often appear on the Internet, from which we can conclude that not so few people are passionate about this hobby. Second place Top 10 Unusual hobbies interesting hobbies .

No. 1. This hobby is very unusual, but...

There is a resident in Norway whose name is Kari. She doesn't have her usual hobby: she cleans up trash. What's surprising? There is even such a profession - garbage collector. Yes, but not so. She collects what the sea waves throw ashore. She has been doing this for 20 years. And one day Kari found a piece of jewelry that was 2,500 years old. Well, what is it called?

A hobby is a favorite pastime that allows you to temporarily escape from routine problems and enjoy the process itself and what comes out as a result. What is surprising is not only the huge variety of these same hobbies, but also their very content: some hobbies are simply extraordinary! Check out a selection of the most unusual, surprising, and even strange hobbies, and the people who became famous for them, perhaps this will become your source of inspiration.

1. Decorating your home with lids

A resident of the Urals, Olga Kostina, became famous for decorating her house with colored plastic covers. To do this, she needed 30 thousand caps, which she diligently collected, sorted and washed, and then attached them with nails and a hammer. Now roof ornaments, which look like embroidery, decorate the facade of the house, gates and outbuildings. It is not surprising that this miracle attracts tourists from all over the world.

2. Huge ball

Decorator Mark Karlmine once decided to paint a baseball. Over time, he got the hang of it and applied a total of 22,894 layers of paint, resulting in the ball weighing 1,587 kg. This ball, which is more appropriately called a ball rather than a ball, has become famous and now people come from all over the world to add another layer of paint to it. The creator has one rule for his creativity - each new color applied to the ball must be different from all the previous ones. This hobby has gained its followers, as evidenced by photographs of other huge colorful balls.

3. Charity

Charity has long become perhaps the main hobby of the powerful, but one person, the unemployed American Reed Sandridge, really elevated it to the status of a hobby, which can rightfully be considered the kindest hobby of all known today. After he was fired from his job, he decided to help those in need for free. He does this in the following way: he takes 10 dollars, goes out into the street, finds the person who, in his opinion, is in need, and gives him the money. Reed has a special notebook where he writes down all the good deeds he has done to preserve the memory of the people he has ever helped.

4. Unusual dog haircut

This hobby has recently become widespread in China. And a certain Katherine Miles from Australia managed to make it her profession and become a first-class stylist for animals. A variety of fancy figures are cut out of wool, dogs are painted in the richest shades and made into real works of art.




5. Pumpkin carving

Ray Willefen graduated from the Academy of Arts, but chose to teach at school as a career as an artist, as he loves children very much and wants to teach the younger generation a lot. Well, in his free time he carves... pumpkins. This hobby of his has roots since childhood, when the boy lived on a farm and cut out figures from any available material. Many are interested in his talent, and one day he was invited to the White House to carve a pumpkin for Halloween. At home, Ray has a huge collection of a wide variety of figures and faces: funny, sad, and sometimes quite scary.


6. Drawings in the sand

Jim Denevan, an American artist and chef, is famous for drawing beautiful and short-lived paintings in the sand using an ordinary wooden stick. Over the past 17 years, he has created many unique sand paintings around the world, but since they are all sooner or later washed away by the tides, we can now only see them in photographs.

7. Sculptures on a pencil point

45-year-old carpenter from America, Dalton Getty, became famous thanks to his amazing hobby. For 25 years now, he has been carving tiny sculptures from the leads of ordinary pencils. His creations are simply amazing, and it is noteworthy that when making them he does not use a magnifying glass, and he has only three main tools: a knife, a blade and a sewing needle. The creator devotes about 1-2 hours a day to his hobby, and it usually takes him several months to create one sculpture. And his most famous sculpture, with a pencil and a chain, took two and a half years to complete.

8. Paintings made from tape

Dutchman Max Zorn, a street artist from Amsterdam, became famous for his amazing paintings made from ordinary tape. He uses only tape and a scalpel, and plexiglass is used as a base. His extraordinary paintings are used to decorate lanterns, other lighting fixtures, and the tops of buildings. They resemble scenes from old films. Despite the limited color range, the artist manages to make his creations realistic thanks to the play of light and shadow. Zorn is great at conveying a special atmosphere, feelings and emotions.

9. Houses of cards

Bert McLane from Los Angeles built his first house of cards when he was 5 years old, and even then it was 6 stories high. Then he became seriously interested in this, his houses became higher and higher, and their designs became more and more intricate. His unusual hobby brought him fame, money and recognition. Recently, the government of Saudi Arabia commissioned McLain to build a card replica of their Royal Center, which is a gigantic complex of high-rise buildings, and the fee for this miracle will be 1.5 million dollars!

10. Live TV Star

And Paul Yarrow from London is famous for a truly strange hobby. He just has a manic addiction to the television screen, and loves to appear on camera. However, he is not a star, not a presenter, and not a journalist. He just loves to be in the background behind the reporter and does this with enviable regularity, so many British news fans already know the unusual fat man.

Work by Painting Lampas

If you think that calligraphy is only hieroglyphs, then you are mistaken. Cyrillic, Arabic, and Hebrew can elevate alphabetic characters to the level of art. And it's always more than drawing. Calligraphy is pure creativity and zen.

Improve your calligraphy skills:

  1. "Ultramarine" is an online magazine about graffiti, street art, design, art and street culture in Russia and abroad. A separate section is devoted to calligraphy.
  2. Calligraffiti.nl is the website of one of the most popular calligraphers and street artists, Nils Möllmann, known as Shoe. He is considered the inventor of the calligraffiti style.

2. Doodling and zentangle - irrational painting


sibmama.ru

This activity is suitable for those who start scribbling as soon as they pick up a writing medium. This is how it is translated from English - “doodle”. This is an irrational drawing style that develops memory and creativity, as well as an independent form of modern art.

Get better at doodling and zentangle:

  • Tanglepatterns.com is a well-known site with a huge number of patterns for creating zentangle tiles.
  • Zendoodle- a large community for those who love doodling and zentangle.

3. Marbling - drawing on water


youtube.com

Have you ever looked for weird cloud shapes in the sky? Then this hobby is for you: using insoluble paints, a pattern is created on the surface of the water, and then transferred to paper, fabric or any surface. It turns out very unusual and beautiful, and the process is truly mesmerizing.

There are two main marbling techniques: Persian ebru and Japanese suminagashi. The first is dominated by abstract patterns, while the second is dominated by circular patterns.

Improve yourself in the art of marbling:

  • Marbling.org is an international marbling community with a library, gallery and forum.
  • Suminagashi.com - a site dedicated to suminagashi and other types of marbling.

4. Freezelight - frozen light


popmech.ru

You may have already met strange young people who perform magic with flashlights in front of cameras. These are freezelighters. From the English freeze - “freeze” and light - “light”. The light really seems to freeze in the frosty air when it is shot at a long shutter speed. Using this technique, both beautiful abstractions and integral figurative compositions are created. The main thing is no computer processing.

Level up in freezelight:

  • Lpwa.pro is a worldwide alliance of light painters.
  • Freezelight.ru is an original Russian-language art project dedicated to painting with light. On the site you will find video tutorials and a gallery with cool works.

5. Mehendi - henna painting on the body


salonbeauty24.info

An ancient oriental tradition, which is again on the wave of popularity in the 21st century. There are more and more artists developing in mehendi, and if you are also looking for new forms, then be sure to try drawing henna on the body. Another form of mehendi hobby is photographing in images created on its basis, including in nude style.

Upgrade to mehendi:

  • Mehendischool.ru - online training in henna painting.
  • Nidhi's MehndiART- the author's YouTube channel with video tutorials on mehendi for beginners.

6. Kanzashi - ribbon decorations


qulady.ru

Kanzashi is a traditional Japanese hair ornament that women wear with their kimono. For us, this term has acquired a new sound - kanzashi - and a new meaning. Kanzashi is a needlework technique that is used to create beautiful hairpins, brooches and other jewelry. To try yourself in this direction, you will need several satin ribbons, a candle or lighter and a needle and thread.

Upgrade to Kanzashi:

  • Kanzashi.club is a site where master classes and literature on kanzashi are collected.
  • “Masters Fair” - in the section dedicated to kanzashi, there are many photo and video tutorials.

7. Felting - wool felting


livemaster.ru

Felting (filting) is a handicraft technique when three-dimensional drawings, toys, panels and other decorative elements are created from wool. There are several directions: dry, wet felting, nuno-felting. To work, you will need sheep wool, a special needle or soap solution. The hobby is ideal for women and children.

Improve your skills in felting:

  • Woolwares.ru - a site about felting for beginners with videos and master classes.
  • Club.osinka.ru - a forum section about felting on the most popular site about needlework.

8. Isographics - embroidery on cardboard

In our country this activity is also called thread graphics or simply isothread, and in English-speaking countries - embroidery on paper (“embroidery on paper”). All you need to create in this direction is thick paper and thread. Great for sharing creativity with children.

Upgrade in isographics:

  • “Country of Masters” - this site contains many master classes and examples of finished works, including those using the thread graphics technique.
  • « Favorite lesson» - a series of master classes on isothread.

9. Patchwork - patchwork sewing


tutknow.ru

A type of applied art with centuries-old traditions, when scattered scraps of fabric are transformed into a solid mosaic canvas. Using the patchwork technique (quilting, quilting), you can sew not only a blanket, but a bag or, for example, a toy.

Level up in patchwork:

  • Jacquelynnesteves.com is the blog of Jacqueline Steeves, who simply loves quilting.
  • Loskut.handmadecrafts.ru - patchwork workshop with materials from the paper magazine of the same name.


livemaster.ru

Hobbies for those who love to cook and draw. This can be done at the same time if you paint gingerbread cookies with icing (special sugar glaze). If you really get carried away and get good at it, you can even make money from it.

Get into gingerbread painting:

  • “Masters' Fair” is the most famous trading platform in RuNet for handmade goods, where, among other things, master classes on baking and decorating gingerbread are collected.
  • Julia Mylle- author's YouTube channel on gingerbread painting.

11. Brewing - preparing a foamy drink at home


joyreactor.cc

This is a whole science. And many successfully master it right in their kitchens. At first, the result is encouraging: you won’t find tasty beer during the day. But then the process itself drags on.

Improve your brewing skills:

  • “Guide to Brewing Home Beer” - a detailed guide for beginners.
  • “Russian Wikipedia about home brewing” - all about how to brew a drink from malt and hops on your own.


housesdesign.ru

Recycle translated from English means “reusing things”. This is the name of the environmental direction, which implies waste separation, responsible consumption and energy saving, as well as the direction of applied creativity. Why throw away grandma's old chest of drawers, plastic bottles or, if they can be given a second life? Just use your imagination.

Upgrade to recycle:

  • Recyclemag.ru is an online publication about an eco-friendly lifestyle. The site contains news, articles and tips on how to take care of the planet and live in accordance with the philosophy of minimalism.
  • Pinterest.com - on the most creative of all social networks you will find many master classes on repurposing and decorating old things. Request - DIY recycle.

13. Customizing - from jeans to bikes


bikeexif.com

Customizing is the alteration of clothing. Customizers turn skirts, shirts into dresses, and ordinary T-shirts are turned into designer ones. A hobby for those who always want to be in style, but are not ready to spend a lot of money on clothes.

For men, customization is often expressed in the transformation of motorcycles and cars. Custom bikes are real works of art, and their creators are usually literally passionate about their passion.

Get better at customizing:

  • “Second Street” is a website and community of the same name, where thousands of craftsmen post their work on remaking things and are inspired by each other’s ideas.
  • Customoto.com is a site where there is everything about creating exclusive motorcycles.

14. Modding - transforming equipment outside and inside


twitter.com/@Razer

The term “modding”, that is, modification, change, is traditionally used in relation to the alteration of computers. The peak of fashion for this hobby came in the mid-2000s. Now smartphones and tablets rule, so they, as well as other gadgets, are being modified. For modern modders, not only the appearance, but also the performance of the devices is important.

Level up in modding:

  • Modding.ru is a large portal about modding with a forum.
  • Topmods.net is one of the oldest Russian-language sites about this hobby.


youtube.com

A beautiful and unusual hobby for biologists and romantics. In addition to special knowledge, you will need an insectarium, a humidifier, a thermometer and other devices to make the fluttering beauties feel good. But if everything works out, breeding tropical butterflies can become a profitable side hustle.

Get better at raising butterflies:

  • Wikihow.com - a detailed tutorial on creating beauty from a cocoon.
  • Raisingbutterflies.org is an English-language blog from a man who has been raising butterflies for over 30 years.

16. Contemporary - self-expression through dance


balletka.by

This is a dance style that combines classical, jazz-modern and oriental art of movement (qigong, yoga and tai chi). There are no clear boundaries in it, the main thing is self-expression. Contemporary art teaches you to understand your body, control it and express your inner world through movements.

Level up at the same pace:

  • "" - a site about the history, theory and practice of contempo. Lots of useful information about movements, methods and techniques.
  • Contemporary-dance.org is a large English-language website about contemporary dance.

17. Dancehall - music and dance from the heart of Jamaica


gymbox.com

This is a music and dance style that grew out of reggae. Dancehall dance is especially popular now. Its dynamics and emancipation captivate you from the first seconds. If you're tired of your routine, need a burst of energy and want to compete in dance battles, this is the hobby for you.

Get pumped up in dancehall:

  • Dancehallreggae.com.au is an Australian website dedicated to Jamaican culture. There is a lot of music, videos and news from the world of reggae and dancehall.
  • Dancedb.ru is a site where video lessons and information on various dance styles, including dancehall, are collected.

18. Zumba - dance fitness


premiumsport.rf

Born at the intersection of hip-hop, salsa, samba, merengue, mambo, flamenco and belly dance. This trend was invented by Colombian Alberto Perez in the late 1990s. Zumba uses the maximum number of muscles - it is not only a great pastime, but also an effective way to lose weight.

Pump up in Zumba:

  • Zumba.com is the official website of the Zumba fitness brand.
  • Zumba.pro - online poster of Zumba events. Here you will find like-minded people, information about parties and master classes.

19. Bookcarving - book carving


factinteres.ru

Bookcarving is the creation of three-dimensional compositions from multi-page paper manuscripts. Carving translated from English means “carving”, book means “book”. Book carving is popular all over the world, but it requires patience, hard work and accuracy. This is a hobby for diligent people with artistic thinking. The greatest heights in this art were achieved by Brian Dettmer, Nicholas Galanin, Guy Laramie, Kylie Stillman and Robert Te.

Level up in bookcarving:

  • Briandettmer.com - Brian Dettmer's official website with photographs of the magnificent master's works and videos of his performances.
  • Artifex.ru - a selection of articles about book carving in this creative almanac.

20. Bookcrossing - book exchange


skr.su

Bookcrossing can be called one of the ways of beautiful. The essence is this: a person who has read a book leaves it in some public place (library, cafe, bookstore, subway, and so on). A random passerby picks it up, takes it for himself to read, and in return he “loses” another book somewhere. You can track the movement of books on the project website. Its mission is to popularize reading and respect for nature.

Level up in bookcrossing:

  • Bookcrossing.com is an international bookcrossing website.
  • Ballycumber.ru is a Russian-language website in support of the international book exchange movement.

21. Postcrossing - a postcard from a stranger


primamedia.today

Postcrossing is a global project, the essence of which is the exchange of paper postcards. The system gives you a random address, you send a postcard to the person, and then receive it from someone else (one of the schemes). As of 2017, over 676 thousand people from all over the world are registered on the official postcrossing website. People exchanged more than 40 million cards. Postcrossing is very popular in Russia and Belarus, because it is romantic and helps to find new friends.

Level up in postcrossing:

  • Postcrossing.com is the official website of the project.
  • Postcross.ru is a Russian-language portal for postcrossing enthusiasts.

22. Geocaching - treasure hunt


find-way.com.ua

This is an international tourism game, the essence of which is to find “treasure”. Some players make caches, while others use GPS to search for them. Over its almost twenty-year history, the game has gained millions of fans. The advantage is that you can do this hobby not alone, but with the whole family or a group of friends.

Zlikovec/Depositphotos.com massonforstock/Depositphotos.com

Do you want to feel like a brave Roman legionnaire or a Russian warrior fighting for the prince? Immerse yourself in the wonderful world of historical reconstruction. This is both science and artistic creativity. Some restore ancient equipment and armor, others organize performances. To recreate everything reliably requires deep knowledge and patience. Historical reconstruction has many fans, clubs are created, and various festivals are held.

Level up in historical reconstructions:

  • Rushistory.org is the official website of the Russian Historical Society, a portal for professionals and history buffs.
  • Reconlog.ru - a catalog of historical reconstruction clubs, as well as events related to them.

25. Volunteering - free assistance


miloserdie.ru

Volunteer activities are multifaceted. This is not only work in national parks and at sports and cultural events, but also, for example, helping orphans or homeless animals. You can choose the area of ​​volunteering you like and every day through good deeds you can receive a portion of new knowledge, experience and love.

Level up your volunteering:

  • "European Voluntary Service" is an international volunteer program.
  • “Volunteersrossii.rf” is the main volunteer resource in Russia.

What are you interested in? Tell us about your unusual hobbies in the comments.

Everyone spends their leisure time differently. Some read books, others draw, others prefer sports or dancing, and some just lie on the couch in front of the TV. There are many options for spending time, but among them there are also some rather strange hobbies.

1 – Toy traveling

The essence of this unusual hobby is to send your toys around the world. For this purpose, the ToyVoyagers website was created, where a diary of a toy is kept, where you can choose a temporary home for it with its owners, send and receive photos. But if you want to bring the “traveler” home, the temporary owners will send the toy home.

2 – Extreme ironing

David Fitzgerald from the UK, also known as "Safety Setting", became interested in extreme ironing in 1997. From a simple environmental protection officer, David turned into a real extreme sportsman. He irons clothes underwater while skydiving or mountain climbing. Not everyone can adopt such a hobby.

3 – Dog grooming, China

Perhaps one of the most eccentric hobbies you can imagine. For the competition, the owners cut and dye the dogs in such a way that they become like other animals or objects. The main goal of the competition, which takes place in China, is, of course, money! For winning it you can get 30 thousand US dollars. I wonder what animal activists say about this hobby.

4 – Muing

There is a strange competition in Wisconsin where participants moo. The one who imitates a cow's moo best of all wins the main prize of the competition. The last winner was a ten-year-old boy named Austin, who was rewarded with $1,000, a gold bell and a cow costume.

5 – Train surfing

Train surfing as a hobby originated in Germany in the 1980s. Crazy hobby is considered one of the most dangerous in the world, and for good reason. Trainsurfers climb onto the roofs of trains and perform tricks: jumping or running at high speed. In search of adrenaline, the most reckless train surfers climb onto the roofs of high-speed trains. More than 40 people a year die just from trying to learn to surf on a train.

6 – Vehicle tattooing

Taiwanese pensioner Lee Zongxiong paints unusual graffiti on cars. Lee became interested in unusual vehicle tattooing in 1999. The drawings are words from sacred Buddhist texts that the Taiwanese paints on the fenders, roof, license plates and even on car windows.

Lee only paints on his own cars, of which there are four in the family. His grandson promised to buy a big bus when he grows up so that his grandfather can enjoy his hobby.

7 – Participate in news in the background

Paul Yarrow from the UK has been in the news more than once. We have seen him on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky News. Paul appears in the areas where the news crew is located and creeps into the background of the frame, playing a random passerby.

8. Collecting belly button fluff

Since 1984, Australian Graham Barker has been collecting perhaps the strangest collection in the world - belly button fluff. Over the years of his hobby, he collected 22 grams of fluff, for which he was included in the Guinness Book of Records. He sold his collection to the Australian Museum.

9 – Ecstasy Collection

In 2009, a man called Dutch authorities to report the theft of his ecstasy collection, which included more than 2,400 tablets. He knew it was illegal, but was concerned about the danger to his collection. The Dutchman has been collecting narcotic pills for more than 20 years.

10 – The largest paint ball

American Michael Carmichael applied 22,894 layers of paint to a baseball. One day he decided to paint his ball, and later came up with a new hobby - applying a new layer of paint on top of the old one, always of a different color. Since 1977, the ball has increased its weight to 1588 kg and has become a real attraction.

11 – Dorodango

A Japanese hobby that involves polishing mud balls. The strange hobby was a traditional hobby of Japanese children. There is even a specific technique for creating mirror-smooth mud balls.

12 – Faking Death

They say that after faking death in DPS and murder, Chuck was invited to a movie where he would play a corpse.

13 – Collecting paper bags

Some people collect sanitary paper bags that are provided in hospitals or airplanes. One of the largest collections is collected by a Singaporean buggyist - it includes 388 packages from 186 airlines. Now, for those who are passionate about this hobby, there are websites where you can buy paper bags from different companies.

14 – Carousel ride

A 78-year-old man from the USA went on rides 90 times in one day. For Vic Clement these are quite ordinary numbers. Since childhood, he loves carousels and can ride on them for several hours without a break. Throughout his life, Vic has tried many rides, riding them more than 4,000 times.

15 – Collecting handcuffs

Frank Reno has amassed the largest collection of handcuffs in the world. It contains 377 copies. Frank took up the hobby in 1995. The collection can be seen at blacksteel.com.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

What people can come up with to have fun and pass the time! In this list you will find seven of the most unusual hobbies in the world.




1. Filing claims in court

Court is something that many, at least sensible people, try to avoid, but not Jonathan Lee Riches, who entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most litigious person in the world. He is currently serving time for fraud in a federal prison in Kentucky.

In pursuit of “legal masterpieces,” Riches has filed 2,600 lawsuits in various federal district courts from 2006 to the present day. The targets of his litigiousness included former US President George W. Bush, Somali pirates, the disappeared American labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, Holocaust survivors, the Roman Empire and even Buddhist monks. Jonathan Lee Riches has also sued various scientific ideas and inanimate objects, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Dark Ages and the Eiffel Tower.


2. Collecting ecstasy


In 2009, the police in the city of Irbeek (Netherlands) received a strange call: a 46-year-old man reported that an unknown person had stolen a collection of ecstasy from his home, which was stored in coin albums and numbered more than 2,400 tablets.

According to the victim, he himself never used drugs and was well aware that his unusual hobby was illegal. The man decided to report to the police for the simple reason that several dozen tablets in his stolen collection were poisonous.

The Irbik authorities did not press charges against him due to a lack of direct evidence. The man said that he no longer hopes to see his amphetamine collection again.

3. Flying... without a plane


Have you ever jumped from a plane with a parachute? And with a parachute, or without a plane, in a wingsuit, soaring like a bird above the ground?

Wingsuits appeared in the early 1930s and were made of canvas and whale bone, which naturally had a negative impact on the duration, range and safety of the flight.

Modern wingsuits began to be developed in the mid-1990s. Thanks to their improved design, they allow the athlete to travel tens of kilometers through the air (the current record is just over 27 km) when falling from a height of 5,000 meters.

Purchasing a wingsuit in the United States, for example, is quite difficult, since the country's government, as well as a number of manufacturers, require a person to have serious experience in this matter - at least 200 standard free fall jumps, completed no earlier than 18 months before submitting the request to buy a suit.

4. Extreme ironing


Ironing clothes is a rather boring and tedious task. What if you combine it with rock climbing, snowboarding and other extreme sports? “Nonsense,” you say. But no!

It all started in 1997, when a resident of the East Midlands (region in England) named Phil Shaw was given a choice: stay at home and do his favorite thing - ironing - or go rock climbing with friends. Being a completely sensible person, Shaw decided to combine both, therefore, in addition to climbing equipment, he also took with him an ironing board and an iron. This is how a new hobby was born - extreme ironing, which in 15 years managed to conquer the whole world. Fans of the sport (if you can call it that) have ironed their shirts on kayaks, mountaintops, and even in the middle of busy highways.

5. Participation in dog trimming competitions


People who take part in dog grooming competitions “abuse” the poor animals as much as they want. What can I say?! Judge for yourself:




6. News bombing

Some people make history, while others are constantly trying to “get noticed” in news reports, just at the moment when this story is being conveyed to the audience. These background characters are called “news bombers.”

The man who is captured in all the frames presented below is London resident Paul Yarrow. Over the course of several years, he managed to appear in many reports from such well-known television companies as the BBC, al Jazeera, Sky News and others.


Yarrow finds out about the places where the live broadcast will be broadcast, comes there, and while the correspondent talks on camera about the events that took place, he just stands in the background, not disturbing anyone.

7. Trainsurfing (travel outside trains)


Trainsurfing originated in Germany in the 1980s and from there spread throughout the globe. Its essence is to find a train - the faster the better - jump on it and, probably, die after that. What other consequences can we expect from such a dangerous undertaking?


In 2008, more than 40 people, mostly young, died from train jumping in Germany.