Andrew Holly
Andrew Holly[edit]
Andrew Holly is a three-time BBAC British National Champion hot air balloon pilot, world record-holder, and international aerial marketing professional.
As of January 2017, he is ranked 21st in the world[1] by the Commission International Aérostatique (CIA) within the Fédération Aéronautique International (FAI) out of 941 top hot air balloon pilots from 39 countries; he is the highest-ranked British pilot in the world.
Holly holds a Guinness World Record in the area of hot air ballooning and achieved a second record in 2017, which is pending a listing by Guinness. He is the founder and operations director of Exclusive Ballooning Limited in Berkeley, Gloucestershire; organizer and event director of the largest hot air balloon event in the United Kingdom[2], the Exclusive Cup SkySafari; and is founder, organizer and event director of the annual Ricoh Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta® for the Lord Mayor of the City of London's Appeal charities.
As a competition hot air balloon pilot, Holly has won over 350 trophies and awards. His company, Exclusive Ballooning, has operated balloons in over 40 countries on six continents, and in 2008, Holly was awarded the Freedom of the City of London by the 680th Lord Mayor for his work in charitable fundraising.
As of January 2018, Holly has logged approximately 2,250 flight hours.
Life and Business Career[edit]
Andrew Marc Holly was born on November 6, 1972, in Keynesham, Somerset and raised in Totterdown, Bristol. He attended Merrywood Boys School in Knowle, Bristol, and Bath College, where he studied music, psychology and law.
He entered hot air ballooning in 1995 as a crewmember for a Bristol-area ride operation. He learned to fly in 1996, acquired a private hot balloon pilot's license in 1997, and shortly after, secured his first sponsorship deal with a local computer firm. He acquired a full commercial hot air balloon pilot’s license in 1998.
Holly founded aerial marketing company Exclusive Ballooning in 1999, out of Severn Beach, Gloucestershire, with the help of a loan from The Prince's Trust. In 2000, he founded passenger ride business go-ballooning.co.uk. In 2000, he was also awarded Young Businessman of the Year by the Bristol Post and first prize at the Shell LiveWIRE Business Startup Awards competition in Bristol for Exclusive Ballooning.[3] That year, he acquired contracts from Uphill Motor Company, Mazda, Somerfield supermarkets and Fowlers Motorcycles of Bristol.
In 2001, Exclusive Ballooning acquired and consolidated local and regional ride operations Airborne Balloon Flights, Balloons Over Wales, and Blown Away (UK) Limited. The company also secured its first overseas client, Australian financial services company AMP Limited, and undertook a charitable fundraising project for The Prince's Trust.
By 2003, go-ballooning.co.uk was operating with over 100 launch sites and a network of over 30 ride balloons in the United Kingdom. In-house operations covered a geographical area from the South Coast to York, and a separate network covered the North of England, Scotland and Kent. Exclusive Ballooning was operating in several European and Asian countries, including Italy, France and Ukraine, and the company's charitable fundraising efforts exceeded £1 million.
In 2005, Exclusive Ballooning was hired to coordinate two major television aerial stunts, one for the Fox Television series The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best,[4]and a second for ITV, where Holly flew one of two balloons to 23,000 feet and a company stunt man walked between the balloons on a three-inch beam while blindfolded.
Holly sold go-ballooning.co.uk in 2006 to further focus on competition flying and global aerial marketing efforts. In 2007, Exclusive Ballooning acquired The Aerial Display Company. Holly also launched balloontrailers.com and ballooncalendar.com, the former to sell custom balloon trailers for competition flying and the latter to serve as a digital base for balloon festivals and competitions. By the end of 2007, Exclusive Ballooning in-house operations covered 34 countries on five continents and the company's charitable fundraising efforts exceeded £3 million.
In May 2008, Holly was awarded the Freedom of the City of London by the 680th Lord Mayor for his work in charitable fundraising with hot air balloons.
In October 2009, Exclusive Ballooning organized a special shape balloon flight under Tower Bridge, commissioned by the Walt Disney Company for the film Up.[5] Holly piloted the special shape and is the only person to ever fly a hot air balloon under Tower Bridge.
In May 2010, Exclusive Ballooning was granted official supplier status for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Bid, and later that year, the commissioned World Cup Bid balloon became the first hot air balloon to ever visit Buckingham Palace.
In July 2010, Exclusive Ballooning launched the official balloon of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games at Olympic Park with Olympic medalists Tasha Danvers, Louis Smith and Tim Brabants. The balloon toured the United Kingdom for a subsequent four years, as a part of a campaign to connect the British public with the country's Olympic medalists.[6] Participating medalists included Sir Chris Hoy, Beth Tweddle, Jody Cundy, Ross Edgar, Ian Jones, Liz Jones, Sarah Stevenson, Ben Swain, Megan Silvester, Gamal Yafai, Warren Baster, David Roberts, and Rebecca Adlington.
In August 2010, Holly was elected chairman of the British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC) Competitions Club.
In June 2011, Holly served as event director of the Italian National Championships in Mantua, Italy. In August, Exclusive Ballooning organized the 2011 British National Hot Air Balloon Championships with Holly serving as competition event director. That year, Exclusive Ballooning also launched its own brand helium and cold air inflatable marketing products on a dedicated sister website, blimpX.com.
In November 2012, Holly won the Ultramagic International Innovation Award from the Spanish balloon manufacturer Ultramagic. Holly's winning marketing submission became the Ultramagic Friendship Balloon Project, which featured a balloon traveling the globe between international pilots to raise money for the construction of a school in Ghana, West Africa.[7] The award included a 10,000 EUR cash prize.
In March 2013, after three years of securing the necessary authorization and licensing, Exclusive Ballooning was granted permission to fly hot air balloons for marketing over the City of London.
Since the founding of Exclusive Ballooning, Holly's additional clients have included Fortnum & Mason, Ricoh, Blue Square, English Heritage, the National Lottery, Betfair, Rowntree's, Barclays, Renishaw, Diageo, Gordon Ramsay, Kingspan Group, Bookpeople, PWC, Vauxhall Motors, The Sun, Michelin and the Financial Times.
The worldwide locations where Exclusive Ballooning and The Aerial Display Company have flown or tethered hot air balloons includes Tower Bridge in London and a first-ever flight under Tower Bridge, Niagara Falls, Stonehenge, the San Marino Grand Prix, the Tour de France, two record flights across the English Channel, the Atomium, Bryant Park, the Roman Colosseum, Buckingham Palace, the Great Wall of China, Taipei 101, the Guildhall and St. Paul's Cathedral, Turin's Veneria Reale and Lingotto, the Sydney Opera House, Tate Modern, Red Square, Disneyland Paris, and over Mont Blanc and Mount Everest.
In May 2015, Holly taught British comedian and Trigger Happy TV star Dom Joly how to fly a balloon in a television spot filmed over Mondovi, Italy.[8]
Events[edit]
Exclusive Cup SkySafari[edit]
In 2008, Holly founded and organized the Exclusive Cup, an annual ballooning competition event first held at Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.
In 2016, Holly helped organize a balloon festival at Longleat Safari Park in Warminster, Wiltshire, which would also serve as hosting site for the Exclusive Cup. Holly subsequently became yearly event manager of the combined events, called the Exclusive Cup SkySafari.
In its second year, on the morning of September 16, 2017, SkySafari became the largest balloon event in the United Kingdom, with a mass ascension of 119 balloons, the largest single ascent of balloons recorded in 2017 in the United Kingdom.[9]
Ricoh Lord Mayor's Hot Air Balloon Regatta®[edit]
In 2013, Holly founded and has since served as organizer of the annual Ricoh Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta,® held to raise funds and awareness for the Lord Mayor of the City of London’s Appeal charities. The inaugural regatta launched in April 2013 with the inflation of the Lord Mayor's Appeal balloon from the Tower of London. As of 2017, the event has raised over £175,000 in charitable contributions for the Lord Mayor's Appeal.
On September 10, 2017, the first ever mass hot air balloon ascent from the runway of London City Airport opened the Balloon Regatta® in celebration of the airport’s 30th anniversary.[10] Twenty-seven balloons took off, with Holly flying the Lord Mayor’s Appeal balloon.[11]
Guinness World Records[edit]
Holly holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to fly a hot air balloon in all fifty United States. In 2017, Holly coordinated a successful attempt to break the existing record for the largest number of hot air balloons to cross the English Channel.[12] The 2017 achievement is pending an official listing from Guinness.
Fly Every State[edit]
On March 24, 2016, Holly achieved the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to fly a hot air balloon in all fifty United States: 43 days, 3 hours and 11 minutes. He flew in a balloon called G-UNKY, which had a volume of 50,000 cubic feet. Holly and his crew were able to fly the first 48 states in a record 33 days, driving 16,706 miles before finishing the fifty-state record in Alaska and Hawaii.[13] They drove approximately 21,000 miles in total. Holly filmed and released a documentary of the record-setting journey and self-published a book, both called Fly Every State, in 2017.[14]
English Channel Crossing[edit]
On April 7, 2011, Holly served as co-organizer and one of 49 pilots to set the Guinness World Record for the largest number of hot air balloons to cross the English Channel. The group took off from Lydden Hill Race Circuit, in Dover, Kent, and landed in France. Fifty balloons took off initially, but one landed before reaching the Channel due to technical difficulties. The event was sponsored by Palletways (UK).[15]
Six years later to the day, on April 7, 2017, Exclusive Ballooning organized a second crossing, sponsored by Datum RPO, in an attempt to break the previous record.[16] Eighty-two balloons took off from Dover and landed in France, with pilots from ten different countries.[17] Holly flew the Lord Mayor's Appeal balloon.[18] The 2017 achievement is pending an official listing from Guinness, which would replace the cross-Channel record of 2011. [19]
Puddles and Splash[edit]
In 2014, for the 15th anniversary of Exclusive Ballooning, the company hosted an online competition for a design sketch for a special-shape penguin balloon. The winning sketch, submitted by UK artist Tom Moore, was conferred onto a balloon envelope and eventual aircraft called G-UINS by Ultramagic balloons. The penguin balloon, called Puddles, was first inflated in Igualada, Spain, on March 17, 2014.[20]
Splash, aircraft name G-UINZ, is Puddles' female counterpart. While Exclusive Ballooning showcased the stages of Puddles' production on its website in 2014, Splash was produced entirely in secret, also by Ultramagic, and was first announced and photographed at Longleat Safari Park on August 3, 2015. Puddles and Splash were publicly unveiled together at the 2015 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
Tall Steve[edit]
Puddles "proposed" to Splash during a mid-air flight with a basket banner at the 2016 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. In fall 2017, Exclusive Ballooning announced on social media that Puddles and Splash were "expecting" and their "baby," a Lindstrand Technologies special shape balloon called Tall Steve, aircraft name G-WINZ, was debuted in September 2017 at the Exclusive Cup SkySafari.[21] Tall Steve's American debut was at the 2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, where all three penguin balloons flew together for the first time. [22]
Personal Life[edit]
On August 27, 2017, Holly staged a surprise proposal for girlfriend Jennifer Westfield, an American newspaper and magazine writer, during a morning flight at a balloon festival in Oswestry, Shropshire. Westfield and Holly were married in Santorini, Greece, on October 29, 2017.
When it was announced that special-shape penguin balloons Puddles and Splash were "expecting," Holly and Westfield were also expecting their first child by coincidence.
Since 2001, Holly has primarily resided in Breadstone, near Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
Competition Ballooning Career[edit]
Holly began competition ballooning in 1998 and has won over 350 trophies within local and international competitive ballooning circuits, individually and as a member of Team Exclusive, Team Sloggi, Team Q, Team Gossard and Team Great Britain.
Individual Highlights[edit]
Holly's early achievements include winning the long distance competition at the 2003 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and a silver medal at his first international event in Feodosiya, Ukraine, in 2004.
On September 2, 2004, Holly set a ratified BBAC British record for duration in a one-man cloudhopper balloon, a Lindstrand 21-A called G-BVRL, flying for 4 hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds.[23]
In 2005, Holly won the prize grab flight at the World Balloon Trophy by flying from five kilometers and placing a baseball cap onto a two-foot wide pedalo over a lake in Echternach, Luxembourg.
In 2006, he appeared on Chris Evans Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 for a segment on competition ballooning.
At the 2006 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Holly won a single-flight silver medal and finished highest British pilot overall. At the 2007 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Holly took 33rd place overall out of 950 pilots, which included a single-flight silver, and finished highest international pilot overall.
During the 2007 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, Holly piloted a balloon to 10,000 feet as Team Great Britain teammate and paraglider Mike Howard attempted to set a UK record for highest paraglider drop.[24]
In 2009, Holly represented Great Britain at the FAI World Air Games in Turin, Italy; and competed individually at the FAI European Championships, where Team Great Britain also took the team prize.
In 2010, Holly took second place at the Coupe d'Europe in France; represented Great Britain at the 2010 FAI World Balloon Championships in Debrecen, Hungary; and won the gold medal at the Italian Balloon Championships in Mondovi, Italy.
In 2011, Holly won the first of three gold medals at the Epiphany balloon meet in Mondovi, Italy; finished first at the Ludlow Ballooning Grand Prix in Ludlow, Shropshire; and won the 2011 BBAC British Ballooning Grand Prix series.
In January 2012, Holly took second place at the Epiphany balloon meet in Mondovi, Italy.
Team Sloggi[edit]
From 2004-2008, Exclusive Ballooning Team Exclusive was re-branded as Team Sloggi, and Holly primarily flew in three competition racer balloons sponsored by the Italian underwear brand manufactured by Triumph International. The first Sloggi racer balloon, G-REAR, had its maiden flight in May 2004 in Krosno, Poland. In 2006, G-REAR was re-issued with the third balloon, G-IRLZ, becoming Holly's primary competition racer.
Team Sloggi won international gold medals in Croatia, Italy, Belgium, Hungary and South Africa. In 2004, Team Sloggi won the UK Counties Challenge, placed 3rd in the BBAC British Grand Prix Championship[25] and 26th in the Honda World Grand Prix. In 2005, it again won the UK Counties Challenge; won the African Ballooning Championships in Bethlehem, South Africa, and the Italian National Championships in Terne, Italy; and finished 15th at the World Balloon Trophy in Luxembourg, 15th at the Honda World Grand Prix and won a BBAC Silver Badge.
In 2006, Team Sloggi was again UK Counties Challenge champion; champion of the FAI Category One VII MOL Cup, in Debrecen, Hungary; took 5th place at the World Balloon Trophy in Luxembourg and runners-up in the Honda World Grand Prix. In 2007, Team Sloggi took 3rd in the BBAC British Grand Prix Championships;[26] 9th at the World Balloon Trophy in Luxembourg; were runners-up at the Epiphany balloon meeting in Mondovì, Italy, and the Croatian National Championships, and won the Adria cup in Zagreb; the team also won the Olen competition in Belgium, and finished 2nd in the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta Prize Grab.
Team Sloggi qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2008 FAI World Championships in Austria, and in the team's final event, won the bronze medal at the 2008 pre World Air Games in Italy.
Team Q[edit]
In July 2008, Holly received a competition sponsorship deal from the West End/Broadway show Avenue Q and re-branded Team Sloggi as Team Q. He began competition flying in a racer balloon called G-CFIK, featuring artwork of Avenue Q's Trekkie Monster.
In 2008, Team Q were champions and runners-up in the long distance competition at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta,[27] and runners-up in both the BBAC British National Championships and the pre-European Championships in Brissac-Quincé, France.[28]
Holly flew the Avenue Q balloon at his first FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championships in September 2008, in Hofkirchen, Austria.
The 2008 team qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2009 European Championships in France.
Team Gossard[edit]
In July 2012, Holly received a competition sponsorship deal from the British underwear company Gossard and re-branded Team Q as Team Gossard.
In 2012, Team Gossard took gold at the Monregalese Trophy in Mondovi, Italy; silver at the Coupe d'Europe in Chauvigny, France; first place at the BBAC British National Championships; and bronze at the pre-European Ballooning Championships in Poland.
In 2013, Team Gossard won the Trofeo Mondovi Piazza at the Epiphany balloon meet in Mondovi, Italy; silver at the BBAC British Ballooning Grand Prix; and first place at the BBAC British National Championships.
BBAC Counties Challenge[edit]
For ten consecutive years between 1998 and 2007, Holly won the British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC) Counties Challenge Championship, an annual competition since 1993 where hot air balloon pilots compete to log the furthest distance flown within the boundaries of each county in the United Kingdom. Holly retired unbeaten in 2007 and is currently listed in the Counties Challenge Hall of Fame for maintaining the longest distance ever flown in 23 of 68 contested counties since the competition's inception.
| County | Year | Distance (km) |
|---|---|---|
| Armagh | 2005 | 18.1 |
| Avon | 1999 | 41.4 |
| Cleveland | 2005 | 8.6 |
| Devon | 1997 | 46.8 |
| Dorset | 1999 | 31.5 |
| Down | 2005 | 10.8 |
| Dumphries and Galloway Region | 2004 | 19.9 |
| Fermanagh | 2005 | 6.0 |
| Gloucestershire | 2004 | 50.4 |
| Gwent | 2002 | 46.4 |
| Gwynedo | 1997 | 16.4 |
| Isle of Wight | 1997 | 14.5 |
| Merseyside | 1999 | 24.5 |
| Mid Glamorgan | 2002 | 32.3 |
| Oxfordshire | 2002 | 71.6 |
| Somerset | 1999 | 58.3 |
| South Glamorgan | 2002 | 23.3 |
| Staffordshire | 1999 | 25.9 |
| Tyne and Wear | 2005 | 14.3 |
| Tyrone | 2005 | 18.4 |
| Warwickshire | 1997 | 44.0 |
| West Yorkshire | 2004 | 30.3 |
| Wiltshire | 1999 | 58.3 |
BBAC British National Championships[edit]
Holly won second place at the British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC) British National Championships in 2008.
From 2012 to 2014, Holly won first place and served as British Champion for three consecutive years. He is the second of three pilots to win three, which is also the most, consecutive British national championships, after David Bareford between 1997 and 1999 and before Dominic Bareford between 2015 and 2017.[30]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Current CIA World Ranking List in Hot Air Ballooning [Update Jan 2017]". balloonworldrankinglist.org. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ Crawley, James (2017-09-18). "Longleat sets new record with 'biggest and best' mass balloon launch". bathchronicle. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Flashback to 2000: Catching up with Andrew Holly | Shell LiveWIRE UK". www.shell-livewire.org. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ Association, Press (2004-11-09). "Branson's reality show puts high-fliers to the test". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Up, up and away: Tower Bridge is raised so giant hot air BALLOON can sail through". Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
- ↑ "Blast from World Cup Bid balloon". Tavistock Times Gazette. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
- ↑ "Cómo será la única fiesta de globos aerostáticos de la Argentina". Retrieved 2018-01-19.
- ↑ "Try to avoid screaming like a baby as you soar up to 3,000ft in a hot air balloon, says Dom Joly". The Independent. 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
- ↑ Crawley, James (2017-09-18). "Longleat sets new record with 'biggest and best' mass balloon launch". bathchronicle. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Balloons ascend for mayor's appeal". BBC News. 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "London wakes to stunning sight of hot air balloons soaring over capital". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Up, up and away as hot air balloons set off across English Channel in world record attempt". Express.co.uk. 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "British hot air balloonist is first to fly over all mainland US states". Mail Online. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Fly Every State". flyeverystate.com (in català). Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Hot air balloons set off across English Channel in world record attempt". ITV News. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Hot air balloons set unofficial world record with Channel crossing". Mail Online. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Datum RPO Cross Channel World Record Flight". www.ballooncrosschannel.com. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "News | 345 | 82 Hot Air Balloons Cross The English Channel Breaking Record | The Lord Mayor's Appeal 2017/2018". www.thelordmayorsappeal.org. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ Mintz, Luke (2017-04-07). "Cross-Channel hot air balloon fleet hope to claim Guinness World Record". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ "Puddles and Splash the Penguin Hot Air Balloons - Exclusive Ballooning". Puddles the Penguin. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ↑ "Sky Safari is one of UK's largest balloon festivals". Wiltshire Times. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ↑ "16 special shapes make first Balloon Fiesta appearance". KRQE News 13. 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ↑ "British Balloon and Airship Club Sporting Handbook, Issue 5: November 2009" (PDF). British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC).
- ↑ Julian Hensey (2007-08-10), Mike Howard, paraglider record, Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2007, retrieved 2017-12-21
- ↑ Ltd, Piers Glydon, BBAC. "The BBAC British Grand Prix Championship Medallists | British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC)". www.bbac.org. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ Ltd, Piers Glydon, BBAC. "The BBAC British Grand Prix Championship Medallists | British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC)". www.bbac.org. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ BBC. "Double win for balloon team". Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ↑ "Archived News :: Exclusive Ballooning". www.exclusiveballooning.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ↑ "Counties Challenge Index: UK Hot Air Balloon Competition". counties.johnhartley.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
- ↑ Ltd, Piers Glydon, BBAC. "The BBAC British National Championship Medallists | British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC)". www.bbac.org. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
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