English gourmand Peter Dowdeswell, born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 29 July 1940, is among the most successful competitive eaters in the recorded history of the sport. During the period when the Guinness Book of World Records kept data, Dowdeswell held more speed records than any other person, including records for the drinking of ale

Ale

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...

 and the eating of eggs

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

 (hard-boiled, soft-boiled, and raw) and Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese, produced in several countries around the world. It has its origins in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset....

.

Dowdeswell accomplished most of his feats for charity, he says, rather than for record-breaking or insatiable hunger.

World records

• Large sausage: 60 in 36 seconds http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/insideldn/radio/the_mouf/vanessa_headlines14.shtml
• The fastest drinking of a yard of ale: 4.9 seconds