Lewis was on the rostrum in Derbyshire for 24 hours and six minutes (allowing for approved comfort breaks) on June 21-22 at Bamfords saleroom. He was assisted by the children of St Anselm’s School, Bakewell.
The sale was held in aid of wildlife charities Born Free Foundation, Lion Aid and Mantis (part of Born Free) and raised £225,000 following the deduction of expenses (£258,000 hammer total).
Evening to evening
James Lewis of Bamfords during his record-breaking rostrum marathon.
The auction ran from 6.30pm on Friday, June 21, until 7pm on June 22 and consisted of 450 lots of jewellery, 1300 lots for charity and 800 lots in the country house sale, with live bidding on thesaleroom.com.
Lewis was allowed a five-minute break every hour, which he saved to take a 20-minute break every four hours.
The event culminated in the nearby Holme Hall in Bakewell on the evening of June 22 where a final 50 lots of celebrity-donated items were auctioned amid a party that included opera singers and African dancers. However, this part of the auction in Holme Hall did not count towards the Guinness record as the sale was in a different location. The Holme Hall event was attended by celebrities including Born Free supporter and actresses Virginia McKenna and Rula Lenska.
Staff at Bamfords stayed up for 47 hours to host the events and the auction house said Derbyshire first responders attended the entire auction to perform health checks on Lewis, as he suffered a cardiac arrest in September 2018.
