10 Of The World’s Greatest Achievements To Come Out Of The Bathroom

Good news, shower singers. Next time you’re asked to pipe down with the vocals, simply point out that the likes of Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie are among the many to have penned a UK number one hit in the bathroom.

"It's sensory deprivation. Your ears are occupied by the constant sound of water, so it allows your mind to just sort of wander," says writer, producer and singer Pharrell Williams[1], whose work has soared to the top of the charts four times in the UK alone. Just think – you might never have been clapping along to the likes of “Happy” if it hadn’t been for a bathroom break. 

Junot Diaz, Colson Whitehead, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Jennifer Egan have all dubbed the bathroom as the place which has incubated some of their award-winning ideas – that’s an astonishing 40% of Pulitzer Prize winners in the last ten years.

The 90-year-old Japanese inventor claims to hold 3,377 patents, including that of the floppy disk – though we were only able to confirm six of them. His thinking methods allegedly range from the unusual (relaxing in his specially designed 24-carat gold bathroom) to the extreme (holding his breath underwater for extended periods of time).  

Aaron Sorkin claims to shower up to eight times a day to navigate writer’s block – and his Academy Award win for penning The Social Network (not forgetting two other nominations) is testament to the method’s success. Perhaps more famously, prolific screenwriter Dalton Trumbo wrote while physically in the bathtub, accompanied by a mug of coffee and the parrot gifted to him by Kirk Douglas. Of his 39 screenplays, two would go on to become Oscar winners: Roman Holiday and The Brave One.

Having suffered with a scalp disorder for much of her life, Louisiana-born Sarah Breedlove, also known as Madam C.J. Walker, soon decided to take matters into her own hands. She started experimenting with different home remedies and medicines in her bathtub, and later developed a whole range of African-American haircare products. Walker’s brand took off in 1905 – and, according to Guinness World Records, within 14 years she’d become the world’s first self-made female millionaire.

Alongside Madam Walker, our bathroom thinkers have broken at least 21 world records with their creations. In literature, Agatha Christie wins the gong for best-selling novelist of all time. And in music, Ed Sheeran cleans up with a whopping seven world records to his name – including the “most simultaneous UK Top 20 singles”, previously held in succession by Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson – closely followed by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry with five and four respectively.

The variety of ideas we found was truly astounding. On one end of the scale are the SpaceX innovations of Elon Musk which shoot to the moon, while at the other: more practical solutions to everyday problems. Five-year-old Jeannie Low was frustrated at not being able to reach the bathroom sink without lugging over a heavy pedestal. One trip to the hardware store and two years later, Low’s creative fold-out mechanism to form a step would have its very own patent. Now that’s our kind of innovation.

You may well be reading this on one of the devices that won Steve Jobs his place in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Then there’s Marion Donovan, who made the world’s first disposable diaper out of a shower curtain, and, of course, the ceaseless appearance of Madam C.J. Walker. One of Dean Kamen’s most famous inventions was born from the instinct to draw his arms back to balance when he slipped in the shower one morning: welcome, the Segway.

One curious finding was the sheer number of mystery writer awards that ended up on our list – no less than eight Edgars and 22 Bram Stoker Awards – the latter of which can all be claimed by Stephen King alone. Did we mention that three of our authors, King, Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon, are also Mystery Writers of America Grand Masters? It seems there’s no better place to weave a twisty plot than in the bathroom.

Please note – while we encourage bathroom brainwaves, we strongly warn thinkers to take care on wet surfaces. Take the danger out of your washroom wonderings with one of our specially designed non-slip shower trays.

[1] https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/pharrell-williams-gets-song-ideas-in-shower-113120201066_1.html