Report dismisses Cleese's silly walks
Wednesday, 11 Jul 2007 14:38
Silly walks are still far more interesting
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A new study from the Royal Society has proved that John Cleese's silly walks are indeed silly.
Report authors Manoj Srinivasan and Andy Ruina prove, through a highly developed mathematical model, that walking and running is far more efficient.
The researchers write: "Among the essentially infinite variety of motions that our two legs are capable of, why do we choose to walk and run in ways that are somewhat close to these two idealisations?
"A common and common-sense conjecture is that humans and other animals do things in a way that minimises metabolic energy expenditure."
Not that Cleese would probably agree with this synopsis, as his 'toe dry twist' and '9.8 quarter quarter' suggest other, more innovative ways of walking down the road.
For instance, the 'lost change' walk is almost its own form of pavement ballet, involving an elegant foot flip. Or alternatively you can try the 'low bridge' which sees a person hunch down low before kicking straight into the air while moving forward.
However, it seems this hilarity is not very efficient as the Royal Society concludes that when "we wish to go from A to B, we move in one stereotypical gait or another".
"Dr Srinivasan and Dr Ruina prove that for a very simple mathematical model of a biped, walking and running minimise the amount of leg work required per distance at low and high speeds, respectively. Cleese's silly walks are all worse," the report concludes.
There is of course the Cleese MJ walk as a quirky alternative, should you fancy moonwalking to work.