All about planking
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The term "planking" was coined in Australia and the practice became a fad in 2011.[18] Planking is described as the practice of lying down flat with arms to the side, to mimic a wooden plank. It has its origins in the "lying down game".[19]
Three people plank the Taj Mahal
Planking the street lightsAustralian National Rugby League player David "Wolfman" Williams planked after a try during the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles vs Newcastle Knights game on 27 March 2011.[20] He went on to talk about it on The Footy Show, where Williams described it as "pretty much, active lying down".[21]
On 13 May 2011, a 20-year-old man from Gladstone in central Queensland was charged for allegedly planking on a police vehicle.[22] Popular planking locations include park benches and other public places. On 15 May 2011, Acton Beale, a 20-year-old man, plunged to his death after reportedly "planking" on a seventh-floor balcony in Brisbane, Australia. Beale became the first known casualty of the planking fad.[23] Acton Beale's friends have accused Paul Carran, a New Zealander living in Sydney who claims to have invented planking in 2008, of bearing responsibility for Beale's death by promoting planking.[14] Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, warned plankers that the "focus has to be on keeping yourself safe first".[24] The Queensland Opposition and the state's police have called for people to stop participating in the fad.[25]
On 18 May 2011, IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon planked on the tires of his race car, prompting fellow racer Tony Kanaan and his pit crew to compete with him.[26]
On 19 May 2011, a New Zealand student was caught planking on the ledge of a secondary-school building in the central North Island.[27] On 25 May 2011, a student was caught planking on a railway line, in front of an oncoming train. Authorities will not reveal in which part of New Zealand this occurred, but the student was reportedly not harmed. This led to some school principals speaking out against the fad. Numerous students in NSW have also been caught planking during school time, and reportedly planking people's cars in driveways and doorways after knocking. The colloquial term for this behaviour is "Knock 'n' Plank", related to "Knock 'n' run".[28]
On 29 May 2011, Max Key, son of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, uploaded a photograph to Facebook of himself planking on a lounge suite, his father standing behind him. After the photograph was reproduced on the front page of the New Zealand Herald two days later, the Prime Minister's office initially declined comment,[29] but later that day, confirming that the photograph was indeed genuine, Mr. Key remarked that he doesn't see anything wrong with planking when done safely, and that it was he who had actually introduced Max to planking in the first place, having seen a video of the phenomenon on YouTube.[30]
On 10 June 2011, Sigmar Guðmundsson, host of the primetime news magazine show Kastljós on Icelandic public television channel RÚV, delivered a live introduction before a commercial break while planking on top of the news desk.[31][32] Sigmar performed the stunt immediately following a segment documenting the recent spread of planking in Iceland.
Source: Wikipedia
