30 Famous Names Who All Share The Same Secret To Success: The Bathroom

The bathroom has shown itself to be an ideal space for creativity, deep thinking and imagination. Taylor Swift, Beethoven, Elon Musk, and Stephen King are among dozens of famous names to have had some of their most profitable and world-renowned ideas in there.

To prove that bath time is about so much more than getting clean, analysis of 30 writers, musicians, inventors and entrepreneurs shows some of the greatest achievements to have come out of the bathroom, including:

• 25 UK Number One singles

• Four of the last 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning novels

• Over 2.8 billion book sales

• More than 1000 confirmed patents

• 55 Grammys

The shortlist of bathroom thinkers were found to have used the bathroom to boost their creativity in some interesting ways, including:

• Pharrell Williams uses the constant sound and sensation of water to drown out other thoughts and deprive other senses.

• Yoshiro Nakamatsu (claimed the invention of the floppy disk) holds his breath underwater for extended periods of time.

• Steve Jobs dangled his feet in water when he was thinking – while sat on top of a toilet.

• Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo drank and wrote while taking a bath, with his trusty parrot along for company.

But why is the bathroom such a great place for creative thinking?

Celebrity psychologist Jo Hemmings explains: “During auto-pilot activities like being in the shower, the pre-frontal cortex in the brain – which controls decision making and focused goals – is relaxed and the brain’s default mode network comes into play, giving us clarity and creativity.”

A study by Mira Showers compares each of the famous names to uncover who reaps the most rewards from the bathroom as a source of inspiration.

More info: mirashowers.co.uk

She may only have one patent to her name, but Jeannie Low is arguably one of the most impressive inventors on the list – she secured a patent for her folding bath step when she was just seven years old. Steve Jobs takes the lion’s share (over 41%) of all confirmed patents from the shortlisted entrepreneurs, with 458 in total. Close behind is Dean Kamen, responsible for just shy of 40%, and whose most famous invention – the Segway – may never have been if it weren’t for its inventor slipping in the bathroom.

With 33 to his name, Billy Joel has certainly proven his ability to churn out the most albums, but Mariah Carey pips him to the post when it comes to worldwide album sales, with her 22 releases garnering 200 million to Joel’s 150 million.

Looking at the shortlist musicians across the 20th and 21st century, it’s English rock group Slade that has released the most songs, followed by Taylor Swift and Billy Joel. While he’s sung the least songs in the line-up, Ed Sheeran has the greatest success ratio when it comes to UK No. 1 Singles. In fact, 10.4% of all Sheeran’s songs have UK No. 1 status.

Modern-day music aside, it’s Beethoven that’s the clear winner in this category. With a whopping 722 musical compositions, he’s responsible for just over 42% of our musicians’ total number of works.

As a collective, the ten writers shortlisted have written 289 fiction novels and screenplays. But it’s Agatha Christie who’s produced the most with her books and writings making up almost a third of the writers’ combined works. No wonder she holds the Guinness World Record for Best-Selling Novelist of All Time with book sales more than 2 billion copies. Her writing routine consisted of dreaming up plots while eating apples in her Victorian bathtub.

Stephen King has written the second greatest number of fictional novels in the shortlist, though he has only received one Honorary Degree from the University of Maine. King boasts 25 awards however, which accounts for 60% of all shortlisted writers’ combined awards. His breakthrough success, Carrie, came to him when he was cleaning the bathroom.