The Guinness Book of Records is the biggest-selling copyrighted book of all time, according to Publisher, Young, with 92 million books sold since 1955. But when it was first imagined, it wasn't even going to be for sale.
The book was the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. On November 10, 1951, he got into an argument while hunting with friends out in southeastern Ireland over which was the fastest game bird.
Sir Hugh Beaver thought that hundreds of other such things were apparently being discussed and a book of records could resolve these differences.
Joel Waul had created the humongous ball in his driveway using 300,000 bands of different colours and sizes. (Guinness World Records)
The largest known land gastropod is the African giant snail achatina achatina, the largest recorded specimen of which measured 39.3cm (15.5in) from snout to tail when fully extended, with a shell length of 27.3cm (10.75in) and weighed exactly 900g (2lb)
1,253 Smurfs gathered in the high street in the town of Castleblayney in County Monaghan, Ireland on July 18, 2008. (Guinness World Records)
The fastest 100m hurdles wearing swim fins is 19.278 seconds and was acheived by Veronica Torr (New Zealand) on the set of New Zealand Smashes Guinness World Records at the Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.
The largest pocket knife was designed by Telmo Cadavez and hand made by Virgilio, Raul and Manuel Pires of Portugal.
The knife is 3.9m long when open and weighs 122kg.
The world's heaviest lemon weighed 5.265 kg (11 lb 9.7 oz) on January 8, 2003 and was grown by Aharon Shemoel (Israel) on his farm in Kefar Zeitim, Israel.
Scott Murphy recently set a Guinness World Record for The Tightest Circumference to Roll a 12 Inch Aluminum Frying Pan by Hand in 30 Seconds - 6.87 inches.
Scott Murphy accomplished this on July 30th, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In Germany, Anita Schwarz set a new record for carrying the most steins of lager over 40m.
She staggered across the finishing line holding 19 glasses.
Sam Wakeling holds the current Guinness World Record for unicycle distance in 24 hours: 281.85 miles (453.6km)
A man from Switzerland with 10,000 ‘Do Not Disturb’ hotel room door signs.
On a whim back in 1979, Lee Redmond decided to stop filing her nails. She intended to cut them off once they started twisting, but her plans changed.
In 2002 she entered the Guinness World Records book for the world's longest fingernails on a female pair of hands. On february 11th, 2009 Lee Redmond shocked the world with the loss of her fingernails in a car crash.
But on September 2, 2009 Guinness World Records reported some great news about mrs.
Redmond (who is doing fine and found 'there is more to life than nails'!!), for they announced to honour Lee Redmond's 'fingernail life-work' in the 2010 'The Book of the Decade'
- featured with a striking photograph of Lee pictured alongside fellow American Melvin Booth, the male owner of the longest finger nails (9.05-m-long/29ft 8in), which was taken just a few months prior to her accident.
World’s record for t-shirts worn at the same time. 227 by Jef Van Dijck of Belgium.
Garry Turner, of Caistor, Lincolnshire, England, stretched the skin of his stomach to a distended length of 15.8 cm (6.25 in) on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime in Los Angeles, California, USA, on October 29, 1999.
Coke & Mentos Guiness world record With 1,911 explosions in Riga, Latvia.
The heaviest Jicama weighed 21 kg (46 lb 4.8 oz) and was grown by Leo Sutisna (Indonesia) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, and weighed on 25 January 2008.
35,310 Lego Star Wars Clone Troopers in the UK.
Helmut Wirz from Germany became the oldest person to bungee jump in August 2008.
He was a ripe 83 years old when he was dropped in Duisburg, Germany, on the 9th of August 2008.
A Maine man and his collection of 1,094 clocks.
Wimm Hoff from Netherlands spent 1 hour 42 minutes and 22 seconds covered in snow.
The largest chalk pavement art measured 90,000 square feet, and was created by 5,678 children from schools in Alameda, California, USA, for the
Kids' Chalk Art Project between May 27 - June 7, 2008.
The world's fastest wheelie. York, UK. July 11, 2006. 108 mph (173,81 km/h)
The longest skis are 534 m (1,751 ft 11 in) long and were worn by 1,043 skiers in an event organized by Danske Bank on Drottninggatan in Örebro, Sweden, on 13 September 2008.
# The oldest table tennis player is Dorothy de Low (Australia, b. 5 October 1910) who was 97 yr 232 days when she represented Australia at the XIV World Veterans Table Tennis Championships, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 25 May 2008.
A steel-made snake boat entered the Guinness Book of World Records here for recently carrying 141 persons and being the longest ever made boat of its kind.
The fastest ride on a skateboard - Douglas da Silva from Brazil with amazing 70.2 mph (113 km/h).
Thousands descended on Guildhall Square in Derry City, Northern Ireland, on September 9, 2007, to help break the world record for the Largest gathering of Santa Clauses.
A total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa’s helper to smash the previous record of 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre on
PAV1 Badger was acknowledged as the "World's Smallest Tank" in the "2010 Guinness Book of World Records."
In Hungary burning person was dragged by a galopping horse for 0.29 miles (0.47 km).
Tommy Pastemante from the USA sets the fastest Speed on a Modified Lawnmower (61 mph)
The fastest time to run 100m on all fours is 18. 58 seconds and was set by Kenichi Ito (Japan).
The longest distance on a bicycle in 24 hours without the legs touching the ground - 553.15 miles (890.2 km)
Surrey resident Sarwan Singh achieved a feat, which every Sikh is going to be proud of. He set a new Guinness Book of World Record by having the longest beard.
Singh’s beard was measured at 2.36 meters or 7.7 3/4 ft, at a jam packed, Akal Academy in Surrey BC, on November 11, 2008.
This man broke 80 eggs in one minute with his forhead.
The longest ears on a dog measured 34.9 cm (13.75 in) and 34.2 cm (13.5 in) for the right and left ears, respectively, on September 29, 2004.
They belong to Tigger, a bloodhound, who is owned by Bryan and Christina Flessner of St Joseph, Illinois, USA.
Anthony Victor (India) has hair sprouting from the centre of his outer ears (middle of the pinna) that measures 18.1 cm (7.12 in) at its longest point.
The Space Cowboy (real name: Chayne Hultgren), Lo Show Dei Record performer, set a world record of the longest distance pulling 400 kg by fishhooks in his eye sockets in Milan on April, 25, 2009
The record for the heaviest vehicle pulled over a level 100ft (30.48m) course weighed 57,243kg (126,200lb) and was set by the Rev Kevin Fast, from Canada
The largest commercially available hamburger is 74.75 kg (164.8 lbs) and is available for US$399 (£271.55) on the menu at Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan, USA, as of 29 August 2008.
Victor "Larry" and Gabriel "Danny" Ramos Gomez (both Mexico) are two of a family of 19 that span five generations all suffering from the rare condition called Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis, characterized by excessive facial and torso hair.
The women are covered with a light to medium coat of hair while the men of the family have thick hair on approximately 98% of their body apart from their hands and feet.
Turkish Man Squirts Milk From Eye 9.2 Feet
Mike Howard (Mike Howard) from Britain walked the beam between two balloons at an altitude of 6522 m. near the city Yovil, County Somersetshir, UK, September 1, 2004
The heaviest apple was found in Japan - 1,849 kg.
On July 7, 2006 the smallest of the living horses was Tambelina from St. Louis, Missouri, miniature mare, whose growth was 44.5
Bigfoot #5
First monster truck solely designed to use 10' tall tires - 1986
Guinness Book of Records - World's biggest pickup truck - 2002
The shortest known mobile living adult is He Pingping, who was measured by a team of doctors in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, and found to be 74.61cm (2ft 5.37in)
36-year-old Svetlana Pankratova from Russia has the longest legs in the world. Although not the tallest woman in the world, Pankratova is 6.43 feet tall and her legs measure 4.33 feet.
Thousands of Michael Jackson’s Mexican fans have won the world record for most people to dance to the song “Thriller” simultaneously in one place.
Jamie Panas of Guinness World Records says that 13,597 people performed the dance routine on Aug. 29, which would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.
Kim Goodman (USA) can pop her eyeballs to a protrusion of 12 mm (0.47 in) beyond her eye sockets. Her eyes were measured in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 2, 2007.
The largest pie fight
The world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen from Turkey, poses for photographers next to school children at an event in London to promote the Guinness World Records 2010 book.
Kosen, who is 2m 46.5cm (8ft 1in) tall, also claims the record for the largest hands and largest feet
The tallest dog living is Gibson, a harlequin great Dane, who measured 107 cm (42.2 in) tall on August 31, 2004 and is owned by Sandy Hall of Grass Valley, California, USA.
Italy's Vittorio Innocente has set a new world record in underwater cycling, pedalling his specially adapted bike to a depth of 66.5 metres (218.2 ft) in the sea near Genoa.
The most tattooed senior citizen is Isobel Varley, from the UK, who covered 93% of her body with tattooes.
