The Guinness World Records’ 2017 edition is being released on 8thSeptember (a day after the iPhone 7 goes on sale, no connection though). But they’ve already declared some of the record holders.
22 year old singing sensation Justin Beiber walks away with 8 titles in the record book, some of them being Most streamed track on Spotify in one week (The song “What Do You Mean?”), Most viewed music channel on YouTube (individual), Most followers on twitter (male) (85 million and counting), etc.
Also, in the week gone by, Majuli, Assam (in the Brahmaputra river) was recognized as the largest river island. It covers an area of around 880 km² (340 miles²).
So this week’s GK Nugget will look at the Guinness World Records:
First published in 1955, the Guinness Book of Records was the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, UK. (It was later renamed the Guinness Book of World Records and finally, the Guinness World Records).
The idea for a book that could settle pub arguments about trivia came up when Sir Beaver had a difference of opinion with his friends on which was the fastest game bird .
Finishing the 1st edition took 13 ½ 90-hour weeks, including weekends. (Not including the research phase of the 2 brothers Norris & Ross McWhirter, who were hired by Sir Hugh Beaver to be the editors of the book).
The book has gone on to become a record breaker in its own right. With sales of more than 100 million copies in 100 different countries and 37 languages, Guinness World Records is the world’s best selling copyright book ever.
The record of “Person with the most records” is held by Ashrita Furman of Queens, NY. As of 2014 he had set 551 records and still held nearly 200 of those records.
In 2008, Guinness World Records was sold to the Canadian company – Jim Pattison Group, which is also the owner of ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!’.
On an average the Guinness World Records receives 1,000 applications per week, out of which around only 8% actually get certified as record holders.
On May 18 2015, US President Barack Obama tweeted for the 1st time from the official Twitter account of the American President – @POTUS. He unknowingly became a World Record holder when he racked up a million followers on Twitter in 4 hours & 52 minutes. The President held the record for 2 weeks, when Olympic champion and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner joined Twitter and broke the record by 49 minutes.
The list of records which the Guinness World Records covers is not fixed; records may be added and also removed for various reasons. The Guinness Book also dropped records within their “eating and drinking records” section of Human Achievements in 1991 over concerns that potential competitors could harm themselves and expose the publisher to potential litigation.
But in 2008, the speed beer drinking record made a reappearance albeit in the “Modern Society” section, as opposed to the “Human Achievement” section in the old book.
For any “large food” type records, it is necessary that the item is fully edible and is distributed to public to prevent food wastage.
Indians hold a number of Guinness World Records –
World’s longest turban – 645 metres – Avtar Singh Mauni of Patiala, Punjab
World’s shortest woman – 2 feet – Jyoti Amge
World’s longest mustache – 14 feet – Ram Singh Chauhan
Typing fastest using only the nose – Khurshid Hussain typed “Guinness World Records has challenged me to type this sentence using my nose in the fastest time” on a keyboard in 47 seconds using only his nose.
Longest solo dance marathon – Kalamandalam Hemaletha went on to dance for 123 hours and 15 minutes at the Kerala Sangeetha Nadaka Academy.
And many more….
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