The idea for the Guinness Book of World Records came out of an argument Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of the Guinness Brewery, had on a hunting trip in the early 1950s. He wasn’t able to find the answer to the fastest game bird in any reference book.
Later, that inspired his plan for Guinness to do a promotion around a book that would settle pub arguments. That first book, written by Norris and Ross McWhirter, was published on 27 August, 1955.
1. Most Big Macs consumed in a lifetime
US resident Donald A Gorske consumed his 26,000th McDonald’s Big Mac on 11 October 2012 after 40 years of eating Big Macs on a daily basis.
2. Most apples held in own mouth and cut by chainsaw in one minute
This illustrious honour is held by London-based performance artist Johnny Strange. He established the record of eight apples in one minute in October 2013 in South Yorkshire, UK.
3. Stretchiest skin
British man Garry Turner can stretch the skin of his stomach to 15.875cm due to a rare medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. It’s a connective-tissue disorder where the collagen becomes defective, and includes the loosening of the skin and hyper-mobile joints.
4. Most piercings in a lifetime
After her first skin piercing in January 1997, Elaine Davidson was hooked. The Brazilian former restaurant owner has been pierced a total of 4,225 times as of June 8, 2006.
5. Longest distance keeping a table lifted with teeth
Georges Christen from Luxembourg ran 38 feet and 8 inches while carrying a 11.79kg table — and a 49.9kg woman sitting on it in his mouth in Madrid, Spain, on 9 February, 2008.
6. Longest metal coil passed through the nose and out of the mouth
7. Longest fingernails ever on a woman
It took American Lee Redmond nearly 30 years to grown her nails out to the record-holding 8 metres 64.87cm in February 2008. The longest single nail was her right thumb, which reached to 88.9cm. “I started to grow my nails in 1979… it was kind of a challenge to myself to see how far they would go before they started twisting out of shape,” she said. Unfortunately, her nails snapped off in a 2009 car accident.
8. Longest moustache
Ram Singh Chauhan’s mustache is the longest, at 4.267m. The Indian man’s facial hair was measured in Rome, Italy, on 4 March, 2010.
9. Most wins at the World Beard and Mustache Championships
What he lacks in length, Karl-Heinz Hille makes up for in style. The German has taken home eight wins at the World Beard and Moustache Championships, competing in the imperial partial beard category.
10. Largest collection of rubber ducks
Charlotte Lee of USA has 5,631 different rubber ducks, as of 10 April, 2011, which she has been collecting since 1996.
SOURCE: Guinness World Records.
Article regards of South Coast Sun.
