Everything about Guiness World Record totally explained
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as
The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous
U.S. editions as
The Guinness Book of World Records), is a
reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of
world records, both human achievements and the extreme of the natural world. The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted series of all-time.
History
On
10 November 1951,
Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the
Guinness Brewery, went on a shooting party in
North Slob, by the
River Slaney in
County Wexford,
Ireland. He became involved in an argument: Which was the fastest game bird in
Europe, the
golden plover or the
grouse? That evening at Castlebridge House, he realized that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird.
Beaver thought that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in the 81,400 pubs in Britain and Ireland, but there was no book with which to settle arguments about records. He realized then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular.
Beaver’s idea became reality when Guinness employee
Christopher Chataway recommended student twins
Norris and
Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in
London. The brothers were commissioned to compile what became
The Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. One thousand copies were printed and given away.
After founding the
Guinness Book of Records at
107 Fleet Street, the first 198-page edition was bound on
27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British bestseller lists by
Christmas. "It was a marketing give away—it wasn't supposed to be a money maker," said Beaver. The following year it launched in the U.S., and it sold 70,000 copies.
After the book became a surprise hit, many further editions were printed, eventually settling into a pattern of one revision a year, published in October to coincide with Christmas sales. The McWhirters continued to publish it and related books for many years. Both brothers had an encyclopedic memory — on the TV series
Record Breakers, based upon the book, they'd take questions posed by children in the audience on various world records, and would usually be able to give the correct answer. Ross McWhirter was
assassinated by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975. Following
McWhirter's assassination, the feature in the show where questions about records posed by children were answered was called "Norris on the Spot".
Guinness World Records Limited was formed in 1954 to publish the first book. The group was owned by Guinness Brewery and subsequently
Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by
Gullane Entertainment. Gullane was itself purchased by
HiT Entertainment in 2002. In 2005,
Apax Partners purchased HiT and subsequently sold Guinness World Records in early 2008 to the
Jim Pattison Group, which is also the parent company of
Ripley Entertainment , Inc..
Evolution
Recent editions have focused on record feats by
human competitors. Competitions range from obvious ones such as
weightlifting to the more entertaining such as longest
egg-throwing distance or the number of
hot dogs that can be consumed in ten minutes - although
eating contest and
beer and alcohol consumption entries are no longer accepted, possibly for fear of
litigation. Besides records about competitions, it contains such facts as the heaviest
tumor, the most poisonous plant, the shortest
river (
Roe River), the longest-running drama (
Guiding Light), the longest serving members of a drama series (
William Roache for
Coronation Street in the UK,
Kate Ritchie and
Ray Meagher for
Home and Away in Australia), the world's most successful salesman (
Joe Girard), the most successful
reality television musical group (
Girls Aloud), and the only brother and sister to have solo number one singles in UK chart history (
Daniel and
Natasha Bedingfield). Many records also relate to the youngest person who achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, being
Maurizio Giuliano.
Each edition contains a selection of the large set of records in the Guinness database, and the criteria for that choice have changed over the years.
The ousting of Norris McWhirter from his consulting role in 1995 and the subsequent decision by Diageo plc to sell the Guinness World Records brand have shifted it from a text-heavy reference book to a highly-illustrated, colourful product.
Critics (including McWhirter) have pointed out that since Norris McWhirter's dismissal, the series has become prone to creating record categories simply in order to name-drop contemporary popular celebrities to boost sales. One notorious example was the genesis of a "Most Successful Virtual Band" category in 2001, which was duly won by
Gorillaz, whose debut album had sold heavily worldwide - however, as the only other such "virtual bands" that had ever existed were
Alvin and the Chipmunks and a number of
Hanna Barbera cartoon characters, it was hardly a noteworthy "world record".
The
Guinness Book of Records is the world's most sold
copyrighted book, thus earning it an entry within its own pages. A number of
spin-off books and
television series have also been produced. Again the emphasis in these shows has been on spectacular, entertaining stunts, rather than any aspiration to inform or educate.
Guinness World Records doesn't monitor the category of 'Person with the most records' as this changes too frequently, and records that once existed may now have been 'rested' and therefore this wouldn't be a fair category.
In 2005, Guinness designated
9 November as
International Guinness World Records Day to encourage breaking of world records; it was described as "phenomenally successful". The 2006 version was dubbed "the world’s biggest international event," with an estimated 100,000 people participating in over 10 countries. The promotion has earned Guinness a whopping 2,244 all-new valid records in 12 months, which is a 173% increase over the previous year.
On
9 January 2007, Guinness announced it was working with
AskMeNow to offer mobile access to the Guinness World Records databases. The company has been collaborating with the UK-based firm
Texperts for several years already, and it offers both companies exclusive access to their database.
Ethical issues
Several world records that were once included in the book have been removed for ethical reasons. By publishing world records in a category, the book may encourage others to try to beat that record, even at the expense of their own health and safety. For example, following publication of a "heaviest cat" record, many
cat owners overfed their pets beyond the bounds of what was healthy, so entries such as these were removed. The Guinness Book also dropped records within their "eating and drinking records" section of Human Achievements in 1991 over concerns that potential competitors could do harm to themselves and expose the publisher to potential
litigation. These changes included the removal of all
liquor,
wine and
beer drinking records, along with other unusual records for consuming such unlikely things as bicycles and trees.
Other records, such as
sword swallowing and rally driving (on public roads) were closed to further entry as the current holders had performed beyond what are considered safe human tolerance levels. There have been cases where closed records have been reopened. For example, the sword swallowing record was listed as closed in 1990 Guinness Book of World Records, but the
Guinness World Records Primetime TV show, which started in 1998, accepted three sword swallowing challenges.
Chain letters are also not allowed. "Guinness World Records doesn't accept any records relating to chain letters, sent by post or e-mail. If you receive a letter or an e-mail, which may promise to publish the names of all those who send it on, please destroy it, it's a hoax. No matter if it says that Guinness World Records and the postal service are involved, they're not."
Museums
In 1976, a Guinness Book of World Records Exhibit Hall was opened on the lower concourse of the
Empire State Building. Speed shooter
Bob Munden was on tour promoting the Guinness World Record series of
Dixie cups and set a new speed record, drawing, cocking, and firing a single-action revolver in .02 seconds. Among other exhibits were life-size statues of the world's tallest man (
Robert Wadlow) and world's largest earth worm, an X-ray photo of a sword swallower, repeated lightning strike victim
Roy Sullivan's hat complete with lightning holes, and a pair of gem-studded golf shoes for sale for $6500. That exhibit closed several years ago.
In more recent years the Guinness company has permitted the
franchising of small
museums with displays based on the book, all currently (as of
2008) located in towns popular with tourists:
Tokyo,
Copenhagen,
San Antonio,
Niagara Falls,
Hollywood, and
Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with a new location scheduled to open in
Bangalore, India. There were once Guinness World Records exhibitions at the
Trocadero in
London,
Surfers Paradise,
San Francisco,
Atlantic City and
Myrtle Beach. While some displays are dramatic, like the statues of the world's tallest and shortest people, or videos of records being broken, much of the information is presented simply with text and photos.
Television series
Guinness World Records has commissioned various television series documenting world record breaking attempts, including:
With the popularity of reality television, GWR began to market itself as the originator of the television genre, with slogans such as 'we wrote the book on Reality TV'.
The McWhirters co-presented the
BBC television programme
Record Breakers from 1972 until Norris's retirement in 1994.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Guiness World Record'.
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