The
Guinness World Records’ 2017 edition is being released on 8th
September (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....
