Have you ever thought you were the best at something? Well, there’s one way to find out.

 

The Company

Today, if you want to know something, a quick search on the internet usually provides the answer. If you’re looking for record-breaking human achievements, as well as natural world extremes, there’s only one place to search—Guinness World Records (GWR). It’s the ultimate authority.

The company’s mission is to authenticate and document the setting and breaking of world records. GWR employs 81 adjudicators (official judges) in 16 countries to verify the legitimacy of these records. The results are then documented each year in the Guinness World Records book, as well as through television specials, live events, and social media.

Did You Know…

• The GWR book is the best-selling copyrighted book series of all time and is the book most often stolen from public libraries. (The Bible and the Quran are non-copyrighted books.)
• The GWR book has been translated into 40+ different languages and sold over 155+ million total copies in 100+ different countries.
• Though the owners of Guinness Breweries sold GWR in 2001, the business continues to use the Guinness name.
• In 2024 alone, 1.7+ million GWR books were sold.

 

The Beginning

Step back to 1951. Long before the internet, or cell phones that could access it anywhere you went. Sir Hugh Beaver, the Guinness Breweries’ Managing Director, was attending a shooting party in County Wexford, Ireland. At one point during the hunt, he missed a golden plover. That night he defended his miss by claiming the golden plover was the fastest game bird in Europe. His hosts didn’t agree, and an argument ensued.

Unfortunately, none of the reference books Beaver consulted confirmed or disproved his belief. Fortunately, several years later, when remembering this event, the idea of creating a definitive reference book occurred to him. It could settle arguments that happened nightly at pubs across the country.

In 1954, Beaver asked fact-finding, London researchers and twins, Norris and Ross McWhirter, to research and compile it. He thought the book, Guinness Book of Records (GBR), might be popular with pubs, so he planned to offer free copies to 80,000 pubs in Ireland and England as a promotion for the Guinness company. None of them had a clue, though, as to how popular the book would be.

Did You Know…

• It took the McWhirter brothers thirteen and a half ninety-hour weeks (including weekends and holidays) to write that first book, after the research phase had been completed.
• Word of mouth from the original 1,000 GBR copies printed and given away created such a demand for the book, Beaver nixed the idea of giving away more free copies.
• Guinness Breweries began selling the GBR on August 27, 1955. Sales skyrocketed and by Christmas they found themselves with a bestseller.
• With the GBR’s popularity, the company decided to publish one updated edition every year.
• In 1999, GBR became GWR, Guinness World Records.

 

The Rules

If you’re interested in applying to GWR, remember they have standards and boundaries. Some categories aren’t used due to difficulty in determining results, i.e., beauty, which cannot be objectively measured. Others are off limits due to ethics, i.e., no killing or harming of animals.

Did You Know…

• Annually, GWR receives around 50,000 applications from people wanting their achievements to be included in the GWR book, but only about 1,000 are accepted.
• GWR never pays those who officially hold or break records
• Inclusion of currency collections were stopped in 1984 at the request of the U.S. Mint.
• Chain letter records—postal and email—are also not included.
• Since 2011, large food records must meet two other criteria. One, it must be completely edible and, two, whatever is leftover must be distributed to the public, so no food is wasted.
• GWR doesn’t validate things that are dangerous to a person’s health, like the longest time spent awake.
• Also, because of litigation fears, GWR no longer accepts entries for eating and beer/alcohol consumption contests.

 

The Records

Records can be serious or silly, obvious or obscure. They can be human feats or nature-related.

Did You Know…

• In 2005, Guinness chose November 9 as Guinness World Records Day. The next year on that day, around 100,000 people in more than ten countries attempted to break world records.
• Ashrita Furman holds the Guinness World record for having the most Guinness World records. (He broke more than 600 unique records and still holds more than 200 of them.)
• Robots can hold records, too. In China at a festival, a group of 1,007 robots became the most robots dancing at one time. (They danced for one whole minute to qualify.)
• At age 11, Fin Keller of Sandy, Utah, broke the record for the most snails on a face with 43 live snails.
• The record for the longest attack of hiccups is held by Charles Osborne (USA). He began hiccupping in 1922 and didn’t stop until February 1990. It’s estimated he hiccupped 430 million times. (To learn more about him, click here.)

 

Final Results

If you think you have what it takes to break a record, remember . . . before you try, register and apply on the GWR website. GWR takes its job seriously and expects those attempting to break records to do the same, no matter how silly the record may be.

Did You Know…

• There are 68,523 active record titles in the GWR database.
• Some 80% new and updated records are added to the GWR book every year.

Bonus Did You Know…

• Since GWR concentrates on world records, it doesn’t hold the answer to the question that started it all—which European game bird is fastest. But the correct answer is most likely the red-breasted merganser, not the golden plover.
• The GWR Timeline can be found here. To see the records the company holds, click here, then scroll to the bottom of the page.