Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U.S. editions, 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.
Origins
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 realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the Golden Plover was Europe's fastest game bird.[1]
Beaver thought that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in the 81,400 pubs in Britain and in Ireland, but there was no book with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular.[2]
Beaver’s idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended University friends 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.[3]
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 best seller 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 USA, and 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. Ross was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975. Norris had an encyclopedic memory — on the TV series Record Breakers, based upon the book, he would take questions posed by children in the audience on various world records and would usually be able to give the correct answer, the feature being called "Norris on the Spot".
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 10 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 height of the tallest person (Robert Pershing Wadlow), the heaviest tumour, the most poisonous plant, the shortest river (Roe River), the longest-running drama (Guiding Light), the world's most successful salesman (Joe Girard), and the only brother and sister to have solo number-ones in UK chart history. (Daniel Bedingfield, Natasha Bedingfield)
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, targeted at boys in the 9-13 age group. The change has not been universally popular, as the book is no longer intended to be comprehensive. The new, image-heavy format has also been criticized for giving too much attention to visually shocking or grotesque "records" such as physical deformities, odd-looking vegetables and peculiar stunts. The focus on images of scantily-clad female celebrities has led to complaints from school librarians.[citation needed] There have also been records where objectivity appears to have been sacrificed in favour of topicality; Paris Hilton being named "most overrated celebrity" is one recent example.
These changes have done no harm to its commercial success. The book is usually published just ahead of the Christmas buying season in most markets.
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. The Guinness World Record brand is now owned by HIT Entertainment.
A very special record is the record of the most-record-holding living person. The Swiss juggler Paul Sahli currently holds this record, with 65 Guinness records.
Reliability questions
Most of the records are accurate, but, despite the "tested, verified and elevated above all suspicion" claim posted here, a few are now believed to be questionable. For example, Guinness accepts the claim of Shigechiyo Izumi as the longest-lived man; many others, however, believe this claim to be false. In other cases, Guinness accepts the claim of the Apple iMac as having the shortest computer instruction manual (there are others that are similar), and the Khardung La [1] as being the highest motorable road. SRTM data, several independent GPS readings and Russian topographic maps all agree that Khardung La is more than 300 m lower and that there are higher motorable roads in Tibet.
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[citation needed], so entries such as these were removed. Likewise, records related to dangerous stunts are often not published, for example those closely related to freediving. The Guinness Book also dropped records within their "eating and drinking records" section of Human Achievements in 1991 due to 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 other unusual records for consuming such unlikely things as bicycles and trees (p. 464, Guinness Book of World Records 1990 edition). Reference: World Speed Beer Drinking Record. And, in what can only be seen as an attempt to set a new world record in self-inflicted irony, Guinness has dropped all mention of Beer Drinking Records.
Other records, such as sword swallowing, were closed to further entry as the current holders have 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.
Museums
In recent years the Guinness company has permitted the franchising of small museums with displays based on the book, all currently (as of 2005) located in towns popular with tourists: Surfers Paradise, Copenhagen, San Francisco, San Antonio, Niagara Falls, Hollywood, Atlantic City, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 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.
See also
References
- Watson, Bruce. (August 2005). "World's Unlikeliest Bestseller". Smithsonian, p. 76-81
External links
- Guinness World Records, the official site of the book