How to apply for the Guinness Book of Records and become famous?

The most famous print publication in the worldconsidered the Guinness Book of Records. It records all the record achievements of people, animals and natural phenomena, as well as outstanding achievements in art and other fields of activity. This book is mentioned in many news, and some of us know about it from the TV show "Guinness World Records: Primetime", which was shown even on Russian television. The history of the creation of this book began in the middle of the 20th century, when one of the leaders of the Guinness brewing company decided to create a guide about all the record achievements of the inhabitants of our planet. In his opinion, such a book could help in solving many disputes that visitors to American pubs start. Most likely, he could not even imagine that this book would become known throughout the world.

This is Barivel - the longest cat (120 centimeters)

Content

• 1 Who Created the Guinness Book of Records?
• 2 Development of the Guinness Book of Records
• 3 How to set a Guinness record?
• 4 Types of Guinness records
• 5 Guinness Book of Records in Culture

Who Created the Guinness Book of Records?

The idea of ​​creating the Book of Records first came to the head of the Guinness brewing company Hugh Beaver (Hugh Beaver). In 1951, he hunted the golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) and, after unsuccessful attempts, announced to his friends that she was the fastest game of birds in Europe. It was then that he realized that it would be nice to have a handbook with him listing the various records. Such a book would not only help to verify the veracity of his statement about the plover, but also to resolve many other similar disputes that lie in different pubs. But this thought quickly left his head and he remembered it again only a few years later.

If it were not for the agility of this bird, the Guinness Book of Records would not exist

In 1954 he started talking to people again andsaid that the partridge (Lagopus lagopus scotica) is faster than the aforementioned plover. It became clear that it was simply necessary to create a guide about the fastest birds and other records. That same year, he and his brothers spoke to the board of directors of Guinness and received money to create the book. They contacted scientists and collected information on a variety of records in the world. Ultimately, August 27, 1955 the first edition of the Book of Records was publishedGuinness, which consisted of 198 pages. The circulation was 50,000 copies and at first the project was on the verge of failure. But by the end of the first week from the date of printing, the company received 10,000 orders.

First Edition of the Guinness Book of Records

Development of the Guinness Book of Records

Originally Guinness Book of Recordspositioned as a serious reference book. The authors collected scientific data in consultation with various experts in a wide range of industries. Professionals helped the representatives of the Book of Records fill the new editions with fresh facts and, if necessary, correct them. To make the experts more willing to make contact, the authors used one trick. In their letters, they did not ask to provide the fact directly. They could write something like, “We think the fastest animal on Earth is the Cheetah. Is it true?". Professionals corrected their assumption and thus gave the most truthful information. You can read about the fastest animals on our planet in this article. A lot of them.

Over time, the Guinness Book of Records has evolved into a list of various oddities. In the photo - Jackie Miley, the owner of the largest collection of teddy bears (8025 pieces)

In subsequent years, representatives of the Book of RecordsGuinness records began to record the achievements made by people during various competitions. For example, the longest goal in the history of football, scored by the goalkeeper of the English Stoke City Asmir Begovic, was included in the book - the ball flew 91 meters and 90 centimeters. Later, people began to get into the book who set more absurd records. So, once, by the name of Ashrita Furman, he set the record for the fastest pushing an orange with his nose. It took him 22 minutes 41 seconds to push a citrus fruit one mile (1.6 kilometers). It sounds strange and as if something simple, but people trying to break this record wash their noses and knees in blood. Not so easy!

Ashrita Furman has already set more than 200 records. In the photo, he cuts watermelons on his stomach. I cut 31 pieces in a minute

How to set a Guinness record?

New editions of the Guinness World Records are coming outevery year, usually in September or October. Every Thursday in the third week of November, Guinness World Records Day is celebrated. On this holiday, people from all over the world are trying to set a record for the next edition of the book. But you can set a record on any other day - the main thing is to contact representatives of the special commission. The record is recorded only in the presence of representatives of the Book of Records, who monitor the fulfillment of all conditions.

Anyone can contact the company representativesa person who wants to set a record. To do this, you need to register on the Guinness World Records website, click on the "Set a record" button and submit an application with a description of the achievement.

In general, fixing a Guinness record can be divided into 5 steps:

• filing an application on a site that is reviewed free of charge by Guinness World Records for 12 weeks. You can pay $ 800 to review an application without a queue;
• conclusion of a contract about fixing the record. People whose achievements are capable of "capturing the imagination" have the most chances to conclude a contract;
• definition of criteria, under which representatives of the Guinness Book of Records determine the conditions under which the record will be counted;
• setting a record under the supervision of the commission. If all conditions are met, this is a definite success;
• fixing a record, after which the person receives a certificate of his achievement. A record about him appears in the next edition of the Guinness Book of Records.

It should be noted that the Guinness Book of Recordssome achievements are not accepted for ethical reasons. Once the record with the heaviest home-grown fish hit the book. After the publication of the publication mentioning this achievement, many people began to overfeed their pets in the hope of setting a similar record. Also, from time to time, records related to alcohol consumption and food intake are deleted from the book. And all because some people, when setting a record, can harm their health and blame the Guinness Book of Records for this. And no one needs litigation.

We recently wrote about what will happen if you drink alcohol every day. I recommend reading!

Types of Guinness records

Records are different. Some of them are serious - for example, in the 100-meter race, the Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt is still considered the record holder, who ran the distance in 9.58 seconds. But most of the records are unusual and, to some extent, even vile. You've probably heard about the American Lee Redmond, who has grown 80-centimeter nails.

Lee Redmond is the woman with the longest nails in the world

To separate one from the other, the selected records are distributed across ten sections of the book:

• Wealth - with records of the largest winnings and valuable things;
• Achievements - mentioning the most powerful, hardy, tenacious people;
• Knowledge - with achievements in the field of science;
• Arts and media - with records in the field of music, cinema and other creative activities;
• Danger and disaster - mentioning wars, epidemics and other troubles;
• Courage - about people who have made amazing adventures;
• Glory - with records of famous people;
• Modern technologies - with the achievements of the Internet, robotics, communications, and so on;
• Sport - with Olympic records and achievements in other sports;
• Man - mentioning people with unusual sizes of body parts, a large number of tattoos, and so on.

Thanks to this structure, almost anythe record can be found. We recently wrote about the tallest man in the world, Robert Wadlow. He is listed in the "Man" section with a height of 272 centimeters. You can read about him in this article.

Guinness Book of Records in Culture

As mentioned above, about the Guinness Book of Recordsalmost everyone heard today. In addition to the main version, the authors release special editions on certain topics such as computer games and music. There are also many television programs where people set records in front of video cameras. The most famous of these is perhaps Guinness World Records Primetime. She was even shown on Russian television. Check out the video below - have you watched this show too?

There is even a video game about the Guinness Book of Records -Guinness World Records: The Videogame. It was released in 2008 for the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles and was a collection of mini-games for setting records among friends. The game did not gain much popularity, but a year later it was released on iOS. How did you first learn about the Guinness Book of Records? Write in the comments or in our Telegram chat.