Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept in order to settle arguments debated in pubs, and twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in late August 1955.
The first edition topped the bestseller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2026 edition, it is now in its 71st year of publication, published in 100 countries and 40 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database.
The international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in Guinness World Records becoming the primary international source for cataloguing and verification of a huge number of world records. The organisation employs record adjudicators to verify the authenticity of the setting and breaking of records.
Following a series of owners, the franchise has been owned by the Jim Pattison Group since 2008, with its headquarters moved to South Quay Plaza, Canary Wharf, London, in 2017. Since 2008, Guinness World Records has orientated its business model away from selling books, and towards creating new world records as publicity exercises for individuals and organisations, which has attracted criticism.
History
On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. After missing a shot at a golden plover, he became involved in an argument over whether the golden plover or the red grouse was the fastest game bird in Europe. 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. Beaver knew that there must have been numerous other questions debated nightly among the public, but there was no book in the world with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful.Beaver's idea became a reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended university friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twin brothers were commissioned in August 1954 to compile A thousand copies were distributed for free to pubs across Britain and Ireland as a promotional asset for the Guinness brand, and they became immensely popular with customers.
After the founding of The Guinness Book of Records office at the top of Ludgate House, 107 Fleet Street, London, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British bestseller list by Christmas. The following year, it was introduced into the United States by New York publisher David Boehm and sold 70,000 copies. Since then, Guinness World Records has sold more than 150 million copies in 100 countries and 40 languages.
File:Kobayashi Takeru, Japanese competitive eater 2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi with two Guinness World Record certificates
Due to the book's surprise success, many further editions were printed, eventually settling into a pattern of one revision a year, published in September/October, in time for Christmas. The McWhirters continued to compile it for many years. Both brothers had an encyclopedic memory; on the British children's television series Record Breakers, which was broadcast on the BBC from 1972 to 2001, they would take questions posed by children in the audience on various world records and were able to give the correct answer. Ross McWhirter was assassinated by two members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975, in response to offering a £50,000 reward for information that would lead to the capture of members of the organisation. Following Ross's assassination, the feature on the show where questions about records posed by children were answered was called Norris on the Spot. Norris carried on as the book's sole editor.
Guinness Superlatives, later Guinness World Records Limited, was incorporated in London in 1954 to publish the first book. Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the Guinness book in the US for decades until it was repurchased by Guinness in 1989 after an 18-month long lawsuit. The group was owned by Guinness PLC and subsequently Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by Gullane Entertainment for £45.5 million. Gullane was itself purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002. In 2006, Apax Partners purchased HIT and subsequently sold Guinness World Records in early 2008 to the Jim Pattison Group, the parent company of Ripley Entertainment, which is licensed to operate Guinness World Records' Attractions. With offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records' global headquarters remain in South Quay Plaza in Canary Wharf, London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida.
Evolution
Recent editions have focused on record feats by individuals. Competitions range from obvious ones such as Olympic weightlifting to the longest egg tossing distances, or for the longest time spent playing Grand Theft Auto IV or the largest number of hot dogs consumed in three minutes. Besides records about competitions, it contains such facts such as the heaviest tumour, the most poisonous fungus, the longest-running soap opera and the most valuable life-insurance policy, among others. Many records also relate to the youngest people to have achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, currently held by Maurizio Giuliano.Each edition contains a selection of the records from the Guinness World Records database, as well as select new records, with the criteria for inclusion changing from year to year. The latest edition is the 72nd, published in August 2025.
The retirement of Norris McWhirter from his consulting role in 1995 and the subsequent decision by Diageo Plc to sell The Guinness Book of Records brand have shifted the focus of the books from text-oriented to illustrated reference. A selection of records are curated for the book from the full archive but all existing Guinness World Records titles can be accessed by creating a login on the company's website. Applications made by individuals for existing record categories are free of charge. There is an administration fee of £5 to propose a new record title.
A number of spin-off books and television series have also been produced. Guinness World Records bestowed the record of "Person with the most records" on Ashrita Furman of Queens, New York, in April 2009; at that time, he held 100 records.
In 2005, Guinness designated 9 November as International Guinness World Records Day to encourage breaking of world records. In 2006, an estimated 100,000 people participated in over 10 countries. Guinness reported 2,244 new records in 12 months, which was a 173% increase over the previous year. In February 2008, NBC aired The Top 100 Guinness World Records of All Time and Guinness World Records made the complete list available on their website.
The popularity of the franchise has resulted in Guinness World Records becoming the primary international authority on the cataloguing and verification of a huge number of world records.
List of discontinued Guinness World Records
Over its history, numerous world record categories have been discontinued. This list may include that the record poses a threat to health or the environment.| Record | Reason to discontinue | Record holder | Last appearance | |
| The largest ever mass balloon release | Environmental concerns | |||
| Largest audience at a camel wrestling festival | Concerns with animal welfare | The 1994 Camel Wrestling Festival in Selçuk, Turkey had an audience of 20,000. | 2010 | |
| Fastest journey around the world by car | Speed limits | 1996 | ||
| Fastest yodel | In February 1992, a German yodeler named Thomas Scholl hit 22 tones in one second, 15 of which were falsetto. | |||
| Heaviest pets | Animal welfare. Encouraged people to over-feed their pets | The winner for heaviest cat, Himmy, had to be transported in a wheelbarrow and weighed upon his death from respiratory failure in 1986. | 1998 | |
| Hunger strikes and fasting | Health concerns | |||
| Untimed gluttony | Health concerns | The 1955 edition declared the fastest time to eat an ox was 42 days, completed in 1880 by Germany's Johann Ketzler. A total of 43 gluttony records were discontinued in 1989, with just greatest omnivore remaining for historic value. Though Guinness was not aware of anyone dying while attempting the records, a representative said "they are simply gross". | 1989 | |
| Largest penny pyramid | Penny shortages | In 1984 the award went to two preteens from Arizona named Marc Edwards and Ben Schlimme, Jr. who built a structure of 104,000 pennies. | 1984 | |
| Largest pie fight | Wasteful. Food in record attempts to be used "for general consumption by humans" | |||
| Longest kiss | Dangers associated with sleep deprivation | 2013 | ||
| Longest time spent buried alive | Unsafe | In 1998, a "human mole" named Geoff Smith remained underground for 147 days in order to achieve the Guinness record and beat his mother's 101-day stint. Guinness denied the award for safety reasons, and Geoff stated "There are far more dangerous things in the book. There is a record for a man who eats cars." | ||
| Longest time spent without sleeping | Health concerns | 1974 | ||
| Most beer drunk in an hour | Health concerns | Within 60 minutes, 23-year-old Jack Keyes drank 36 pints of beer. The feat occurred in 1969 in Northern Ireland. | 1989 | |
| Most difficult tongue twister | The 1974 edition featured "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick". | 1974 | ||
| Most greeting cards received by an individual | Fear of overwhelming the postal system | Young British brain cancer patient Craig Shergold set a record for receiving 33 million cards between 1989 and May 1991. However, due to an email hoax, the deluge of mail continued for more than a decade after Craig's recovery. | ||
| Most guitars smashed during a concert tour | "Guitar welfare" | Matthew Bellamy of the English rock band Muse wrecked 140 guitars during a tour in 2004. | ||
| Most sky lanterns released simultaneously | Environmental concerns | In May 2013, 15,185 sky lanterns were released in Iloilo City, Philippines to promote world peace. | ||
| Most tweets in a single second | There were 143,199 tweets sent in a second on 2 August 2013. It occurred as the Studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky aired on Japan television because of a tradition of tweeting the word balse as it is said on screen. The previous record of 33,388 was set during a different airing of the film. | |||
| Fastest violinist | Difficulty in conclusively determining whether all musical notes have been sufficiently played | 2017 | ||
| Longest dreadlock | Difficulty in determining if re-attachment of broken hair occurred | 2006 |