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World Records
Did you play hopscotch when you were a child? Have you ever thought about participating in the annual World Hopscotch Championships which were held in Germany in 2004? You can’t make excuses by saying that you are too old, because Karl Heller won the 13th annual competition in a field of 211 competitors. Mr Heller was the ripe young age of 89!
What kind of things do you like to do in your spare time? You might like to challenge Mike Carmichael in his world record attempt at the largest ball of paint. The catch is, it might take up a bit of your spare time, say, around about 27 years or so. Mr Carmichael of Indiana applied a coat of paint to a baseball in 1977, and I’m not sure why, but he continued to add a layer of paint to the baseball over and over again for 27 years. Eventually, Mike contacted the Book of world records in an endeavour to have his ball of paint included in it. In 2004, Mr Carmichael’s bail of paint had a circumference of 2.82m and weighed around 590kg. In his home town of Alexandria, they even had a special “Ball of Paint Day” in March 2004, to celebrate the enormous achievement – I’ll bet they had a ball! "I am not going to start any more baseballs," Carmichael stated.
In 1927 Hans Langseth of Norway had a beard that was 5.33m long which is a world record. The beard was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in Washing DC in 1967. Did you know that in a year, the average beard grows 14 cm in a year? Over a lifetime, men who shave regularly, will shear off almost 3.5 kg of whiskers.
The King of the Franks from 751 to 768 AD was named Pepin the Short and is believed to have been the shortest monarch of all time - standing at 1.37m, Pepin the Short was a mighty warrior and carried a sword 1.8m long. Oddly enough, his wife was known as Bertha the Big Foot.
Janice Deveree of Kentucky has the notorious distinction of being the woman with the world’s longest beard. In 1884 her beard was 36cm long.
Shridhar Chillal of India gained the world record for the longest fingernails. Combined, the nails on his left hand measured 6.12m in 1997. The thumbnail alone was 1.4m long. Mr Chillal last cut his fingernails in 1952.
The tallest verified man on record is Robert Wadlow from USA. When he was last measured in 1940, he stood at 2.72m tall and had an armspan of 2.89m. Apparently he still continued to grow.
The tallest married couple in the world were Anna and Martin van Buren Bates of the USA. Anna stood at 2.27m and her husband was 2.2m.
Adam Rainer has the odd peculiarity of having the world record for variable stature. At the age of 21 he measured only 1.18m or 3’10½“. For some unknown he suddenly began to grow. Mr Rainer continued to grow for the rest of his life and when last measured was 2.34m or 7’8”. He is the only person in history that has been both a dwarf and a giant.
Mrs Vassilyev of Russia who was born in 1707 must have had a very trying time as a mother. She bore 4 set of quadruplets, 7 sets of triplets and 16 sets of twins.
The greatest number of generations alive at the one time is eight and this distinction goes to Augusta Bunge of the USA and her offspring. When Ms Bunge was 110 years old, her great-great-great-great-great-grand-daughter gave birth to a son in 1989.
In 1922 Charles Osborne of Iowa began to hiccough. Mr Osborne lived a normal life, married and fathered 8 children. He eventually stopped hiccoughing in 1990, which means he hiccoughed for approximately 68 years.
In January 1981 12 year old Donna Griffiths of the UK began sneezing. Poor Donna sneezed approximately 1 million times in the first 365 days, but eventually stopped after 978 days. Donna gained a world record for the most sneezes.
After hearing this story, you shouldn’t really complain about your partner’s snoring. Kare Walkert of Sweden snored so loudly that in 1993 they recorded the levels while he slept. Mr Walkert’s snoring reached levels of 93 decibels which I understand is somewhat louder than a chainsaw.
Rory Blackwell has the world record for drumming. In 1995 he played a total of 400 separate drums, one at a time, in 16.2 seconds. Earlier in 1991 he achieved a total of 3,720 single beats on a single drum in one minute. If you have a calculator, that’s 62 beats per second!
Brother Giovanni Orsenigo has the world record for being the most dedicated dentist. From 1868 to 1903 he extracted 2,000,744 teeth which is an average of 185 teeth a day.
Now for anyone who’s ever done any typing or had to sit for typing speed tests, you can really understand the achievement of Gregory Arakelian of the USA who set a speed record of 158 wpm, with only 2 errors on a PC in 1991. Now I am a fairly fast typist – but my absolute top speed was 100 wpm so I take my hat off to Mr Arakelian because 158wpm is incredibly fast.
Eldon Wigton is the world’s fastest magician. In 1991 in only a 2 minute period he performed 225 different magic tricks. I guess in this instance, the hand was definitely quicker than the eye.
If you’ve ever thought about setting a new world record? Perhaps you would like to try stamp licking? In 1995 Dean Gould of the UK licked and stuck 450 stamps in just 4 minutes. I guess that record would take a lot of licking.
If you’re into tap-dancing, perhaps you’d like to challenge David Mennan’s world record. He tap-danced for 37.367km in 1996 in just under 6 hrs and 13 min.
I have never tried unicycling, you know those cycles with only one wheel. And I’ve certainly never tried backward unicycling. Ashrita Furman rode a unicycle backward in 1994 for 85.56km. I wonder if he had rear-vision mirrors on his shoulders to keep from running into things, either that or he had a very stiff neck from looking backward for 85km.
If you had the money, how about trying to beat the world-record for the most countries travelled through entirely by train in a 24 hour period. This feat was accomplished by Alison Bailey, Ian Bailey, John English and David Kellie in 1993. Commencing their journey in Hungary they continued through Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Australia, Germany, back into Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The journey lasted 22 hr 10 min.
The world record for the distance covered when throwing a grape through the air and having someone catch it in their mouth is 99.82m. This record was set by Paul Tavilla and James Dedy in the USA in 1991. Would you believe there are even world record for spitting various objects.
Johnny Foley threw an egg to Keith Thomas in 1978 in the USA without breaking it. They gained the world record by throwing it 98.51m. And for those of you who have often wondered about the world record for throwing a haggis, a record of 55.11m was gained by Alan Pettigrew in the UK in 1984.
In only 2 days in 1863, the registrar of the US Treasury, LE Chittenden had to sign 12,500 bonds as they were being immediately sent to England. Unfortunately for years after that, LE Chittenden suffered with physical pain, perhaps what we now call RSI. Despite the registrar’s valiant efforts in getting all of the bonds signed in time, the bonds were never actually even used. But at least he gained a world record for the most signatures in the shortest amount of time.
It wasn’t until January 1978 that a child had been born on each one of the 7 continents. The last continent was Antarctica when Emilio Palm was born on an Argentine military base.
I wouldn’t recommend this world record for those with false teeth. Mr Walter Arfeuille of Belgium lifted weights 17cm off the ground with his teeth in Paris in 1990. The object weighed 281.5kg. Ouch my aching teeth!
The world’s longest dancing dragon measured 1,889.76m from the end to end in 1996. The number of people used to move the dragon for one whole minute was 2,431 and took place in Hong Kong.
Although Africa is the warmest continent, it has 13 square km of glaciers on 3 of its tallest mountain peaks. Of all the continents, Australia is the only one that has no glaciers, and this is believed to be because Australia is not mountainous enough. Oddly enough, New Guinea and New Zealand which are fairly close by, do actually have glaciers.
Do you ever remember doing the hokey kokey? The world record for the most participants in hokey occurred during the VE day celebration in 1995 in the UK when a total of 6,748 people participated.
In 1996 students from the University of Guelph in Canada formed the world’s longest ever “human centipede” and they moved 30m. It consisted of 1,665 students who ankles were firmly tied together and not one person fell over.
In winter, in the interior of Antarctica the continuous darkness and the high altitude cause it to be coldest place on earth. On August 24, 1960 at 3.5km above sea level, at a Russian station called Vostock, the lowest temperature ever recorded was –88.3C. Brrr! I get goose-bumps just thinking about it!
Don’t you just love those old children’s games, musical chairs and pass the parcel? Well there are world records for these 2 games. In Singapore during 1989, musical chairs was played with 8,238 participants. Then in 1992 the world’s largest game of pass the parcel was played in the UK. 3,464 people participated and removed 2,000 wrappers in two hours. The parcel measured 1.5 x 0.9 x 0.9m. And for the curious ones, the prize at the bottom of all of those layers was an electronic keyboard.
In 1956 an enormous iceberg, larger than the country of Belgium was seen in the South Pacific. The iceberg was 96.56m wide and almost 335m long which is the largest ever seen.
Some people have amazing talents but have you ever heard of worm charming? In 1980 Tom Shufflebotham charmed 511 worms out of the ground in 30 minutes and gained a world record for it. I guess with that ability, you’d want to go fishing a lot.
The world’s largest ever human mobile was set in 1996 when 16 performers from the Circus of Horrors were suspended from a crane in Germany. Perhaps it’s a new form of art.
Above the French countryside in 1989, Michel Menin of France walked on a tightrope over the highest drop ever recorded. The tightrope was 3,150m above the ground.
In 1995 the Army Corps of Brasilia in Brazil set the world record for the most people on one motorcycle. Riding on a 1200cc Harley Davidson were 47 people.
Here’s another one of those strange world records: Kathy Wafler of New York peeled the longest single unbroken apple peel in 1976. The peel was 52.51m long and it took her 11½ hours to peel it! And just when you thought it couldn’t get stranger, there’s even a world record for onion peeling on a slightly different basis. Alan St Jean peeled 22.67kg (50lb) of onions in 1989 in 3 min 18 sec.
Do you like baked beans? Well perhaps you’d really have to love them to try and win the world record. Andy Szebini of London in 1996 ate 226 cold baked beans in five minutes using a toothpick.
In 1990 Jeanne Calment played in a speaking role in the film “Vincent and Me” when she portrayed herself. This doesn’t sound unusual, but what you don’t know is that Ms Calment gained the world record for being the oldest person to do this in a movie. She was 114 years old at the time.
Thinking of retiring or just about what to do on a weekend? Perhaps you would like to take up parachuting like Edwin Townsend who at the age of 89 became the oldest man ever to make a parachute jump. Ms Sylvia Brett at 80 years of age took out the record for being the most mature woman who has ever parachuted.
If you are mature in years you may be capable of doing things that many younger can’t do. Take Col. Clarence Cornish of the USA. At the age of 97 he was still flying an aircraft. At the time of his world record Mr Cornish had been flying for just under 80 years.
When Michael Kearney of the US was only 6 years & 5 months old, he received his high-school diploma. At the age of 10 years & 4 months, Michael Kearney became the world’s youngest graduate from University. And the title for the world’s youngest doctor went to Balamuraldi Ambiti when he graduated from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York at the age of 17 years.
Mr Izumi has the world record for endurance in his career. In 1872 he began work goading draught animals at a sugar mill in Japan and continued working for 98 years. Eventually he retired as a sugar-cane farmer at the ripe young age of 105.
Do you like flying in planes? Perhaps you could try and beat Fred Finn’s world record. He has made 709 crossings over the Atlantic on the Concorde. In total, Mr Finn had flown 19,247,750km.
Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen must have believed in long engagements. You see they were engaged for 67 years and finally got married in 1969 in Mexico City when they were both 82 years of age.
An American slave by the name of Thomas Fuller was known as the “Virginian Calculator” as he had incredible powers of mental calculation. His extraordinary mental powers remained undiminished and at the age of almost 80 he was able to calculate in 1½ minutes only, the number of seconds in the life of a man who had lived 70 years 17 days and 12 hours. Mr Fuller’s reply was 2,210,500,800 seconds. The questioner challenged Mr Fuller who reminded the questioner of leaps years.
The largest piece of cheese ever made weighed in at 26.09 tonne. It was made in Quebec, Canada in 1995. Oh, and the cheese was cheddar.
A Californian gentlemen by the name of William McLellan built the world’s smallest electric motor. It is smaller than the head of a pin and weighs 0.0022 of a gram. It has 13 parts and its motor is only a 1.6cm on all sides. It’s motor generates one-millionth of a horsepower. It was built using a microscope, a toothpick and a watchmaker’s lathe and can only be seen working through a microscope.
There are many world records for the largest pieces of food made. Some of these include the largest meat pie in 1995 which weighed 10.06 tonne; and the largest haggis was made in 1993 in Glasgow. Then there was the largest omelette that was made in Japan in 1994. The omelette covered 128.5m2 and contained 160,000 eggs. I guess somebody must have had a big chicken coop and a gigantic egg beater.
In Acapulco in 1996 the world’s longest loaf of bread was made. It was so long at 9,200m that if it could have been placed next to Mt Everest, it would have actually been 352m taller than the mountain.
I think I would really like to have been in the Netherlands in May 1990 when the world’s largest sweet was completed. It was a marzipan chocolate and weighed 1.85 tonnes. It seems I even missed the world’s largest easter egg in 1992 and I was even living in that city at the time. The easter egg was made in Ringwood, Victoria and weighed a whopping 4.76 tonne. Now why didn’t anybody tell me?
How would you like to get your teeth into this? In 1993 in New York, several bakeries got together and made the world’s largest jelly doughnut that weighed 1.7 tonne. Or perhaps you’d prefer an ice-cream sundae. The record went to Palm Dairies in Alberta, Canada in 1988 where the world’s largest was created. It consisted of 4.39 tonnes of syrup, 20.27 tonnes of ice-cream and 243.7kg of topping. I’m sure the local dentists would have appreciated it.
I’m a bit of a pizza fan but I think I would have had some trouble getting through the world’s largest in South Africa in 1990. It was 37.4m in diameter. But then I don’t mind lasagne either and I would have liked to have seen the world’s record in California in 1993 when they made one weighing 3.71 tonnes.
Did you know that there are records for the world’s largest garlic bread, hamburger, kebab, salami, sausage, yorkshire pudding, apple pie, cherry pie, jelly, christmas pudding, wedding cake and even a banana split? I was going to mention even more deserts but thought it might be a trifle too much.
In Canada in 1994, the Seniors’ Association gained a world record by creating the largest quilt. It was 47.36m x 25.20m. Then there was the record for the biggest blanket that went to N Yorkshire in 1993. It measured 17,289m2. Now where would they find a washing machine to clean them?
Did you know that the world’s largest wooden structure is the Wooloomooloo Bay Wharf in Sydney? It is 63m wide and 400m long. And if you’re looking for a nice place to swim you can go to Casablanca in Morocco where they have the world’s largest swimming pool. It is 75m wide and 480m long and covers an area of 3.6 ha.
The largest caravan in the world was 5 storeys high and had only 2 wheels. It was 12m wide and 20m long and weighed 120 tonnes. But it would be good for a large family as it has 8 bedrooms and bathrooms and 4 garages. Used 22/9/00 & 07/06/03
Terry Thessman of New Zealand gained a world record in 1988 when he completed the world’s longest bicycle. It was 22.25m long and 4 riders rode it a distance of 246m.
Do you hate having to mow the lawn? Perhaps you could ask Edgar Frick of Ohio in the USA if you could borrow his lawnmower. It would cut your lawn much quicker. At 18m, Mr Frick’s lawnmower was the world’s widest. Unfortunately it weighed 5 tonne.
The tallest bird ever to have lived once lived in New Zealand. The moa was a flightless bird that became extinct 400 years ago. Its drumstick was 91cm long and it stood 3.35m tall.
In 1991 in Sussex in the UK, a world record was made for the largest gathering of clowns. There were 850. I guessed they must have just been clowning around.
Some people collect the strangest things. Some of these include bus tickets, matchbox labels, piggy banks and parking meters. But one of the strangest collectors would have to be Niek Vermeulen of the Netherlands who has the record for the world’s largest collection of aeroplane sick bags. In 1997 his collection totalled 2,112 different bags from 470 airlines.
There is actually a particular name for the collection of different objects, eg if you like to collect beer labels that is called labology. Or if you collect ties, your hobby is called grabatology. In fact the world champion in the grabatology category is Tom Holmes of W Midlands and he has a collection of over 11,650 different ties. The British Prime Minister even sends him a yearly birthday tie.
How would you feel if the bank accidentally put $88 million into your account by mistake? This happened to Howard Jenkins of Florida in 1994. At first he withdrew $4m but shortly after that he returned the $88 million in full. Mr Jenkins has the world record for being a millionaire for the shortest period of time. How about the most honest one?
Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand has the world record for the being the steepest street. Its maximum gradient is 1 in 1.266. The longest street name is in Britain and the name of the street is Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive.
Can you guess which is the longest coral reef in the world? If you were thinking the Great Barrier Reef, give yourself a pat on the back. It is 2,207km long and has thousands of individual reefs.
I really love wet weather, how about you? Those are the days when I like to sit back and read a good book. But I don’t think I would like to have been on Reunion Island in March 1952 when the highest rainfall in the world was recorded. They received 1,870mm of rain in a 24 hour period which is equivalent to 3,057 tonnes of rain per hectare. The yearly record for rainfall goes to Meghalaya in India which received 26,461mm of rain between 1 Aug 1860 and 31 July 1861.
Do you enjoy housework? If not, you could always try and make it more interesting by setting your own record. In 1978 Wendy Hall of Sydney set a world record by making a bed in 28.2 seconds.
The driest place on earth is the Atacama Desert in northern Chile which experiences virtually no rain. During a hundred year period there may only be an occasional squall over a small area.
The highest wave ever sighted was in the Pacific Ocean in February 1993. During a hurricane, the wave was determined to be 34m or 112 feet from trough to crest. Whew!
Pierre Bouguer was a French mathematician who was one of the first to measure the intensity of light. At 15 years of age he became a professor of the Hydrographic School in Paris. Apparently he even taught mathematics to his own instructors when he was only 10 years old.
The heaviest hailstones ever recorded weighed up to 1kg. This storm occurred in Bangladesh in 1986.
New Zealand once had the world’s tallest geyser that erupted every 30-36 hours and gains a height of over 460m. In 1904 the geyser became inactive and has remained so ever since.
A tailless tenrec which is found in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands has the world record for the greatest number of young born to a wild mammal in one single birth. The tenrec gave birth to 31 babies in the one litter.
A portly young fellow from USA by the name of Big Bill weighed in at 1,157.5kg in 1933. Big Bill actually was the world record holder for being the heaviest pig.
Did you ever have chickens when you were younger? They can be wonderful pets and of course they have the added bonus of supplying eggs. From 1978 to 1979 in a 364 day period, a white leghorn laid 371 eggs. That’s more than one egg a day. Then there was the hen from New York which is reported to have laid an egg with nine yolks.
The most effective sniffer dog in the world was “Trepp” a golden retriever that worked for the Florida Police Department. Trepp is credited with over 10 arrests and recovering approximately $63 million worth of narcotics. Once Trepp was at a police academy demonstration and was set to detect 10 hidden packets of drugs and actually found 11!
A springer spaniel known as Millie actually earned top money as a literary dog in 1991. Millie’s master was the US President George Bush and Millie supposedly dictated her book to the First Lady Barbara Bush. The book earned approximately $900,00 and was described as an “under the table look at life in the Bush family”.
A female tabby cat by the name of “Ma” from Devon in the UK, is said to have lived to the age of 34. Another tabby from Bonham, Texas known as “Dusty” produced 420 kittens during her lifetime. Then there was the 30 year old cat from Staff, UK who became the oldest feline mother when she gave birth to 2 kittens when she was 30 years old.
Often when we think of talking birds we think that they have a very limited vocabulary. But there was a budgerigar from California by the name of “Puck” whose vocabulary is estimated to have been 1,728 words.
Queensland and South America should the dubious distinction of having the world’s largest known toad. Can you guess which one? Yes, the cane toad. On average they weigh 450g but the largest cane toad ever, was owned by a gentlemen in Sweden. This toad measured 38cm from its snout to its end and weighed a massive 2.65kg. At least cane toads can’t leap great distances like the South African sharp-nosed frog. One pet frog in South Africa in 1977, leapt 10.3m. Now if cane toads jumped like that, I might consider moving out of Queensland.
The longest lived tortoise of all time lived for over 152 years. There was a creature called the slow worm in Copenhagen, Denmark which lived a remarkable 54 years.
The goliath bird-eating spider is the world’s largest known spider and lives in the coastal rainforest of several countries. One spider collected in 1965 had a leg-span of 28cm which is enough to cover a dinner plate.
Papua New Guinea boasts the world’s largest known butterfly. It is the Queen Alexandra’s birdwing and some females weigh over 25g and have a wingspan which can exceed 28cm. And the world’s largest cockroach comes from Colombia. One specimen was 4.5cm wide and 9.7cm long.
The shortest lived insect is the mayfly which may spend 2-3 years in the bottom of lakes and streams as nymphs. Then they live for as little as an hour as winged adults.
The youngest ever female champion at the Olympic Games was Kim Yoon-Mi from South Korea who completed in the 3,000m short-track speedskating relay event in 1994. Kim was only 13 years old at the time.
What is the tallest mountain in the world? Did I hear you mention Mount Everest? Well if we were to measure the mountains from their base to the peak, then the Island of Hawaii is actually the tallest. Hawaii is just one big mountain, but it’s base is 5,486.4m below sea level and it’s peak is 4,201.3 m above sea level. A total of almost 9,690m. Mount Everest is 8,839m above sea level, but from it’s base to its peak it is only 5,181.6m high.
In Australia the largest basin of a single-named river is that of the Fitzroy River in Queensland. The basin covers a total area of 138,510km2.
The hottest place officially in Australia is Marble Bar in WA where temperatures of 37.8C or more were recorded for 160 consecutive days. In the Australian mainland the lowest temperature ever recorded was at Charlotte Pass in NSW where a temperature of -23C was recorded.
Australia has the world’s smallest marsupial. It is about 5cm in length and is known as the long-tailed planigale. It is also Australia’s smallest mammal.
Australia has the world’s largest revolving restaurant. It is located on the 47th level of the Australia Square Tower in Sydney. At 41.1m in diameter, the restaurant revolves at 153m above street level.
Francesca Caccini composed one of the earliest operas and she was a woman. The opera was performed in Florence Italy in 1625. The opera was a lively exhibition and the final segment was a ballet performed on horses.
The oldest event ever dated to the exact date was a solar eclipse. The reason it was recorded and remembered was because it ended a war. As the armies of Media and Lydia prepared for battle in Asia Minor, the eclipse occurred and must have scared the dickens out of both armies. A peace treaty was signed by the two nations after the eclipse occurred on May 28, 585BC.
Although Jupiter is the largest planet, it has the shortest day. Its circumference is 450,616km. Earth’s circumference is only 40,233.6km. Despite its size, Jupiter makes one turn every 9 hours and 55 minutes. I wonder if you’d get dizzy?
I don’t think Mars would be a very comfortable place to live. Although during the day the temperature can go up to a comfortable 28C, during the night the temperature can get as low as -123C. I think you’d have to take a blanket or two. I believe Mars has the distinction for the planet in our solar system that has the largest variance between high and low temperatures in a day.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s widest long-span or arch bridge in the world. It is 503m long and carries two rail tracks, a footpath and 8 car lanes.
The longest stretch of straight rail track in the world is 478km long in it’s straightest section. This rail track cross part of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain just north of the Great Australian Bight.
If anyone is thinking of moving to Spearfish in South Dakota, perhaps you should think again. It recorded the fastest temperature change on record in 1943. In only two minutes, the temperature rose from -20C to 7C between 7.30 and 7.32am. That’s a jump of 27C in just 2 minutes!
In 1966 a Japanese gentleman by the name of Mr Kanakuri set a rather unusual world record. He commenced the Olympic marathon in 1912 which is a 42km course. After running several kilometres, Mr Kanakuri passed by a group of people having a drink in their front garden. Suffering dehydration and exhaustion, the gentlemen stopped and joined them for a drink. Mr Kanakuri stayed on and had a few more drinks and then decided to give the race a big miss. He caught a train back to Stockholm, eventually returned to Japan, got married, had 6 children and eventually 10 grandchildren. Finally in 1966 he returned to the villa where he had originally stopped for a drink and then completed the marathon. Mr Kanakuri had run the marathon in a record 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours and 32 minutes.
John Reznikoff of Stamford in the USA collects the hair of famous dead celebrities and has over 100 pieces in his collection. The hair belongs to people including Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy. Mr Reznikoff has insured his unique collection for a mere $1 million.
Perhaps you might be interested in breaking the world record set by Manfred Kaluda of Germany who has a collection of 9,400 chamber pots. Some of the pots date back to the 16 century. His unusual collection is on display at a museum in Munich.
If you really love your partner and tell them so regularly in letter form, perhaps you might like to try and break the world record for the most letter written. This record was set by Uichi Noda who was a Deputy Minister of the Treasury and Minister of Construction in Japan. From July 1961 Mr Noda wrote 1,307 letters to his bedridden wife Mitsu during his overseas trips, until her death in March 1985. His letters have been published in 25 volumes, totalling 12,404 pages and more than 5 million characters.
Now if you really want to spoil the man in your life ladies, you might like to shout him a steak from Wagyu cattle which are bred in Japan. The herds have a remarkable genetic purity. Their keeprs spoil them by regularly rubbing them down with sake and feeding them large quantities of beer. It is believed that their extremely placid natures, combined with their stress-free lifestyle leads to the fantastic quality of their flesh. But the Japanese refuse to export any of the cattle for breeding, so Kobe beef is very rare and very expensive at around $100/kg.
Do you consider yourself a bit of a coffee connoisseur? Have you ever managed to try the rare Indonesian coffee Kopi Luwak? At around $180/kg, its cost can be explained by the rather unusual way it is processed. To become Kopi Luwak coffee, the coffee bean first has to be eaten by a small tree-dwelling animal called the Paradoxurus. Then later the coffee beans are collected from the animal’s droppings.
Michel Lotito of Grenoble, France has had a rather varied diet since 1959. Doctors who have x-rayed his stomach are astounded at his unique ability to consume. Monsieur Mangetout (as he is known, which means Mr Eat-everything) has done just that. Since 1966 he has consumed 15 supermarket trolleys, 2 beds, a pair of skis, a computer, 18 bicycles, 7 television sets, a coffin (including its handles), 6 chandeliers and a Cessna light aircraft. This is definitely NOT a world record we would recommend anybody try. Monsieur Mangetout has an incredible resistance to pain. If any of us even attempted to eat some of the things he has, we would more than likely die. Oddly enough, Monsieur Mangetout says that hard-boiled eggs and bananas make him feel ill.
David Huxley is an Aussie who holds the world record for pulling a 187 tonne Qantas Boeing 747, for a distance of 91m. This took place at Sydney Airport on 15 October 1997. He actually beat his own previous world record. But just to prove himself, he has even pulled a 105 tonne Concorde for a distance of 143m.
The world record for the fastest sheep shearer went to Deanne Sarre of Pingrup in Yealering in Western Australia in 1989, who sheared 390 lambs in eight hours. The nearest the blokes came was Peter Casserly of Christchurch in New Zealand, who sheared a mere 353 lambs in nine hours in 1976.
The tallest sandcastle on record reached a whopping 6.56m tall and was constructed in 1993 by Joe Maize, George Pennock and Ted Siebert at Harrison Hot Springs, in Canada. They used only bucket and shovels and their hands.
At the age of 80, Burnet Patten of Victoria gained a world record as the oldest person to qualify as a pilot, when he obtained his flying licence in 1997.
A snail by the name of Archie who was trained by Carl Banham, has a world record. Archie is the all-time record holder at the annual world snail racing championships held at Congham, in the UK. His very best time over the 33cm circular course was 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
The Reverend Roy White played 363 games of draughts simultaneously and won all of them. This occurred in 1996 at Leslie Thomas Junior High School, Canada and gained the Reverend the World Record for the most draught opponents.
The longest traffic jam on record occurred in Lyon, France in 1980, and the jam was 176km in length.
Emil and Liliana Schmidt gained a world record for travelling the longest journey by car. Since 1984 they have been travelling from Germany and have so far been through 117 countries in a Toyota Landcruiser and have travelled over 451,000km.
The deepest depth that anyone has ever reached occurred in 1960 when the Navy bathyscaphe Trieste, which was manned by by Dr Jacques Piccard of Switzerland and Lt Donald Wash of the USA, reached a depth of 10,911m in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The longest backwards-walk in the world was made by Plennie L Wingo of Texas in the USA who walked 12,875km from California to Istanbul in Turkey. The longest wheelchair journey in the world goes to Rick Hansen of Canada who has been paralysed from the waist down since 1973. Rick travelled over 4 continents and through 34 countries and travelled a total of 40,075km.
The record for the greatest distance covered while leap-frogging is 1,603.2km by 14 students from Stanford University in the California. It took them 244 hours and 43 minutes in 1991.
There is a world record for the furthest pizza delivery and this went to Eagle Boys Dial-a-Pizza in Christchurch, New Zealand who are regularly requested to deliver pizzas to Scott Base in Antarctica. The pizzas are cooked, packed and shipped to a military airfield, Then they’re loaded onto a C.130 Hercules and finally arrive at the base 9 hours later where they are reheated and enjoyed!
Aah! The light-hearted days of childhood and the silly games we played. How would you like to relive that all over again by engaging in a pillow fight? All you have to do is get together with lots of your friends, as a group in New York did in September 2003. Seven hundred people met in New York’s Central Park and engaged in the world’s largest pillow fight, and broke the previous record set in Kansas. They even put together an enormous bed measuring 24m x 12m and had a headboard that stood over 3.6m in height. The seven hundred people were no strangers though – they were all employees of Sheraton Hotels. The whole stunt, to gain the world record and to draw attention to the luxurious beds in Sheraton Hotels across the USA, cost them a mere $75 million.
Billy Graham has a world record, yes, the evangelist Billy Graham has a world record for the biggest radio audience for a regular religious broadcast. The program, “Decision House”, has been broadcast regularly since 1957 and attracts an average audience of 20 million people.
James and Michael are the tallest male twins in the world. Born in 1969 the men come from Troy in Michigan and both reach a height of 2.235m or 7’4”. Their sister Jennifer is only 1.57m or 5’2” in height. The tallest female twins are Heidi and Heather Burge from California. Born in 1971, these women reached a height of 1.95m or almost 6’5” in height.
Jani Mabe of Athens, Georgia in the USA has a rather unusual item in her Elvis collection. She has one of Elvis’ warts. In addition she gained a world record for the strangest body part kept as a keepsake.
The world’s longest moustache was grown by Kalyan Ramji Sain of India. By 1993 it had reached a length of 3.39m.
Bats have the most acute hearing of any terrestrial animal and some can hear frequencies as high as 120-250kHz. We humans can’t quite hear 20kHz. The loudest sound by any living creature is made by fin whales and blue whales to communicate with each other. Their low-frequency pulses have been measured at up to 188 decibels.
Living sponges are able to regrow from tiny fragments of their former selves. In fact, if sponges are squashed through a fine mesh, the separate fragments can even reform into a full-sized sponge. Sponges have a world record for this unusual ability.
The largest known invertebrate in the world is the Atlantic giant squid. The heaviest one ever found was discovered in Newfoundland in Canada in 1878 and was 6.1m and one tentacle was 10.7m long. The largest starfish in the world is the brisingid which can be found in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1968 one was found that was 1.38m long and most of that was the leg part.
The record for the world’s longest snake goes to the reticulated python of South east Asia which often exceeds 6.25m or 20’6” in length. In 1912 one was discovered in Indonesia which was 10m or 32’9½“ long.
Human beings eat some interesting things, but there was an ostrich living at the London zoo who was found to have swallowed, a roll of film, a 91cm long piece of rope, an alarm clock, 3 gloves, a gold necklace, a pencil, a cycle valve, a comb, collar stud, and 7 coins. As a result, the ostrich gained a place in record history for the most strange objects consumed by an animal.
The kea from New Zealand is the only bird known to have a society in which the higher-status individuals force others to work for them.
There was a female bird-eating spider captured in 1985 in Surinam which had a leg-span of 26.7m 10½” and 2.5cm fangs. The smallest spider in the world comes from Samoa and is caled a patu marplesi. A male spider found in 1965 was only 0.43mm long in total or about the size of a full stop on a normal typed page.
In many spider species, the females lay their eggs and then never see their offspring again. But the theridion sisyphium spider feeds her young with liquid from her mouth. Then when the babies are a few days old, they begin to share the food that their mother catches. As they get older, the young even help their mother to catch any prey that comes along.
The larva of the polyphemus moth is extremely greedy and can consume 86,000 times its own birthweight in its first 56 days. If we were to compare this to a human child born at 3.17kg average, the human child would have to consume approximately 273 tonnes in nourishment to match the moth grub.
The Texas horned lizard remains motionless if approached, but if it is picked up will attempt to disconcert its attacker by puffing up its body and spraying blood from its eyes, sometimes for a considerable distance. It does this by increasing the blood pressure in its head and does it no permanent harm. I understand it has a record because of its unique ability.
An unusual animal was discovered in Queensland in 1990 and was named the electric frog because its mating call resembles the sound produced by a high-voltage, long-duration, electric arc.
Australia shares the world record for the largest toad, but we also have the world record for the largest wingless cockroach and it lives in Queensland. It is the Macropanesthia rhinoceros and grows to 8cm long and 5cm in width and weighs about 35 grams.
There is a dog called Chi Chi in California who has won the World Championship Ugly Dog Contest a total of five times. He is a rare African sand dog and was described by the National Enquirer as a “space alien” and even his owner Doris Beezley wasn’t much more complimentary. But Chi Chi became rather famous and made several television appearances and is even the star of a comic strip called “The Ugliest Dog”.
The Rafflesia Arnoldi is a plant which has the largest flowers in the world that are up to 91cm across and bloom only once every few years. It also has the distinction of being one of the grossest smelling plants in the world and is also known as the “stinking corpse lily” because its blossoms smell like rotten meat and a variety of other unpleasant smells. Apparently the stench is so strong, that it can stick to the skin and clothing and the unfortunate individual may even have to scrub their skin and clothing with harsh chemicals before the aroma begins to disappear. The smell of the Rafflesia Arnoldi's flower is so disgusting that it often makes people feel extremely nauseaus.
The itchiest cactus in the world is the Opuntia or prickly pear. The bristles are barbed like bee stings and are used to make the world’s itchiest itching powder.
The most valuable comic book of all time is also the rarest. It is an issue of “Detective” (no 27) in which Batman first appears. It was auctioned and sold for $85,000.
Stan Herd is a crop artist and he uses his tractor to carve pictures into the landscape. His largest work to date was a portrait of cowboy Will Rogers and was 65ha in size on the planes of south-west Kansas in the USA. Some of his other well-known works included a portrait of Native American Saginaw grant and a sunflower still life.
Even before rock’n’roll, the most successful solo artist ever, according to the Guiness Book of Records, was Bing Crosby who had an astonishing 299 top 20 entries in the USA including 38 number one hits.
During August 2003, a 35 year old Norwegian Elvis impersonator by the name of Kjell Henning Bjoernestad, gained a world record for singing. It wasn’t because of the quality of the singing, nor the fact that he once won an award as the Nordic region's best Elvis lookalike. Rather it was for singing the King's hits non-stop for a croaky 26 hours, four minutes and 40 seconds. …. Thank you very much.
How reliable is your car? Perhaps you have a bit of a lemon. Well I wouldn’t mind being in Irv Gordon’s shoes. Mr Gordon, a retired science teacher from Long Island in the USA, purchased a Volvo P1800 in 1966. Five years after his purchase, the vehicle had clocked up a very respectable 250,000 miles or 402,336 km. Later, the car was still running exceptionally well at 500,000 miles or 804,672km. Mr Gordon celebrated the next milestone in October 1987 when the Volvo reached 1,000,000 miles or 1,609,344km on the odometer. The book of world records honoured Irv Gordon’s Volvo P1800 in 1988 as the vehicle with "the highest certified mileage driven by the original owner in non-commercial service." There are very few automobiles that last that kind of distance. An avid driver, Mr Gordon began driving to Denver for lunch or Cincinnati for coffee, a few years later after he retired. And yes, he continued driving the same vehicle. In 2002, Volvo held special celebrations in New York, which Mr Gordon attend as an honoured guest. Irv Gordon’s Volvo P1800 at that time had driven an unprecedented 2,000,000 miles or 3,218,688km.
What is the size of a single cell, has six strings and is about 50 nanometers or 100 atoms wide, and 10 micrometers long? No, this is not a riddle. It is the world’s smallest guitar and was created by researchers at Cornell University who used crystalline silicon to make it. This is just a demonstration of some of the early stages of new technology for electro-mechanical devices of the future.
Have you ever considered setting some kind of world record? Personally, I’ve never really seen the attraction in being the first to do something, unlike Raphaela le Gouvello, a French windsurfer. Raphaela undertook the first solo crossing of the Pacific, travelling from Peru to Tahiti, on her windsurf. This is not the first time though the French woman has undertaken solo crossings. She also previously crossed the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic on the windsurfing board. During her Pacific journey which took three months, her home was the 7.8m windsurfing board on which she slept. Well I hope she wasn’t much of a restless sleeper or she might have literally found herself in deep water!
An Englishman by the name of Garry Turner suffers from a condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or EDS. EDS is a rare skin conditions which affects the connective tissues. In 2002, Turner turned his condition to his advantage, and gained a world record in the process. Garry Turner took 153 ordinary wooden clothes pegs and clipped them ALL to his face! I’ve heard of the saying “A pinched look”, but ouch! Mr Turner already had a world record for possessing the stretchiest skin. In fact, one of his favourite stunts was to pull the skin of his neck up over his mouth to produce what he called “the human turtleneck.”
Can you touch the tip of your nose with your tongue, or even better, with your elbow? If you can, then I offer you another challenge, can you stroke the back of your ears with your feet? Can you walk backwards, literally? That is, can you turn your legs around so that your feet are facing backwards? It’s not impossible - Pierre Beaucheman, could do just that. In addition, Mr Beaucheman, also known as Mr Gumby, stunned TV viewers in 1999 when he squeezed himself into a box about the size of a picnic basket. To do it, he had to dislocate both legs first. Mr Beaucheman possessed the world record for being the world’s most elastic man.
Gabriel and Victor Ramos Gomez are trampoline acrobats and they lead very interesting lives. Sometimes they even get asked to appear on television. The two brothers are two members of a fairly unique family. Nineteen members of their family in five generations have suffered from the condition known as hypertrichosis. Scientists have been researching the family for years to try and determine what is causing the condition which is usually brought about by hormone imbalances. But in the Ramos Gomez family, that is not the cause behind hypertrichosis. So what is hypertrichosis and what is so special about Gabriel and Victor? Hypertrichosis is also known as werewolf syndrome, where their bodies are covered in excess hair. Even the women in the family have a fine to medium coat of fur. Both Victor and Gabriel are ordinary guys, only a little hairier than usual. Now when we say hairy, just how hairy is that? We’re talking thick hair on the face, neck, body etc - hair everywhere! The men have no desire to shave off the fur.“
Hands up if you are not keen on opera or any long-winded musicals. Do you prefer your music to be short and to the point? If so, you may well enjoy the 1952 piece of classical music composed by John Cage called “4’33”” which was written for any instrument. The piece also has a world record for the fewest notes in a classical music composition. How short is this short piece? In fact, the composition contains not one single musical note. The performer simply sits quietly on a concert platform and waits. The music that results, whether it is a slight cough or a shuffle, is any sound from the audience itself.
Ok, there are some fairly strange songs that have come out over the years, so you may be interested in hearing the winner of the longest title of an album that reached the US charts. Brought out by Fiona Apple, a singer from New York in 1999, the album title contained a staggering ninety words and reads, 'When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right.'
What nation do you imagine, produces the most feature-length movies in the world? China? USA? Australia? It is in fact, India where in 1990 a massive 948 movies were produced. So from the most movies in the world, let’s go to the most plasticine used in a feature film. The winner was the full-length animated movie “Chicken Run” released in 2000. Taking an average two days to create just four seconds of the film, Chicen Run told the story of a farm of battery chickens in England who plotted their escape before they were made into chicken pies. During the making of the movie, some 2,380kg of plasticine was used and made $17.5 million in its first weekend.
I’m sure that you have always wanted to know the names of the shortest actors in the world. The title for shortest male adult actor went to Weng Wang, a Filipino paratrooper and black-belt martial arts expert. Weng Wang starred in the movies Agent 00 (1981) and For Your Height Only (1979) which were made for the Phillipines. Measure only 83cm or 2’9” in height, Wang undertook all of his own stunts. The shorts adult female actor was Tamara de Treaux, and American actress who stood at just 77cm or 2’7” in height. De Treaux was the actor who played ET in the movie ET and she also appeared in four other films. Lucky, they weren’t short on talent.
The well-known and loved Bob Hope has a number of book of world records including the Most Oscar Ceremonies Presented, Most Honoured Entertainer, and Longest Hollywood Marriage. In 1996 he gained another record for the longest contract in Radio and TV when he completed his 60th year on contract with NBC.
The Book of world records holds a world record of its own. Upon the launch of its very own website, the Book of world records commissioned the world’s smallest-ever advertisement. The ad was so tiny that it measured only 100x100 microns. Compare that to a human hair which is 40x100 microns in diameter. Created by UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory who make things like micro-motors and integrated circuits, the ad was so small, that it was placed on the knee band of a bee!
The most expensive aerial stunt ever performed cost $1 million to make in 1993 for the movie Cliffhanger. The stunt was performed only once because it was so risky, and involved Simon Crane moving between two jet planes at an altitude of 4,572m. The film’s star, Sylvester Stallone is said to have offered to reduce his fee by $1m so that the stunt could be performed.
For many years I have seen the misinformed emails that regularly circle the internet stating that the musical “Cats” is the longest running musical. This is not actually correct. The World record for the longest running musical goes to the off-Broadway musical called “The Fantasticks” by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. The play ran from 3 May 1962 and closed on 13 January 2002 and was performed at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, Greenwich Village, New York, USA a record 17,162 times. That’s great but what was the longest theatrical play ever shown in the world? That title went to the play “The Mousetrap” written by Dame Agatha Christie. On 23 October 2000, the 19,907th performance of the play took place in London, UK.
What do you imagine is the best selling book of all time - a dictionary or encyclopaedia? If you guessed the Bible, then give yourself a pat on the back! Since 1815, various versions of the Bible have been translated into 2,233 languages and dialects and has sold approximately 2.5 billion copies. It also has the world record for the best selling and most widely distributed non-fiction book of all time. In addition, it appears to also be the most stolen book of all time. Ok, so the Bible is the best selling book, but what is the world’s most followed religion? If you said Christianity, then smile and feel very proud of yourself. Christianity is the world's predominant religion, and in 1999 it was estimated that there were some 2 billion followers or around 33% of the world's population.
The following world records are for kids of all ages. Have you ever played the fun game of Twister, or as I prefer to call it “Mangler”? The largest ever Twister Board was created in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1998 measuring a whopping 12.28 x 6m and was created by Jumbo Printer Vision International. Perhaps you preferred the yo-yo as a youngster. Do you think that you could challenge Eddie McDonald, also known as Fast Eddie who gained a world record for doing the most yo-yo tricks in one minute. Eddie completed 35 yo-yo tricks in one minute while in Toronto, Ontario in 1999. He’s so good, that Eddie is able to earn a living as a yo-yo expert and travels the world doing live shows. His advice to budding yo-yo stars, is "Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more!"
How much do you like your tomato sauce or ketchup? Have you ever tried to drink it? In 1999, Dustin Phillips of Topeka, Los Angeles gained a world record as the fastest tomato ketchup drinker, when they drank 364g of the red stuff through a 0.6cm straw in a gagging 33 seconds. But perhaps you prefer something sweet like chewing gum. Steve Fletcher began collecting chewing gum and bubblegum in 1980 and since that time has accumulated a collection of 5,300 packets from all over the world. Consequently, he obtained the world record for the large gum wrapper collection.
If you’re a bit of a collector, you might like to challenge the current world champions in jar collections. We’re not just talking plain jars here though, we’re talking the most enormous jars of food stuff, eg, the largest jar of pickled herrings. The plastic jar was filled with just under 1,197kg of pickled herrings and was created by De Ranne tourist board in Belgium in 1999. Pickled herrings aren’t your thing though? How about jellybeans? Goelitz Confectionery created a jar of jellybeans measured 1.37m x 1.37m x 3m and weighing a total of 2,744kg. It contained a taste-bud tingling 2,160,000 jellybeans.
So what’s the largest pizza order you’ve ever phoned through? I think I can remember ordering something like nine pizzas for work once. Can you imagine phoning the pizza place in an attempt to beat the current world record? I can just imagine the conversation now, “Hello Tony’s Pizza, what would you like to order?” “I’d like to place an order for 13,386 pizzas please.” “Yeah, right love, pull the other leg.” “It’s for a special event at work for our 40,160 employees.” [phone hang up] “Hello. Hello?” The VF Corporation of Greensboro, North Carolina gained a world record for ordering the most pizzas in 1998 for its employees at 180 locations across the USA. But if you’re feeling a little doughy, perhaps you might like to get together with your friends and try to beat the 1,500 members of the Australian Girl Guides Association who made the world’s largest damper in 1998, that measured 100m in length at Sandown, Melbourne.
Do you like garlic? Do you REALLY like garlic? Then you might like to drop into the three day Gilroy Garlic Festival that’s held annually in Gilroy, California. It attracts around 130,000 people each year and commences with the lights of a 7.5m garlic bulb dummy. This non-profit event has been running since 1979 and has attracted over two million people. It’s also known as the biggest garlic festival in the world.
Do you remember those old slapstick movies where they loved to throw custard pies at each other. In April 2000, 20 people at the Millennium Dome in London gained a Book of world records entry for the largest custard-pie fight. In only three minutes, they tossed a total of 3,312 custard pies, and was organised by the internet company, Funplanet.co.uk.
I must admit to having a real liking for brussel sprouts. Now I realise that they’re not enjoyed by everybody, but how would you like to be in the Book of world records for consuming the most brussel sprouts in one minute? How many do you think you could shovel in, eating just one at a time, using a toothpick? Hilary English of Twickenham, in the UK has the world record for consuming 29 cooked brussel sprouts in just one minute.
Who are the most successful flying doctor service in the world? You’re correct if you guessed the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service! The ARFDS commenced its services in 1928. To give a good indication of the kind of work that they do, in 1998, the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service had 103 nurses, 95 pilots and 53 doctors on staff. They treated 181,621 patients, undertook 21,604 aerial evacuations, and flew a total of 13.35 million kilometres. Now THAT’S dedication!
I love going for holidays somewhere that I can get a little pampered. But I don’t think I’ll ever stay at the Imperial Suite at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. The suite has a private elevator and takes up one entire floor of the Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel. Overlooking Lake Geneva, there are four bedrooms with the master bedroom boasting a study and a dressing room. The living room has a cocktail lounge, a library and a billiards table, while the dining room can seat 26 guests. The Imperial Suite at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva has the world record for the most expensive hotel room, and in 2003 cost a mere $33,000 per night to rent. And as an added bonus, all of the doors and windows to the suite are bulletproof.
Can you imagine getting blown up? Can you imagine getting blown up more than 1,500 times? Deliberately? Allison Bly is an explosives expert and a professional entertainer. Allison has an explosive act that she performed in for a number of years. Placing herself inside a self-detonated box, the force of the explosion is equal to two stick of dynamite. Allison Bly also gained a world record for the being the most blown-up woman!
What do you imagine would be the smelliest odours on earth? Rotting meat or the smell of unwashed wet dog? Neither of those in fact is correct. The stinkiest smells are man-made creations. One is called “Who-me?” and the other is “US Government Standards Bathroom Malodor”. The US Govt Malodor was created by chemists to test the efficacy of air fresheners and deodorants. The Malodor scent smells a bit like an over-ripe toilet. The other Who-me? fragrance has a different sulphur-based aroma and was created during the World War II. At the time they thought that members of the French resistance could humiliate German soldiers by making them smell really bad. Unfortunately, it didn’t go according to plan because they could not target specific people or areas precisely enough. For many years, the idea of using Who-Me was shelved until just recently when the US Government began to look at ways of using the odorous substances, for example to spray onto rioting crowds. By the way, The Malodor and the Who-Me scents gained a world record in the process for being the smelliest substances known to man.
I’m not much into the rides at theme parks or the show – I used to love them. Now they just horrify me. But last time I went to Dreamworld, I did go on the Tower of Terror ride with the really fast vehicle (and no, I did not enjoy it). But did you know that the giant drop on the Tower of Terror is renowned in the Book of world records as the tallest vertical drop theme park ride in the world? At a mere 119m in height or almost 30 storeys, it gives its riders five seconds of free-fall before it is halted by electromagnetic brakes.
Claudia Pereira Rocha and Douglas Maistre Breger da Silva married on 26 October, 1998 in Brazil. The couple also gained a world record in the process. Mr and Mrs da Silva gained the record for the shortest married couple. Claudia stood at just 90cm in height, while Douglas was a little taller at 93cm. Actually if Claudia stood on Douglas’ shoulders, we’d probably be about the same height.
For most of us, the length of our hair is fairly predetermined. Basically, once it grows to a certain length, it just doesn’t grow much more than that. For some people, this may only be shoulder-length or down past the bottom. Hoo Sateow and his brother Yee though are quite unique. Hoo gained a world record in 1997 when his long hair was unwound and officially measured at 5.15m in length. That’s just under 17 foot long! Hoo’s brother Yee measured his hair at a mere 4.87m in length. Apparently the whole thing started back in 1929 when Hoo was 18 and he’d cut his hair. That same year, Hoo grew quite sick and decided that cutting his hair was the reason he’d become ill, so he vowed never to cut his hair again.
Valentine’s Day and birthdays are not the only day to be passionate with your partner. In Santiago, Chile, 8,890 people in January 2004 got together and locked lips for at least 10 seconds. With that embrace, they gained the world record for the most kissing couples.
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