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''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 reference book published annually, listing
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
s both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The brainchild of Sir
Hugh Beaver Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver, KBE (4 May 1890 – 16 January 1967) was an English-South African civil engineer, industrialist, and founder of the ''Guinness World Records'' (then known as Guinness Book of Records). Biography Beaver spe ...
, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and
Ross McWhirter Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975) was, with his twin brother, Norris, the cofounder of the 1955 ''Guinness Book of Records'' (known since 2000 as ''Guinness World Records'') and a contributor to the television programm ...
in Fleet Street,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in August 1955. The first edition topped the best-seller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2022 edition, it is now in its 67th year of publication, published in 100 countries and 23 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database. The international
franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
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 authority on the 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 South Quay Plaza is a residential-led development under construction in Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, London, within the borough of Tower Hamlets, developed by Berkeley Group Holdings and designed by architect Foster + Partners. The site o ...
,
Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
, London in 2017. Since 2008, ''Guinness World Records'' has orientated its business model toward inventing new world records as publicity stunts for companies and individuals, which has attracted criticism.


History

On 10 November 1951, Sir
Hugh Beaver Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver, KBE (4 May 1890 – 16 January 1967) was an English-South African civil engineer, industrialist, and founder of the ''Guinness World Records'' (then known as Guinness Book of Records). Biography Beaver spe ...
, then the managing director of the
Guinness Breweries Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...
, went on a shooting party in the
North Slob The North Slob is an area of mud-flats at the estuary of the River Slaney at Wexford Harbour, Ireland. The North Slob is an area of that was reclaimed in the mid-19th century by the building of a sea wall.River Slaney The River Slaney () is a large river in the southeast of Ireland. It rises on Lugnaquilla Mountain in the western Wicklow Mountains and flows west and then south through counties Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford for 117.5 km (73 mi), be ...
in County Wexford, Ireland. After missing a shot at a
golden plover '' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere. In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. The ...
, he became involved in an argument over which was the fastest
game bird Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...
in Europe, the golden plover or the red grouse (it is the plover). 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 reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended university friends Norris and
Ross McWhirter Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975) was, with his twin brother, Norris, the cofounder of the 1955 ''Guinness Book of Records'' (known since 2000 as ''Guinness World Records'') and a contributor to the television programm ...
, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became ''The Guinness Book of (Superlatives and now) Records,'' in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away. 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 best-seller list by Christmas. The following year, it was introduced into the United States by New York publisher
David Boehm David Boehm (1 February 1893 in New York – 31 July 1962 in Santa Monica, California) was an American screenwriter. He is best known for the 1944 World War II heavenly fantasy ''A Guy Named Joe'' (remade by Steven Spielberg in 1989 as '' Alw ...
and sold 70,000 copies. Since then, ''Guinness World Records'' has sold more than 100 million copies in 100 countries and 37 languages. Because the book became a surprise hit, 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
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television series '' Record Breakers'', based upon the book, 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 The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
in 1975 for offering a £50,000 reward for their capture. Following Ross's assassination, the feature in 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 formed 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 Gullane Entertainment PLC was a British independent production company which produced children's programming, including ''Thomas & Friends'' (1984–2021), '' Shining Time Station'' (1989–1993), and '' The Magic Adventures of Mumfie'' (1994–1 ...
for $65 million. Gullane was itself purchased by
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sop ...
in 2002. In 2006,
Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...
purchased HIT and subsequently sold Guinness World Records in early 2008 to the Jim Pattison Group, the parent company of
Ripley Entertainment Ripley Entertainment Inc. is an entertainment and edutainment holding company owned by the Jim Pattison Group of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company has its headquarters in an unincorporated part of southern Orange County, Florida, ne ...
, which is licensed to operate Guinness World Records' Attractions. With offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records' global headquarters remain in London, specifically
South Quay Plaza South Quay Plaza is a residential-led development under construction in Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, London, within the borough of Tower Hamlets, developed by Berkeley Group Holdings and designed by architect Foster + Partners. The site o ...
,
Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida, US.


Evolution

Recent editions have focused on record feats by individuals. Competitions range from obvious ones such as
Olympic weightlifting Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...
to the longest
egg tossing Egg tossing or egg throwing is a game associated with Easter. Various types of such games exist, common ones involve throwing an egg so that it lands on the ground without breaking. Such a contest may be known as an egg toss. The egg was a symbo ...
distances, or for longest time spent playing ''
Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the e ...
'' or the number of
hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...
s that can be 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 Maurizio Giuliano (born 1975) is an Italian United Nations official, traveller, author and journalist. As of 2004 he was, according to the '' Guinness Book of World Records'', the youngest person to have visited all sovereign nations of the world ...
. 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 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 Ashrita Furman (born Keith Furman, September 16, 1954) is a ''Guinness World Records'' record-breaker. As of 2017, Furman has set more than 600 official Guinness Records and currently holds 530 records, thus holding the Guinness world record for th ...
of Queens, NY, in April 2009; at that time, he held 100 records, while he currently holds over 220. 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
aired ''The Top 100 Guinness World Records of All Time'' and Guinness World Records made the complete list available on their website.


Defining records

For many records, ''Guinness World Records'' is the effective authority on the exact requirements for them and with whom records reside, the company providing adjudicators to events to determine the veracity of record attempts. The list of records which the ''Guinness World Records'' covers is not fixed, records may be added and also removed for various reasons. The public is invited to submit applications for records, which can be either the bettering of existing records or substantial achievements which could constitute a new record. The company also provides corporate services for companies to "harness the power of record-breaking to deliver tangible success for their businesses."


Ethical and safety issues

''Guinness World Records'' states several types of records it will not accept for ethical reasons, such as those related to the killing or harming of animals. Several world records that were once included in the book have been removed for ethical reasons, including concerns for the well-being of potential record breakers. For example, following publication of the "heaviest fish" record, many fish owners overfed their pets beyond the bounds of what was healthy, and therefore such entries were removed. The Guinness Book also dropped records within their "eating and drinking records" section of Human Achievements in 1991 over concerns that potential competitors could harm themselves and expose the publisher to potential litigation. These changes included the removal of all
spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...
, wine and beer drinking records, along with other unusual records for consuming such unlikely things as bicycles and trees. Other records, such as
sword swallowing Sword swallowing is a skill in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. This feat is not swallowing in the traditional sense. The natural processes that constitute swallowing do not take place, bu ...
and rally driving (on public roads), were closed from further entry as the current holders had performed beyond what are considered safe human tolerance levels. There have been instances of closed categories being reopened. For example, the sword swallowing category was listed as closed in the 1990 ''Guinness Book of World Records'', but has since been reopened with
Johnny Strange Johnny Strange (born 6 December 1988), nicknamed "the man with ears of steel", is an English world record breaking performance artist, producer and street performer based in London, England. He is known for performing daredevil stunts with a c ...
breaking a sword swallowing record on Guinness World Records Live. Similarly, the speed beer drinking records which were dropped from the book in 1991, reappeared 17 years later in the 2008 edition, but were moved from the "Human Achievements" section of the older book to the "Modern Society" section of the newer edition. , it is required in the guidelines of all "large food" type records that the item be fully edible, and distributed to the public for consumption, to prevent food wastage.
Chain letter A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...
s are also not allowed: "Guinness World Records does not accept any records relating to chain letters, sent by post or e-mail." At the request of the U.S. Mint, in 1984, the book stopped accepting claims of large hoardings of pennies or other currency. Environmentally unfriendly records (such as the releasing of
sky lanterns A sky lantern (), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (), or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. In Asia and elsewhere around the world, sky lanterns have bee ...
and
party balloons A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and Atmosphere of Earth, air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour ...
) are no longer accepted or monitored, in addition to records relating to
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
or
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
consumption or preparation.


Difficulty in defining records

For some potential categories, ''Guinness World Records'' has declined to list some records that are too difficult or impossible to determine. For example, its website states: "We do not accept any claims for beauty as it is not objectively measurable." However, other categories of human skill relating to measurable speed such as "Worlds Fastest Clapper" were instated. On 27 July 2010, Connor May (NSW, Australia) set the record for claps, with 743 in 1 minute. On 10 December 2010, ''Guinness World Records'' stopped accepting submissions for the "
dreadlock Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair. Origins Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe ...
" category after investigation of its first and only female title holder, Asha Mandela, determining it was impossible to judge this record accurately.


Change in business model

Traditionally, the company made a large amount of its revenue via book sales to interested readers, especially children. The rise of the Internet began to cut into book sales in the 2000s and forward, part of a general decline in the book industry. According to a 2017 story by
Planet Money ''Planet Money'' is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR. Using "creative and entertaining" dialogue and narrative, ''Planet Money'' claims to be "The Economy Explained." History The podcast was created by Alex Blumberg and Adam Davids ...
of
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, Guinness began to realise that a lucrative new revenue source to replace falling book sales was the would-be record-holders themselves. While any person can theoretically send in a record to be verified for free, the approval process is slow. Would-be record breakers that paid fees ranging from US$12,000 to US$500,000 would be given advisors, adjudicators, help in finding good records to break as well as suggestions for how to do it, prompt service, and so on. In particular, corporations and celebrities seeking a
publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...
to launch a new product or draw attention to themselves began to hire Guinness World Records, paying them for finding a record to break or to create a new category just for them.


Criticism

''Guinness World Records'' was criticised by television talk show host
John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...
on the program '' Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' in August 2019. Oliver pointed serious criticism at Guinness for taking money from authoritarian governments for pointless vanity projects as it related to the main focus of his story,
President of Turkmenistan The president of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň prezidenti), officially the president and chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, is the head of state and head of government of Turkmenistan. The president is also the supreme c ...
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profe ...
. Oliver asked for Guinness to work with ''Last Week Tonight'' to adjudicate a record for "Largest cake featuring a picture of someone falling off a horse," but according to Oliver, the offer did not work out after Guinness insisted on a non-disparagement clause. ''Guinness World Records'' denied the accusations and stated that they declined Oliver's offer to participate because "it was merely an opportunity to mock one of our record-holders," and that Oliver did not specifically request the record for the largest marble cake. As of 2021, the Guinness World Record for "Largest marble cake" remains with Betty Crocker Middle East, set in Saudi Arabia. Following Oliver's episode, Guinness World Records' ethics were subsequently called into question by human rights groups.


Museums

In 1976, a ''Guinness Book of World Records'' museum opened in the Empire State Building. Speed shooter
Bob Munden Robert William Munden, Jr (February 8, 1942 – December 10, 2012) was an American exhibition shooter who performed with handguns, rifles and shotguns. He is best known for holding 18 world records in the sport of Fast Draw and having the title " ...
then went on tour promoting ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' by performing his record fast draws with a standard weight single-action revolver from a Western movie-type holster. His fastest time for a draw was 0.02 seconds. Among exhibits were life-size statues of the world's tallest man,
Robert Wadlow Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He was born and raise ...
, and world's largest
earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...
, an X-ray photo of a sword swallower, repeated lightning strike victim
Roy Sullivan Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was an American park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was claimed to have been hit by lightning on seven occasions, surviving all o ...
's hat complete with lightning holes and a pair of gem-studded golf shoes on sale for $6,500. The museum closed in 1995. In more recent years, the Guinness company has permitted the franchising of small museums with displays based on the book, all currently () located in towns popular with tourists:
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...
. There were once Guinness World Records museums and exhibitions at the
London Trocadero The London Trocadero was an entertainment complex on Coventry Street, with a rear entrance in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It was originally built in 1896 as a restaurant, which closed in 1965. In 1984, the complex reopened as an exhibition and en ...
,
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
,
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...
,
Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. The Orlando museum, which closed in 2002, was branded ''The Guinness Records Experience''; the Hollywood,
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
, Copenhagen, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee museums also previously featured this branding.


Television series

Guinness World Records has commissioned various television series documenting world record breaking attempts, including: Specials: * ''Guinness World Records: 50 Years, 50 Records'' – on ITV (UK), 11 September 2004 With the popularity of reality television, Guinness World Records began to market itself as the originator of the television genre, with slogans such as "we wrote the book on Reality TV".


Gamer's edition

In 2008, Guinness World Records released its gamer's edition, a branch that keeps records for popular video game high scores, codes and feats in association with
Twin Galaxies Twin Galaxies is an organization and social media platform for people involved in the culture and activity of playing video games. It facilitates their interaction as well as their competition and recognizes their achievements. Twin Galaxie ...
. The Gamer's Edition contains 258 pages, over 1,236 video game related world records and four interviews including one with Twin Galaxies founder
Walter Day Walter Aldro Day (born May 14, 1949) is an American businessman and the founder of Twin Galaxies, an organization that tracks world records for video games and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. Biography Day was born in Oakl ...
. The most recent edition is the ''Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2020,'' which was released 5 September 2019.


''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles''

''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' was a music reference book first published in 1977. It was compiled by BBC Radio 1 DJs Paul Gambaccini and Mike Read with brothers Tim Rice and Jonathan Rice. It was the first in a number of music reference books that were to be published by Guinness Publishing with sister publication ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'' coming in 1983. After being sold to Hit Entertainment, the data concerning the Official Chart Company's singles and albums charts were combined under the title ''
British Hit Singles & Albums ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...
'', with Hit Entertainment publishing the book from 2003 to 2006 (under the Guinness World Records brand). After Guinness World Records was sold to The Jim Pattison Group, it was effectively replaced by a series of books published by Ebury Publishing/Random House with the '' Virgin Book of British Hit Singles'' first being published in 2007 and with a ''Hit Albums'' book following two years later.''The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums'' by Martin Roach (Ebury Publishing/Random House )


Other media and products


Board game

In 1975,
Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
marketed a board game, ''The Guinness Game of World Records'', based on the book. Players compete by setting and breaking records for activities such as the longest streak of rolling dice before rolling doubles, stacking plastic pieces, and bouncing a ball off alternating sides of a card, as well as answering trivia questions based on the listings in the ''Guinness Book of World Records''.


Video games

A
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
, '' Guinness World Records: The Videogame'', was developed by
TT Fusion TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publi ...
and released for Nintendo DS, Wii and
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
in November 2008.


Film

In 2012,
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
announced the development of a live-action film version of ''Guinness World Records'' with Daniel Chun as scriptwriter. The film version will apparently use the heroic achievements of record holders as the basis for a narrative that should have global appeal.


See also

* '''' * ''''


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Book series introduced in 1955 Publications established in 1955 Trivia books World record databases Reference publishers Articles containing video clips Records (superlatives) Annual publications 1955 non-fiction books 1955 establishments in the United Kingdom Gullane Entertainment