#guinness-world-records

#guinness-world-records

This week it's the 70th birthday of the Guinness Book of Records, that gloriously bonkers compendium of human achievement that celebrates the people who can stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth, balance the most spoons on their body, and hula hoop underwater for the longest time. It features everything from standard athletic victories to "most high fives in 30 seconds" and "fastest time to make a pasta necklace."

The organisation's first volume was published on August 27 1955 and sparked worldwide curiosity about record-breaking achievements. The inspiration for the book came from a debate at a shooting party in the early 1950s in County Wexford, Ireland, which was attended by Sir Hugh Beaver, the then-managing director of the Guinness Brewery. He and his hosts debated the question of the fastest game bird in Europe but failed to find an answer in any reference book.

Dan Abbate, 31, Gorilla Tango Novelty Meats CEO and big hot dog inventor, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest hot dog commercially available. It weighs 3.18kg (7lb) and measures 40.64cm (16in) long and 10.16cm in diameter. Just one can provide 40 regular-sized servings at a cost of $40 (24.60) Photograph: Kevin Scott Ramos/Guinness World Records/PA

That day was so special to me, I just soaked in that moment and just I cried, of course.

"Obviously, bringing the smallest dog in the world with the tallest dog in the world, there was a little bit of anxiety. But I think he was very gentle [and] very, very kind [to Pearl], as best as he could be."