But the most accurate account seems to come from Norris McWhirter: Norris McWhirter, Ross (London: Churchill Press, 1976).
Guinness was on tap in some 84,400 pubs throughout the British Isles: Herald (Glasgow), Aug. 18, 1997, 10.
It is known that the shoot occurred at Castlebridge House: Sunday Mail, Nov. 27, 1988.
the first edition was written in just sixteen weeks: Daily Telegraph, Apr. 21, 2004, 25.
For what it’s worth, both the New York Times: New York Times, Oct. 7, 1992, C1. 38. the Scotsman attributed the genesis of Sir Beaver’s idea to 1954: Scotsman, Nov. 17, 2004, 16.
Beaver’s meticulously detailed personal appointment diaries: Collection of Personal Records of Sir Hugh Beaver at British Library of Political and Economic Science, London School of Economics. 39. “My dear Hugh”: Ibid.
Like everything else Sir Beaver undertook, this moment was recorded in precise pencil-written letters. Ibid.
born just twenty minutes apart: David Boehm, ed., The Fascination of Book Publishing (Salt Lake City: Sterling Publishing, 1994), 9.
the twins’ grandfather, also William McWhirter: Daily Telegraph, Apr. 21, 2004, 25.
“From an early age my twin brother, Ross, and I”: Advertiser (Brisbane), Oct. 27, 1993.
their time together at Marlborough prep school: Irish Times, Apr. 24, 2004, 14.
“They memorized every important date”: Boehm, Fascination, 9.
They were standout athletes who competed at the national and international level in track, and also excelled at rugby: McWhirter, Ross, 87.
Also on the track team was Chris Chataway: Boehm, Fascination, 11.
“It would have taken a clairvoyant”: McWhirter, Ross, 85.
“It never occurred to either of us”: Ibid., 75.
the twins formulated a plan to set up: Ibid., 94.
their first book, Get to your Marks: Ibid., 94–95.
On Mar. 2, 1951 McWhirter Twins Ltd. was formally registered as a business: Ibid., 101.
The twins clinched the deal…using “superlative objects and people”: Ibid., 106.
Norris’s work with BBC radio also took a major step forward: Irish Times, Apr. 24, 2004, 14.
“Ladies and Gentleman. Here is the result of event number nine, the one mile.”: McWhirter, Ross, 134.
“The total crowd was estimated at 1,200 and I have met all 10,000 of them since!”: Ibid., 131.
Norris reported that scalpers: Ibid., 136.
Chataway had just given up full-time athletics: Boehm, Fascination, 11.
one morning, Sir Beaver and Smiley began chatting: McWhirter, Ross, 141.
“It seemed that Sir Hugh had an instinct for confidentiality”: Ibid., 142.
As Norris recalled the fateful meeting: Ibid., 142–44.
They had only sixteen weeks: Daily Telegraph, Apr. 21, 2004, 25.
“The work on the book could be summed up as extracting ‘-ests’”: McWhirter, Ross, 148.
“People who have a total resistance to giving information”: Ibid.
On August 27, 1955: Ibid.
the original book contained some 8,000 records: Sports Illustrated, May 3, 2004, vol. 100, no. 18, 227.
Sir Beaver promptly wrote back to the twins: McWhirter, Ross, 149–50.
“The realization dawned on us quite quickly that the book”: Ibid., 150.
“The earliest roots of trivia”: Jennings, Brainiac, 55.
“It is also historically misleading”: Guardian, Apr. 22, 2004, 6.
“Pub trivia, like 1960s rock and roll”: Jennings, Brainiac, 215.
both McWhirters married women: McWhirter, Ross, 112–13.
the name changed out of misguided concerns: Boehm, Fascination, 15.
“In the United States people will not buy anything unless it is advertised”: McWhirter, Ross, 151.
Le Livre des Extremes: (Paris: Hachette, 1962).
Rekorde Rekorde Rekorde: (Vienna: Carl Ueberreuter, 1964).
Obituary of Sir Hugh Beaver, K.B.E (1890–1967): Guinness Time (no copyright), vol. 20, no. 2, Spring 1967.
CHAPTER 3 GETTING INTO GUINNESS GETS PERSONAL
“While some records”: Peter Matthews, Glasgow Herald, Aug. 18, 1997, 10.
“We get seen sometimes as a public service”: Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2006, 1.
“We thought we were in the book for sure.”: Sports Illustrated, July 30, 1979, 68.
historically, about three-quarters of the record categories repeat: Ibid.
CHAPTER 4 GUINNESSPORT: GETTING INTO GUINNESS GOES PRIME TIME
“If you want to settle a pub argument in 2004”: Independent (London), Oct. 29, 2004, 37.
“These are a particular favorite of young boys”: Jennings, Brainiac, 113–14.
Born in Alton, Indiana, on February 22, 1918, Robert Pershing Wadlow: Claire Folkard, managing ed., Guinness World Records 2005 (London: Guinness World Records Ltd., 2004), 6–17.
by the fiftieth anniversary 2005 edition: Ibid.
flagship museum in London’s Trocadero, the synthetic Wadlow: Times (London), Jan. 12, 1985, 14.
Amazingly, Wadlow was still growing fast: Folkard, Guinness World Records 2005, 16–17.
After his death, Wadlow’s brother Howard recalled: Ibid.
Chris Sheedy, Guinness World Records’s representative in Australia: The Age (Melbourne), Aug. 25, 2007, 3.
“He had to duck to go through all doorways”: Folkard, Guinness World Records 2005, 16–17.
Given that he also held the records for having: Ibid.
led the renowned Italian director Fellini: Norris McWhirter et al., Guinness: The Stories Behind the Records, (Salt Lake City: Sterling Press, 1981), 100.
The New York Times: New York Times, Aug. 7, 1978, D9.
Bao saved the lives of two dolphins: New York Times, Dec. 15, 2006, A10.
“After searching high and low”: CNN.com, Mar. 28, 2007.
“The best part of the job for me”: Edmonton Journal (Alberta), Sept. 1, 2006, F5.
“It gives you a place in the world”: Times (London) Aug. 29, 2004, C8.
“One of the marvelous things about doing this job”: Scotsman, Nov. 17, 2004, 16.
David Boehm, the publisher of the American edition, had Izumi: New York Times, June 14, 1980, 29.
McWhirter was very proud of the self-proclaimed fact: Scotsman, Nov. 17, 2004, 16.
“It was very fascinating—she remembers Vincent van Gogh”: Herald (Glasgow), Oct. 4, 1996, 11.
In France, they have a creepy: Washington Post, Feb. 21, 1995, D1.
Remarkably, for a period of time in 2007: Yahoo News, www.yahoo.com, June 18, 2007.
“Records are used there”: Newsweek, Sept. 15, 1975, 81.
“The old Guinness looked more like a psalm book”: Ibid.
“Nothing, however, points up the book’s success more dramatically”: Sports Illustrated, July 30, 1979, 60. 86. Shortcuts: How to get into the record books: CNN.com, Sept. 22, 2006.
a new record for “Demolition Work”: Ross and Norris McWhirter, The Guinness Book of Records (London: Superlatives Ltd., 1972), 277.
This record would stand for more than a decade: N. McWhirter, The Guinness Book of World Records 1984 (London: Superlatives Ltd., 1984), 186.
when he lit the fuse of an 720-pound firework: New York Times, June 29, 1980, SM6.
By 1999, the Wall Street Journal reported: Wall Street Journal, July 30, 1999, B1.
“Except that it’s not that kind of book anymore”: Independent (London), Oct. 29, 2004, 37.
The Guinness Book of Records got its first American airtime: Boehm, Fascination of Book Publishing, 17.
Smithsonian magazine reported: Smithsonian, Aug. 2005.
By 2005, fully half the records in the book were held by humans: Ibid.
a ten-year-old Guinnessport aspirant from Texas: Wall Street Journal, Sept. 21, 1988, 1.
“We get claims from people who have worn a pair of socks” Smithsonian, Aug. 2005.
&
nbsp; Chris Sheedy, a former vice president of Guinness World Records: The Age (Melbourne), Aug. 25, 2007, 3.
“What made the four-minute mile special”: Sports Illustrated, July 30, 1979, 70.
CHAPTER 5 15 MINUTES OF FAME
his object was not: Ben Schott, Schott’s Sporting Gaming & Idling Miscellany (London: Bloomsbury, 2004), 44.
In his moving prologue: Independent (London), Oct. 29, 2004, 37.
One swimmer even seized the mantle: Schott, 59.
“People tell us it’s a dream”: Washington Times, Sept. 28, 2007, A12.
“For most of these people, the motivation is all about”: Edmonton Journal (Alberta), Sept. 1, 2006, F5. 112. “people seeking their fifteen minutes of fame”: USA Today, Jan. 9, 2003.
Norris McWhirter saw the appeal of notoriety: Newsweek, Nov. 12, 1979, 131.
He told England’s Guardian newspaper: Guardian (London), Dec. 11, 2000.
he put them up for sale on the Internet: Guardian (London), Dec. 11, 2000.
Born in war-torn Sri Lanka: Toronto Sun, July 15, 2007, 8.
what Newsweek dubbed “Guinnessitis”: Newsweek, Sept. 15, 1975, 81.
In Sports Illustrated’s landmark 1979 magazine feature: Sports Illustrated, July 30, 1979, 56.
“Why do people break Guinness World Records?”: Promotional trailer for Guinness World Record Breakers Week on the Food Network, USA, 2006. 118. The Times of London even coined a term: Times (London) Sept. 21, 1983, 12.
Take Lucky Diamond Rich: The Age (Melbourne), Aug. 25, 2007, 3T.
“The scorch of fame can be brutal”: Maureen Orth, The Importance of Being Famous (New York: Henry Holt, 2004), 25.
“Since I started reporting”: Ibid., 303.
Carey Low, the book’s spokesperson for Canada: Toronto Sun, July 15, 2007, 8.
According to Professor Elizabeth Vandiver: Elizabeth Vandiver et al., Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, Course Guidebook (Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, Ltd., 2004), pt. 1, 34.
Vandiver defines the concept of kleos aphthiton: Ibid., 36.
consider the case of Philip Rabinowitz: Transcript, All Things Considered, July 6, 2004.
The same 2007 edition welcomes: Craig Glenday, ed., Guinness World Records 2007 (London: Guinness World Records Ltd., 2006), 6.
Likewise, on the first page of the 2006 edition: Glenday, ed., Guinness World Records 2006 (London: Guinness World Records Ltd., 2005), 6.
“Celebrity Secrets,” described as: Glenday, Guinness World Records 2007, 160–62.
As Stephen Moss wrote: Guardian (London), Apr. 22, 2004, 6.
McWhirter did indeed object to the wholesale changes: Guardian (London), Mar. 23, 2001, 25.
Without the promise of fame, would John Evans ever have: Telegraph (London), Nov. 21, 2004, 7.
This may be what led twenty-eight-year-old Christopher and his friends: Wall Street Journal, June 21, 1989, A14.
“The motivations for mastering certain fields”: McWhirter et al., Guinness: The Stories, 3.
Boehm himself interviewed world record stilt walker: Ibid., 9.
what is believed to be the ONLY anonymous record holder: Ross and Norris McWhirter, The Guinness Book of Records (London: Superlatives Ltd., 1971), 175.
CHAPTER 6 SEVENTY-TWO HOURS IN HELL: GETTING BACK INTO GUINNESS
“If it was easy”: Wall Street Journal, June 21, 1989, A14.
CHAPTER 7 THE CHEESE DOES NOT STAND ALONE: GIANT FOOD AND GUINNESS
At the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair: Guinness Time (no copyright), vol. 20, no. 2, Spring 1967.
To date, the largest haggis on record: Herald (Glasgow), Aug. 18, 1997, 10.
The record-setting attempt: Reed Business Information Ltd. Hospitality (Australia), Feb. 17, 2005.
the attempt required a custom-made pan: AAP Newswire (Sydney), Nov. 26, 2004, 1.
Guinness World Records officials sometimes: Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 25, 2007.
The biscuit still had to be canine edible under Guinness rules: Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA), June 25, 2007. 167. To mark the re-launch of its Vanilla Coke last year: Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 25, 2007.
The 2003 record breaker was a Hershey’s Rich Dark Kiss: Professional Candy Buyer, Sept. 2003, 86.
July 7, 2007 was the 100th birthday of the iconic Kiss: Confectioner; July 2007, 6.
Eepybird Perfetti Van Melle: Candy Industry, June 2007, 15–16.
Krispy Kreme, who supplied the hardware for the tower: Evening Mail (Birmingham, England), Nov. 10, 2005.
As PR Week, a trade publication…wryly noted: PR Week (U.S.), June 27, 2005, 2.
“He explained that the attempt was”: Times (London), Mar. 4, 2007.
“Claims We Don’t Want to See,”: Glenday, Guinness World Records 2008, 13.
“We also disappointed the Hungarian village”: Telegraph (London), Nov. 21, 2004, 7.
CHAPTER 8 RECORDS GO GLOBAL
“Is there a record for the nation with too much free time”: Time, Jan. 20, 2006, 26.
it has been translated into thirty-seven languages: London Daily Mail, Oct. 30, 2006.
In pure world record bulk: Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2007.
Actually, India is only tenth on the list: Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2007.
In the 1990s, record mania in India: Associated Press, May 6, 1993.
a seventeen-month-old toddler who ate: Indo-Asian News Service, July 10, 2007.
“India is a land obsessed with superlatives”: Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2007.
Guinness Rishi, sixty-six years old, whose business card: Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2007.
Rishi has served as the president of the Guinness World Record Holder Club of India: Associated Press, May 6, 1993.
Titled the Limca Record Book, it was created: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limca_Book_of_Records).
He is not alone. Toronto stuntman: Toronto Sun, June 24, 2001.
Not to be outdone, the CN Tower: Toronto Sun, Nov. 10, 2006.
“Most building staff are stuffy about what they let people do: Toronto Sun, June 24, 2001. 181. That could explain a lot of things: Toronto Sun, July 15, 2007.
“For good or ill, Canada has made its mark”: Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 10, 2006.
The nation is among the world’s top five: Toronto Star, Aug. 26, 2007.
with the nation of just 33 million snapping up: Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 10, 2006. 182. Four times the population of Singapore, Chile submitted: Financial Times Information, Global News Wire, Nov. 12, 1999.
According to Wu Xiaohong: Daily Telegraph, Feb. 20, 2005.
the Irish News, Irish Independent, and Daily Mail have all done stories: Irish News, Sept. 29, 2006; Irish Independent, Oct. 30, 2006; London Daily Mail, Oct. 30, 2006.
“the most consistent chart artist ever in Britain: London Daily Mail, Oct. 30, 2006.
Ireland’s greatest claim: Irish Independent, Oct. 30, 2006.
“That’s a staggering amount of tea.”: Irish Independent, Oct. 30, 2006.
CHAPTER 9 THE DARK SIDE: GUINNESS RECORDS GONE BAD
The Vienna pub owner was a passionate skydiver.: Washington Post, Feb. 8, 1998, F1.
the only record left up for grabs at the polar extremes: Ibid.
According to the Washington Post, Rezac partnered: Ibid.
Kearns could not explain: Ibid.
Boonreung Buachan, known as “the Snake Man”: Independent, Mar. 23, 2004.
reported that Guinness banned all endurance-based records: Independent, Mar. 23, 2001, 10.
“Now that it is officially acknowledged that eating can seriously damage your health”: Times, May 23, 1989.
…the Grenoble native has consumed an impressive diet: Edmonton Journal, Sept. 1, 2006, F5.
“I believe he was the only man to ever have a coffin: Ibid.
“problem is, we’ve got copycats: Ben Sherwood, The Man Who Ate the 747 (Bantam, New York, 2000), 155.
Bennet D’Angelo, when he made i
ce cream history: McWhirter et al., Guinness: The Stories, 52–53.
“This gentleman regurgitates what he has drunk halfway through”: Times, Aug. 12, 1971, 6.
“Some of the records have got to such extremes”: Ibid. 197. His rationale? The goldfish being used: New York Times, Feb. 10, 2000, B10.
Guinness staffer Carole Jones told…that gluttony: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 1996, E1.
Master Chi, whose real name was Ronald Chamberlain…: New York Times, Jan. 3, 1977, 24.
when seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff was killed: Washington Post, Apr. 13, 1996, B1.
The same goes for helicopters: Telegraph, Dec. 21, 2003, 6.
1974, when sailors of the Royal Navy attempted to break: Times, Sept. 27, 1974, 7.
In 1995, a boy was crushed to death in Germany: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 1996, E1.
Eastport, Maryland’s John DiPietro learned: Washington Post, Nov. 4, 2006, 61.
“One of the many disagreements I had”: Boehm, Fascination of Book Publishing, 24–25.
“We just don’t want to encourage”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 1996, E1.
yet the book creatively gets around this by allowing: People, May 14, 2007.
the unfortunate consequences that befell: Daily Mail, June 25, 2007.
In 2007, Hong Kong civil servant Barry Kwok: Birmingham Post, Sept. 10, 2005.
Guinness World Records officials told the Times: Times, Jan. 21, 2007.
The unofficial record for a bizarre case: Times, June 22, 2007, 45.
The book’s officials said they had been contacted: Evening Times (Glasgow), Sept. 5, 2003.
“People will do dangerous things: Financial Times, Jan. 21, 2006, 1.
EPILOGUE
The spur-wing goose: Calgary Herald, Apr. 25, 2004, B6.
while the absolute winner, according to the McWhirters: Smithsonian, Aug. 2005.
APPENDIX 1: THE STORIES OF MY FAVORITE RECORDS
organizers were able to add a bona fide celebrity element: Washington Post, Mar. 15, 2007.
…the Smiths in all this?: The Guinness Book of Records (London: Superlatives Ltd., 1955), 77.
Accidental Hero: Boehm, Fascination of Book Publishing, 24.
But despite its passionate reputation: Time, Nov. 20, 2006, 26.
stuntman Eric Scott flew: Popular Science, Mar., 2006, 44.
Since Berg set his first record in 1992: CNN.com, Nov. 14, 2007.
The repeat and multiple record holder built: Weekly Reader, Apr. 8, 2005.
Getting into Guinness Page 29