And Finally » Records

Is Poe The New World’s Tallest Horse?

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:49:29 +0000

Standing 20.2 hands tall at the shoulder and 10 feet tall with his head up right, 3000 pound Poe is the world’s tallest horse.

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Proudly posing to attention with his five foot three, 120-pound owner Shereen Thompson, Poe stands 80.8 inches tall, or 6ft 8 and 3/4 inches from hoof to shoulder.

That is taller than the current tallest horse Remington, who was declared the official Guinness World Record holder only last week at 80 inches in Princeton, Texas.

Living on Shereen’s working farm in Tupperville, Ontario, ten-year-old Poe stands ready to inch above his rivals.

Is This The Oldest Fish In The World?

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:32:07 +0000

Steve Gruebel with Buttkiss © Erik Freeland / Barcroft USA

Spending each day swimming round his four-foot-long, 75-gallon tank, Buttkiss the 43-year old Black Pacu is thought to be the world’s oldest living common-pet-fish.

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In a remarkable feat of endurance the 15 pound, 22 inch long fish’s is incredibly swimming towards his sixth decade of life.

Turning 44 on April 1, the age-old fish is more likely to draw gasps of admiration from the crowds who flock to see him at New York’s Cameo Pet Shop – rather than laughter on the famous fool’s day.

Buttkiss’s owner and pet shop proprietor Steve Gruebel, 60, said his fish has become a local celebrity in the Queens neighbourhood of Richmond Hill in the Big Apple.

“I have worked in this shop for 46 years and we first got him in to sell as a pet in 1967,” said monster fish keeper Steve.

“I sold him on in 1968, but that owner returned him when Buttkiss outgrew the tank he was living in at the beginning of 1970.

“He has been with me ever since.”

A member of the Black Pacus species of fish, Buttkiss is a larger relative of flesh eating piranha’s found in the South American Amazon river.

“He doesn’t eat your everyday fish food,” explained Steve.

“I actually feed him up to 20 goldfish every other day and he devours them like a vacuum cleaner, sucking them up.

“Amazingly, when I looked up the Black Pacus in the wildlife books, I saw that they are only supposed to live for 20 years max.”

Named after famous American Football player, Dick Butkus, this old age pet is already comparable in age to other ancient tank-bound fishes.

Goldie, the 45-year-old goldfish passed away in Bradnich, Devon in 2005 and held the Guinness World Record for an old aged pet fish.

“Unfortunately Buttkiss is definitely getting on,” said Steve.

“He has become slow and cumbersome. He has a glaucoma in his right eye and he isn’t so bright anymore when I arrive to feed him.

“He has always come straight to the corner of his tank when he sees me, thinking he is going to be feed, but these days he is a bit slow.”

Scared to move him from his tank of 40 years unless the change of scene and stress might push him to the great fish tank in the sky, Steve enjoys Buttkiss’s min-celebrity.

“He has been a fixture here for 40 years.

“People come in to the store just to see Buttkiss, although I wish they would buy something.”

Words by James Nye

Sarah The Cheetah Becomes The Official Fastest Animal On Land

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:19:27 +0000

Covering 100 metres in 6.13 seconds, Sarah the cheetah set a new speed record for all land mammals on September 09, 2008 in Cincinnati, America.

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Running on a specially designed 100-metre course at Cincinnati Zoo’s Regional Cheetah Breeding Facility at Mast Farm, Sarah eclipsed the previous record time of 6.19 seconds.

Sarah, who is now officially the world’s fastest land animal, was so quick that she actually caught up with the lure that was encouraging her to hit such high speeds.

India’s Amazing Rubberman

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:53:41 +0000

Vijay Sharma, 27, is India’s most flexible man. He can bend his leg up to 180 degrees forward and backward and can pull his leg all the way up without any external help.

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He even passes through a tennis racket, which he believes is of the smallest size.

His flexibility has earned him the title of “Rubberman” in Limca book of Records, a record book of Indian origin.

Hailing from a village in India’s desert state of Rajasthan. Vijay is a regular stage performer and has been featured in the Limca Book of Records in the years 2004 and 2005.

Giant George, The World’s New Tallest Dog

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:21:46 +0000

George, a 4-year-old Blue Great Dane, weighs a staggering 245 pounds and measures 42.625 inches (at the shoulder) in height.

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According to his owner, Dave Nassar, George consumes 110 pounds of food every month, and sleeps alone in his own Queen Size Bed.

Nassar and his wife, Christine, raised George from when he was 7 weeks old, but never expected him to grow so big.

There is no category for world’s biggest dog in the Guinness Book of Records, to stop owners from over-feeding their pets just to get them into the record book.

But there is one for tallest dog, and at 7 foot 3 inches tall, nose to tail; George might just reach those lofty heights.

Last August the world’s tallest dog, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane, passed away from cancer months after making a brief but courageous comeback from the disease, despite losing his front right leg.

9-Year-Old World Record Breaking Limbo Skater

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:09:45 +0000

Nine year old student Rohan Ajit Kokane from Belgaum in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka set a new world record when he performed the longest blindfolded limbo skate under 4 cars, clearing a height of 6.75 inches!

The Biggest Drawing In The World

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:28:28 +0000

Etched onto the desert sands of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, this unique sand drawing is the world’s largest single artwork with a total circumference of over nine miles.

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Big enough to contain over 176 Wembley Stadiums, the giant drawing is visible from 40,000 feet up in the sky, and has even been wowing airline passengers flying across the desert into San Francisco.

Even Virgin supremo Richard Branson has phoned to congratulate artist Jim Denevan on his ambitious desert vision.

Taking 15 days to complete, Jim and a team of three colleagues worked day and night on the stunning piece in May of this year, which has a diameter of just over three miles.

Containing more than 1000 individual circles, Jim, 48, painstakingly built up the giant circle using a roll of chain fencing six feet across pulled by a truck round repeatedly to dig into the desert sand.

Based on a mathematical theorem called an Apollonian Gasket, the design is set around triples of circles at tangents to others.

“I set out to build the largest artwork in the world and I am extremely proud that I have managed to do this,” said Jim from his Santa Cruz home.

“This individual piece is larger than the famous lines of Nazca in Peru and that is something that excites me.

“Me and my long time collaborator Caleb Cole have been planning this for over two years and it was a pleasure to complete it.”

The largest lines etched into the sand of Jim’s drawing are 28 feet wide and almost three feet deep in places.

Using high tech GPS technology to organise their co-ordinates to create a perfect circle, the team braved the intense desert heat and night-time cold to construct their masterpiece.

“We began at what we termed our centre point and worked out diametrically from there,” said Jim.

“We had to dig out each line four or five times to mould it into the sand. It was tough, tiring, but of course it was ultimately fun.”

Artist Jim has been creating beautiful sand art for the past 17 years and sees this piece as the next step in his ultimate plan to work with NASA to draw on the plains of Mars.

Denevan discovered his talent for sand art when he idly picked up a stick and drew a 12ft long fish.

“In the future I would love to see if NASA would let me use their Mars rovers, so that I could attempt the first interplanetary artwork,” explained Jim.

“That would be fun.”

Having worked with Land Rover on a series of commercials, Jim is an independently wealthy man.

Jim admits the sheer scope of this project was financially expensive.

“But that is not the point, I just wanted to do it,” said Jim.

“Caleb, Nick and Zach, who devoted most of their time to this project are extremely proud too.”

Unfortunately, the winter’s rains have left the mammoth sand drawing in bad condition, but it is still visible.

“The next project is Antarctic,” said Jim.

“There is an extremely exciting trip being lined up and I can not wait to push the boundaries.”

Words by James Nye

The World’s Favourite Record Breakers

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:22:41 +0000

These incredible people are all in the running to become the world’s favourite record breaker.

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Whether it’s towering Svetlana Pankratova’s longest legs or Darren Taylor’s stomach-churning highest shallow dive, Guinness World Records (GWR) are searching for the people’s choice of the decade.

Having shortlisted a top 100 from every record set in several categories during the past 10 years GWR now wants the globe to vote online for the best.

Included in the mix are world-beaters in broken down into different types. Included in those are engineering, the living planet, science and technology, stunts, epic achievements, society, arts and entertainment, human body, and sports.

There even includes a ‘claimants’ class for breakers who have records in setting records. Unstoppable Ashrita Furman, 55, from New York, leads the group with the highest number of new records set, broken or re-established by one person at an astonishing 164.

Other holders in the running include Russian Svetlana Pankratova whose 132cm (51.9 in) legs were announced last year as the world’s longest in Spain. And dwarfed by her is Chinese He Pingping, who last year was recognised as the shortest living man who is mobile. His record stands at a tiny 74.61cm (2 ft 5.37 in).

American Melvyn Boothe has the longest fingernails, verified in May, with a combined length of 9.85 metres (32 ft 3.8in).

The person boasting the most body piercings is Brit John Lynch – aka Prince Albert – who has a tear-jerking 241 including 151 in his head and neck alone, confirmed last year.

Daredevil Darren Taylor, from the USA, achieved the highest ever shallow dive last year – into a tiny pool of water 10.83 metres (35 ft 6.6 in) below him in Tokyo, Japan.

Patient Bryan Berg, from the USA, built the tallest playing cards structure in 2007 with a a house of cards standing at an incredible 7.86 metres (25 ft 9 in), while Canadian Rev. Kevin Fast completed the fastest 100 metre vehicle pull. The butch minister single-handedly towed a fire engine weighing a hefty 57,243 kg (126,200 lb.).

Further record holders hoping to become the planet’s number one include the USA team behind the largest hamburger. Their mammoth sandwich topped the scales in May at an incredible 84.14kg (185.8 lbs) and can be ordered at Mallie’s Sports Grill and Bar in Michigan for a wallet-busting £300.

More incredible feats included the UK’s Paddy Doyle who battled through the most push-ups using the backs of the hands in one hour at 1,940. He set his record in Erin Go Bragh Sports Centre, Birmingham, UK, on 8 November 2007.

Kiwi Lucky Diamond Rich has the world’s most tattoos with 100% of his body covered. He even had his eyelids and gums blacked out by tattoo artists.

The most rattlesnakes held in the mouth by their tails is 11 by Jackie Bibby. He held the snakes – without any help – for an incredible 10 seconds on the set of Guinness World Records: Die GroBten Weltrekorde in Germany, in December last year.

Web surfers can choose their favourite from the top 100 at http://2010.guinnessworldrecords.com/top100.asp

Words by Liam Miller

Cape Town Surfers Set New World Record

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:10:24 +0000

Over one hundred surfers lined up on the same ocean wave in a bid to break a world record.

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It started with 443 keen surfers of every age and ability paddling out from the Muizenberg beach in Cape Town, South Africa.

Bobbing around on their boards, the wetsuit clad men and women patiently waited to be told which wave to catch.

On the fourth attempt, 110 surfers managed to stand for five seconds – smashing the previous record set in Brazil of 100 surfers.

“There were more than 1,000 people on the beach and everyone was in high spirits with plenty of cheering and hooting as the surfers took off and rode the wave,” said record organiser and founder of Earthwave Paul Botha.

“We made seven attempts on the record in one hour this year. The fourth attempt produced the most surfers on one wave, with an estimated 120 riding at one time.

“Photographic evidence proved there were 110 surfers still riding five seconds after taking off.”

The Earthwave concept was developed three years ago to promote awareness of climate change while at the same time attempting to break world records.

In 2006, Earthwave South Africa raised the record from 44 to 73, before Earthwave Brazil increased it to 84 surfers on one wave in 2007 and an incredible 100 in 2008.

Back in South Africa, organising hundreds of surfers for the October record attempt was no easy task.

As they paddled in to the ocean, a jetski piloted by an experienced surfer patrolled behind the break.

He chose which wave to catch, and a PA system on the beach conveyed this to the surfers waiting in the lineup.

When the right wave began to break, as many surfers as possible stood on their boards for as long as they could.

“Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and we are already in the process of setting up Earthwave 2010 and will be intensifying our efforts to get more countries involved,” said 60-year-old Paul.

The surfers are eagerly awaiting their record to be confirmed by Guinness World Records.

Words by Lucy Tatchell

The Indian Ear Weightlifter

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:52:37 +0000

Grimacing with pain this Indian man hopes to smash the world record for ear weightlifting.

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Rakesh Kumar snapped a wooden clamp on to his left ear and attached 75.6kg to it before slowly lifting the weights from the ground.

The 29-year-old, from Ludhiana in northern India, smashed his previous record of 71kg and is waiting for Guinness World Records to ratify his attempt.

“I have killed the pain to reach the Guinness world records,” he said.

“I want to make my country proud in the whole world, and show them where iron men live. I will make myself iron man.”

Rakesh started the strange sport seven years ago after seeing a TV programme with contestants all lifting weights with their ears. He said the pain from lifting just 2kg was unbearable, but as he persevered the pain stopped.

The record obsessed man practices every day, and sometimes gives his ear a break by dabbling in a bit of eyelid or nail lifting.

He boasts of doing 96 push-ups in 60 seconds with a single hand and pulling a temp traveller for 1km with one ear.

He has lifted 5kg with his eyelid and 111kg with both ears.

“My parents don’t want me to do this, but I want to make them happy as soon as possible and give them the chance to live a luxurious life as they are quite old now,” he said.

“The tell me to stop this activity, but I always convince them to let me carry on.”

Rakesh’s ambition is to set the most world records yet he still dreams of doing one stunt: pulling an eight tonne plane with his ear, but only after he manages to ear lift his motorbike.