On 10 November 1951, Sir
Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the
Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the
North Slob, by the
River Slaney in
County Wexford, Ireland. After missing a shot at a
golden plover, he became involved in an argument over whether the golden plover or the
red grouse was the fastest
game bird in Europe (the plover is faster, but neither is the fastest game bird in Europe). That evening at
Castlebridge House, he realized 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 realized then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful. Beaver's idea became a reality when Guinness employee
Christopher Chataway recommended university friends
Norris and
Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twin brothers were commissioned in August 1954 to compile A thousand copies were distributed for free to pubs across Britain and Ireland as a promotional asset for the Guinness brand, and they became immensely popular with customers. 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 bestseller list by Christmas. The following year, it was introduced into the United States by New York publisher
David Boehm and sold 70,000 copies. Since then,
Guinness World Records has sold more than 150 million copies in 100 countries and 40 languages.
Takeru Kobayashi with two Guinness World Record certificates Due to the book's surprise success, 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 British children's television series
Record Breakers (based upon the book), which was broadcast on the
BBC from 1972 to 2001, 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 in 1975, in response to offering a £50,000 reward for information that would lead to the capture of members of the organization. Following Ross's assassination, the feature on 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 incorporated in London 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. Gullane was itself purchased by
HIT Entertainment in 2002. In 2006,
Apax Partners purchased HIT and subsequently sold Guinness World Records in early 2008 to the
Jim Pattison Group, the parent company of
Ripley Entertainment, which is licensed to operate Guinness World Records' Attractions. With offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records' global headquarters remain in
South Quay Plaza in
Canary Wharf, London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in
Orlando, Florida.
Evolution holds the Guinness World Record of "The world's most tattooed person", with tattoos covering his entire body. Recent editions have focused on record feats by individuals. Competitions range from obvious ones such as
Olympic weightlifting to the longest
egg tossing distances, or for the longest time spent playing
Grand Theft Auto IV or the largest number of
hot dogs consumed in three minutes. Besides records about competitions, it contains such facts such as the heaviest tumor, 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. 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 latest edition is the 72nd, published in August 2025. 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 (or $5) to propose a new record title. , Portugal), listed on the Guinness World Records for the biggest waves ever surfed 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 of
Queens, New York, in April 2009; at that time, he held 100 records. 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. 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.
List of discontinued Guinness World Records Over its history, numerous world record categories have been discontinued. This list may include that the record poses a threat to health or the environment. ==Defining records==