- As the legendary book of Guinness World Records celebrates
its 50th birthday, we present...
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- YOUNGEST SOLDIER: Brazilian Luis Alves de Lima e Silva
joined the infantry aged five in 1808.
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- LONGEST SURVIVING HEADLESS CHICKEN: From September 1945
a chicken called Mike survived for 18 months. He was fed with an eye dropper
but choked to death on a corn kernel.
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- LONGEST CHAMPAGNE CORK FLIGHT: American Heinrich Medicus
ejected a cork 54.18m (177ft 9in) in New York in 1988.
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- FASTEST HEARTBEAT: The shrew has a heart rate of 1,200
beats per minute.
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- OLDEST WOMAN: Jeanne Louise Calment made it to 122 years
164 days on 4 August 1997.
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- WORLD'S FASTEST FERRET: Warhol clocked 10m (32ft) in
12.59 seconds at the 1999 North of England Ferret Racing event.
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- FIRST MANNED SPACEFLIGHT: Yuri Gagarin, on 12 April 1961.
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- MOST TEACUPS CAUGHT ON THE HEAD WHILE UNICYCLING: German
Rudi Horn in 1952 threw six cups and saucers with his feet and balanced
them on his head while mounted on a unicycle.
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- GREATEST SEA RESCUE: In 1942, 2,735 people were saved
from the USS Lexington after it sank in the Pacific.
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- HIGHEST FEE PER MINUTE FOR AN ACTOR IN A TV AD: Nicole
Kidman earned $3.71m (£2m) for a four-minute commercial for Chanel
No 5 in 2003 - $928,800 per minute.
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- LONGEST WORKING LIFE: Shigechiyo Izumi, from Japan, worked
98 years. He retired as a sugar cane farmer in 1970, aged 105.
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- FASTEST TIME TO SCORE A HAT-TRICK: Tommy Ross scored
three goals in 90 seconds for Ross County against Nairn County at Dingwall,
Ross-shire, in 1964.
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- LARGEST NUDE PHOTO SHOOT: In 2003 7,000 volunteers posed
in Barcelona for the photographer Spencer Tunick.
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- KEENEST BIRD VISION: A peregrine falcon can spot a pigeon
at a range of over 5 miles.
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- HIGHEST MURDER RATE: Colombia has 65 murders per 100,000
people per year.
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- DEAREST OLD MASTER: Rubens' The Massacre of the Innocents
was sold at Sotheby's, London for £49.5m in 2002.
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- GREATEST EGG-DROPPING HEIGHT: England's David Donoghue
dropped eggs 213m (700ft) from a helicopter in 1994 - and some survived.
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- LONGEST MARRIAGE: Wesley and Stella McGowen, married
since 6 February 1920 - almost 85 years.
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- EARLIEST USE OF SMALLPOX AS A WEAPON: British soldiers
in the Wars of 1754-1767 distributed smallpox-impregnated blankets to native
Americans.
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- BIGGEST CONFERENCE CALL: On 29 September 2003, 3,466
shared the line with presidential challenger Howard Dean.
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- TOP-SCORING AIR ACE IN SECOND WORLD WAR: German Major
Erich Hartmann shot down 352 aircraft, including 13 planes in 17 minutes
during one 1943 sortie.
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- MOST VOTES FOR A CHIMP IN A CAMPAIGN: In the 1988 mayoral
elections in Rio, Tiao came third, taking 400,000 votes.
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- BIGGEST EYE: An Atlantic giant squid found in Canada
in 1878 had eyes 40cm (15.75in) across.
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- FASTEST TIME TO DRINK TWO PINTS OF STOUT: Canadian Scott
Williams downed two pints of Guinness in 6.3 seconds in 2003.
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- LONGEST TRAFFIC JAM: A jam stretched 109 miles from Lyon
towards Paris in February 1980.
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- LONGEST TIME TRAPPED IN A LIFT: Cypriot Kively Papajohn,
76, was trapped for 6 days in 1987.
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- HIGHEST-PAID FILM ACTOR: Bruce Willis received $100m
(£62m) for The Sixth Sense.
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- OLDEST LIVING TREE: A bristlecone pine in the USA's White
Mountains, called Methuselah, is 4,733 years old.
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- LONGEST DAY: As Earth's rotation slows by 0.02 seconds
per century, the longest day is today.
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- BIGGEST CAT LITTER: In 1970 a Burmese/Siamese cross cat
owned by Brit V Gane gave birth to 19 kittens, although 4 were stillborn.
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- FASTEST TIME TO TYPE ONE TO ONE MILLION: Australia Les
Stewart typed one to one million, in words, between 1982 and '88.
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- BIGGEST ANIMAL BRAIN: The brain of the sperm whale weighs
roughly 9kg (19lb 13oz).
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- HIGHEST BUNGEE JUMP: Kiwi Chris Allum jumped 251m (823ft)
from the New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia, in 1992.
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- FASTEST ROLLER COASTER: The Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar
Point, Ohio, clocks 120mph.
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- LONGEST POLE-SITTING: The monk St Simeon the Stylite
(circa AD 386-459) spent about 39 years on a stone pillar near Aleppo,
Syria. It is the longest-standing record in the book of Guinness World
Records.
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- BIGGEST FLOP: Cutthroat Island (1995) cost more than
$100m (£62m). It earned back $11m (11 per cent).
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- LOWEST TEMPERATURE IN AN INHABITED AREA: The Siberian
village of Oymyakon reached -68C (-90F) in 1933.
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- MOST BASKETBALLS SPUN: American Michael Kettman span
28 balls simultaneously in 1999.
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- MOST VALUABLE LETTER: A letter written by Abraham Lincoln
in 1863 sold for $748,000 (£418,000) in 1991 in New York.
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- TALLEST MAN: America's Robert Wadlow, right, stood at
2.72m (8ft 11.1in) in 1940.
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- FURTHEST VISIBLE OBJECT: The spiral Triangulum galaxy
can be seen 2.53 million light years away.
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- LARGEST PANTS: The largest cotton underwear, 9.54m (31ft
4in) wide and 4.9m (16ft) tall, were unveiled in Exeter in 2003.
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- HIGHEST ANNUAL RAINFALL: Mawsynram, in eastern India,
has 11,873mm (4,678in) per annum.
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- BIGGEST SNOWBALL FIGHT: Involved 2,473 people at Triel,
Switzerland, in January 2003.
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- BIGGEST SPIDER: A male goliath bird-eating spider, above,
found in Venezuela in 1965 had a legspan of 28cm (11in).
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- HOTTEST PLANET: Venus has an average of 480C (896F).
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- MOST RETAKES FOR ONE SCENE: Stanley Kubrick demanded
127 retakes for a scene with Shelley Duval in The Shining.
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- FASTEST BAKED BEAN EATER: Briton Andy Szerbini ate 226
baked beans in five minutes using a cocktail stick in London in 1996.
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- BIGGEST CONDOM: A 21.94m (72ft) condom was fitted over
the obelisk at Place de la Concorde in Paris in 1993.
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- MOST CURRENT GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: Ashrita Furman of
New York, who holds 20 official records including milk-bottle balancing,
skipping, forward rolling and glass balancing.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=583676
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