The Guinness Book of Records | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh there's Chuck Jerry's here too and. that makes us stuff you should know. which holds the record for the longest. running podcast in the history of the. world as far as I know uh hey buddy. before we get going I wanted to mention. uh with your permission of course. granted I was recently a guest on a very.

awesome podcast uh we don't guest on a. lot of shows much anymore but um actor. Paul Giamatti has a podcast with his. buddy uh who is a philosophy Professor. named Steven Asma it's called chinwag. and I saw these guys live at. sketchfest and it was great and I think. stuff you should know people will really. not only enjoy my guest appearance but. really love chinwag Yeah from what you. told me it sounds pretty awesome I. haven't listened quite yet but I think. I'm going to make my first episode your.

episode uh it's great I appreciate that. and you should get on it I told you that. I'm sure they'd love to have you but um. Stephen is super smart and Mr Paul. Giamatti is amazingly smart and just a. really well- read cool guy and the title. says it all a chinwag is just sort of a. free flowing chat right and that's what. it is we we you know the idea was that. we're going to talk about the saluran. hypothesis which they didn't know about. yet and we had just done a thing on so I. was like oh what a great opportunity.

sure uh but we ended up talking about. nuclear semiotics and the anti mechanism. and ghost and religion and monkey. intercourse and wow uh it's just a. really cool talk and uh I think stuff. you should know people would really dig. it so it's out now uh at the chinwag. nice Chuck congrats I can't wait to. listen all right thanks man and you. should be on should we get on with the. show uh yeah let's well you know what we. get to do now in our uh our typical two.

episode. procession way that is stuff you should. know is we get to wash the stank of Unit. 731 off of us by talking uh about a very. fun thing which is the Guinness book of. world's records or the Guinness World. Records uh I feel like when I was a kid. it was called The Guinness Book of World. Records in the United States mhm uh I I. imagine that we are similar and that you. probably had copy of this in your house.

no oh you didn't no we weren't all L dah. I had to get one from the school library. we had a copy of the Guinness book I. think it probably got it as a like a. Christmas gift one year and maybe your. dad lifted it from that his school. library he brought it home oh he may. have property of Reen Elementary School. uh so I remember very distinctly though. pouring through this thing as a kid and. just. like it was such a big book it was so.

thick and the type was so small uh and. the pictures weren't great but like I. just like I poured over every page of. this thing like it was my Bible or. something I was so into it I thought it. was so cool like this may have been my. Uncle John's bathroom reader for. you uh no I yeah okay I got you have. both no no no Uncle John's bathroom. reader definitely trumped it for sure. but at the I was still very much a fan. of the Guinness book over world records.

for sure do you remember some of those. pictures from the classic edition oh. yeah the guy with the longest. fingernails also had a really long beard. if I remember correctly yeah and the two. guys those two heavy twins on the. motorbikes yeah I think the mcra. brothers yeah the tall guy that big. giant tall guy and the tall and the tall. lady oh yeah that's right I forgot about. them yeah that's crazy we both grew up. on the same pictures and they helped. shape us isn't that neat yeah I mean.

they're just burned into my brain I. don't remember some of the names I want. to say that guy's name was Robert wadow. but that's just literally digging out. from my you know nine-year-old lizard. brain that would be pretty impressive if. you just did that well you pulled the. brothers out of your keer oh I looked. him up. okay I'm not walking around with their. name in my head unfortunately I'm not. that good uh anyway that's what we're. talking about is this this great book. that um is still going strong at about a. million copies a year and we're going to.

talk about all about the Guinness book. right now yeah let's but before we do. Chuck uh let's give a shout out to. listener mallerie Stafford who's the one. who suggested that we do an episode on. the Guinness Book of World Records so. thanks a lot mallerie yeah okay so yes. let's go back Chuck way back to the. 1940s technically 1950 but we'll check. in in in 1945 with a guy named Sir Hugh. Beaver this is he was Sir Hugh Beaver oh. okay.

um and this was before he was a knight I. believe he was kned probably because of. his work um with the Guinness Book of. World Records that has to be guessing. here at this point but I think it's. pretty safe bet although a completely. Superfluous and unnecessary one but he. um ended up going to work for Guinness. and Son the um beer company so if you've. ever wondered if the Guinness Book of. World Records is actually connected to. the Guinness beer company my friend yes. they absolutely are the guy who was the.

managing director of Guinness son and. Company Limited the Guinness beer. company was also the guy responsible for. coming up with the Guinness Book of. World Records that's right it it was a a. Guinness product uh in fact and and. we'll get to all that but that to me is. right out of the gate you got one of the. facts of the podcast if people next time. you're in a bar and someone draws up a. Guinness just say hey you know the. Guinness book a world record is started. out because of the Guinness Spear and if.

they say no you just smash their face on. the bar dump that Guinness all over. their head knowing me in my luck I would. say that and they'd be like oh really. you don't think everybody knows that. right that's what I would be met with. and then I'd smash their face on the bar. right uh so there's a pretty good story. here that um kind of is the the seed of. this whole idea uh and it goes as. follows uh in 1950 as you promised uh. sir Sir Hugh Bieber was hunting uh with.

some friends in Ireland and missed a. shot and boy this seemed to really get. at this guy he he missed a shot of a. golden PL or Plover bird and was like. hey did you see that how fast that thing. was like nobody could shoot that thing. that's got to be the fastest game bird. in Europe and they were like ah are you. kidding me that thing's not that fast. there's no way on tranquilizers yeah you. just you just missed the shot my and. that's not the fastest game bird and he.

was like oh I got to find an answer to. this and he could not find it in a. reference book so I said this really. bothered the guy and this is how I know. is that four years later mhm he's still. thinking about missing that. shot and he's like oh you know what we. need is a book that says stuff like this. yeah that was the origin of the Guinness. Book of World Records that missed shot. that that golden Plover that lived.

had it not lived maybe this whole thing. would have never happened seriously had. he have shot that bird we may not have. gotten those twins on the motorbike no. and it's a good thing that that golden. Plover lived for a couple of reasons not. the least of which is that the golden. Plover got to live hoay but because it. stuck with sir hu Beaver for so so long. for four years that he finally was like. it morphed I can't imagine how many. times he chewed it over before it. finally became the idea for a book that.

actually has facts like what's the. fastest game bird in all of Europe and. so he went to the people that he worked. for at Guinness as the managing director. he's like I've got this great idea we. can put together a book of facts that. can settle the kind of like arguments. and disputes that arise at a pub and. we'll give them as free Guinness. giveaways at pubs and we're even going. to make the cover waterproof so that if. you spill beer on it it'll be fine every. Pub in all of England's going to have.

one of these things and anytime there's. an argument at a pub they're going to. pull this thing out that was the. original idea for the Guinness Book of. World Records and it's a genius idea. yeah and just fun like I just love the. whole Spirit behind it uh that very. first version has a forward that said. that um that the Hope was that it could. resolve arguments and turn heat into. light um so you know just the very idea. of the the pub argument is just sort of. fun to think about I think period for. sure and now you have an actual. waterproof covered book that they're.

given out with that Guinness name on it. it's pretty pretty brilliant yeah so. Hugh Beaver though was not one Hugh. Beaver okay there's different ways to. say it um Hugh Beaver sure I mean I know. what you're getting at I'm just being. playful I'm not getting at anything. buddy you liy I'm GNA smash your face on. the bar so Hugh beaver I said Hugh. Beaver by the way okay he was not one to. go around and like make books he was. kind of like an idea guy rather than a.

bookmaking guy so he turned to two guys. who were this was just right up their. alley they were identical twins named. Norris and Ross mcarter and they ran an. agency that essentially was a. factchecking and fact providing um well. Agency for newspapers and things like. that media Outlets like fun stuff though. if they yeah but it was also I think if. you had a fact you wanted to confirm you. would call them and they would turn to. their encyclopedias and be like uh yes.

off the top of my head I know that. that's correct right um that's what the. mcars did and so it was a great idea to. reach out to these guys and be like hey. what if you take your entire profession. and make it a book but just select the. like most interesting stuff and put it. into a book and that's what we're going. to make and they said let's do it that's. right they formed their own company. based in London called Guinness. superlatives and they spent about 4. months um with just the the sort of.

sourcing of what would go in the book it. took about a year to get the book the. first Ed dish out but they spent about. four months just sending you know this. is 1954 so they're sending letters to. experts they're sending letters to. people all over the world saying you. know what's the the biggest thing what's. the smallest this what's the fastest. that uh just like thousands and. thousands of injuries and they were. pretty serious you know they wanted this. to be a legitimate like factual book so. they were from the from the git they.

were uh very fastidious in their. research uh and they found that even. experts sometimes would would either get. things wrong or exaggerate stuff what uh. Livia found this great thing um she put. together a really good uh base article. for this one and she said one of the. things that they found was one expert. said that there was a fly that broke the. speed of sound that flew at 820 mph so. uh they were like all right we we have. to do more work even though we're. getting in touch with expert. yeah that was all the way back in 1926.

so for decades people have been walking. around thinking that that fly that there. was a fly that could do that and these. guys were the kind these right these. guys were the kind who had just come. along and be like that's not true so. that like the Guinness Book of World. Records Long had and starting out of the. gate long had this reputation for like. being just accurate and correct like. they really did their research and they. really double checked and the people. that they were citing and polling and. going to were experts in their field and.

not even crackpot experts in their field. like the the Fly Guy The Fly Guy Jeff. Goldin no the guy who who said the. expert who said that the uh the the deer. botfly could fly faster than the speed. of sound I I was kidding you know oh. okay I thought you'd forgotten already. no no no uh or maybe it was Jeff Goldin. for all we know it could have been so in. August uh August 27th in fact 1955 the. very first edition came out uh it was.

titled Guinness Book of Records uh close. to 200 Pages 198 Pages um that had about. initially um 4,000 just factual entries. and then just a collection not too many. but about 18 pages of uh some. photographs black and white pictures uh. a few pen and ink drawings and it was. pretty successful uh they were like. let's print 50,000 of these give them. out at pubs but they realized very very. quickly I mean it came out August 27th.

and they were like we can actually sell. these things so they started selling. that fall just a couple of months later. and by Christmas had sold. 187,000 of these yeah supposedly since. then it sold about 150 million copies. worldwide wow which is just astronomical. that's just such a crazy amount of books. and just out of the gate like they. clearly tapped into something that. people love people love that kind of. thing they created the internet in book. form before anyone even thought of the.

internet or computers yeah yeah totally. so um they were like well this is great. let's start churning out more and more. of these and they started putting out. the first American Edition that came out. the next year um country specific. editions in the years that followed and. even while they were doing this even. while they're cranking these things out. the McCords were like we're not going to. sacrifice accuracy or or factualness. like that is like the pacle of what.

we're doing it has to be accurate and. yeah it can be super interesting but. also we need to kind of keep it. familyfriendly and there was a famous. quote from Norris who who was apparently. like the heart and soul of the book um. Norris was he said that ours is the kind. of book Maiden ants give to their. nieces basically saying like we can't. have smut in there probably the word. that noris would have used with smut. yeah like us you know with uh I mean. they were G-rated we're probably PG.

yeah sometimes PG-13 frankly yeah I mean. we are the kind of guys that'll sit. around and make jokes about Sir Hugh. Beaver so while they're. researching uh they do finally and this. is just a side note they get to the. bottom of this fastest European game. bird uh that that Plover was 62 m hour. and apparently the spurwing goose is 88. uh but now apparently on the website. there's a red breasted uh merganzer that. can go uh I guess I guess that's 91 mil.

an hour no I think that the uh spurwing. Goose's record of 88 is so thoroughly. debated that they can't say for certain. that it's the fastest European game bird. the. one yeah that's what I've gotten from it. okay so there's like a horrible twist to. all of this um suddenly that happened. well 25 years after the first book came. out like they've been churning out. additions every year multiple additions. a year um and so in the midst of all. this Ross and Norris are just still.

doing their job but they've gotten kind. of wealthy along the way and um I. apparently Ross was not very happy that. the IRA was bombing places in um Britain. in England in particular and he offered. a 50,000 reward this is back in. 1975 I didn't do the conversion so let's. just say it could buy you a lot of big. Maxs today a 50,000 lb reward for um any. information that would help convict Ira.

bombers and I guess he thought that this. was going to be effective and it was not. at all effective it actually turned out. to be a terrible move for him yeah Ross. was a a a fairly controversial political. activist in addition to his job and uh. the IRA did not CAU into that so on. November 27th of. 1975 uh Harry Dugen and Hugh Dy of the. balom street gang um shot him point. blank in the head and chest with a 357.

outside of his house and killed him dead. and uh so so Ross was uh was gone and. I'm sure Norris was um devastated but. kept on as the editor uh Norris did. until 1986 and then for another decade. as an adviser to the project yes. eventually Guinness the beer company was. like this has been a pretty good run. we've been doing this for over half a. century now and they eventually sold the.

Guinness World Records gwr is what it's. usually referred to um to another. company company called gulan uh which. was a production company for children's. um television shows including Thomas the. Tank Engine and I guess the the head of. gain sobered up a couple of days later. and was like what am I going to do with. this and ended up selling it to the Jim. patteron Group which is uh owned by a. Canadian billionaire named Jim p. and bears more than a small resemblance.

to The shineart Wig Company and that. they have their hands in like. everything they own Peterbilt they own. the Great Wolf Lodges they own. Associated Grocers um they own. everything including the Guinness Book. of World Records as well as Ripley. entertainment and so over time they've. kind of added to what the Guinness World. Records does it's the reason one of the. reasons why you don't say the Guinness. Book of World Records is because they. definitely expanded beyond the book now.

yeah I think Ripley sort of laid the. mold as in having like a Ripley Museum. of Curiosities that kind of thing there. are now uh Guinness museums and stuff. like that and it's kind of become an. attraction here in different cities uh I. don't I know I've never been to one I'm. trying to think where I've even seen one. maybe maybe Hollywood has one I don't. know they've got a they've got a Ripley. uh but yeah they become a part part. tourist attraction as well uh and maybe.

that's a good place to break oh yeah. let's do that yeah we can find out where. one of these is and and we'll go and. then we'll come back. [Music]. okay Stu you should know. [Music].

Chuck that was a fantastic road trip. I've never drank so much Coke Zero in my. entire life oh man I've been drinking. Guinness glad you were driving I know. I've been driving well anyway getting. back to Guinness um the world records. not all the beer you've been drinking on. our road trip um they are even though. they're owned by the Jim Patterson group. they still are their own company uh. doing their own thing and they're. headquartered in London but they also.

have offices in Dubai Tokyo New York. Beijing and there's like 400 people that. work for Guinness World Records around. the world yeah amazing um on the book. just you know let's go to the stats you. mentioned over 150 million total copies. uh I believe I said still about a. million a year it's been translated into. 40 different. languages um when you open up one of. those books you're going to find a. couple of different things well you'll. find tons of things but kind of a couple.

of different categories um one is all. that stuff we were talking about like. the fastest bird um the tallest this or. that like the tallest skyscraper just. sort of things that have hit a. superlative right um you're also going. to find a lot of uh firsts like the. first person to do this uh the first. person to complete this and then you're. going to find a bunch of kind of uh. goofy fun records which is the the whole. category where people are like I want to. get in that book. and so I can either break a record.

that's in there or I can think of my own. uh like hula hooping or well I'm sure. that's in there but you know uh long. longest under underwater tea party uh. that's probably in there for all I know. but I just made that up but stuff like. that yeah no that's I'm sure that's in. there uh I know there's like the the. most number of magic tricks performed. underwater like if it could be done. underwater there's there's a record for. and the reason that there are so many. records because apparently tens of.

thousands of people every single year I. think the number that I saw back in 2008. on a freec economics interview with the. current um editor and chief a guy named. Craig Glend uh is he he put it at about. 50,000 applicants per year people who. are like I'm I either just I think I. just did break a record or I'm going to. attempt to break a record um so let's go. let's do this. 50,000 people a year try to do that I.

wonder I wonder how many morning. pictures of a toilet they get every year. where someone's like I think I just. broke a record oh gross. dude PG that's PG yeah but you know I. bet people do it uh 50,000 entries they. uh what you do is so you apply um again. to to either break a record or create a. new thing and you log you you get a you. know log into the system as an official.

applicant uh when you are part of that. process you can then search their own. private database there is a public. facing database but the real gold all. the stuff is in that private database. where you can just look through all. those records uh see if there's anything. you think you can break and then look at. all the guidelines and this is where. apparently about half the people drop. out is when they see like all the stuff. that you have to do to make it an. official like legit submitted uh record.

yeah because the guidelines can reach. into dozens of pages sometimes like. they're so specific and detailed about. what constitutes a record what. specifically you have to do and a lot. about what you can't do and I read an. interview with um Craig glenday by um. imaging West Knights In The Guardian um. if she doesn't sound like a guardian. writer I don't know who does yeah um but. she she said that she tried to break um.

the record for standing on one leg. blindfolded apparently it's like 30. something minutes and she got to like 30. seconds I think on her three tries but. she said that it had six pages of. guidelines just for that yes yeah so the. more detailed the more intricate the um. the the actual like record is the longer. the guidelines are going to be so like. you said about half the people are like. nuts to this I don't care that much.

about this and that that really kind of. separates a lot of the um the the posers. out what you have left are the real deal. recordbreaker people I'm sure a lot of. people are like I probably just have to. click a thing and upload a video I think. a lot of people think that yeah you know. yeah not again my friend wrong wrong. wrong all right so here's just a few. things if you want to qualify for a. title uh a record has to be the. following has to be measurable easy.

enough check uh it has to be breakable. uh unless it's a quote significant first. like first person to do something has to. be something that someone else can try. to do and break check um it has to be. standardizable which is anyone all over. the world could try and do this thing I. think that's great that's very inclusive. yeah I like it too has to be verifiable. Obby like you can't be the person with. the most ghosts haunting them no right. yeah exactly most haunted person right.

uh this one is interesting it has to. involve a single variable so um you. could be like uh longest underwater tea. party but if there is that record you. can't be like well I'm the longest. underwater tea party wearing a. tutu right yeah for sure they they. definitely the guy explained in that a. Freakonomics interview that if you open. it up like that it it just just grow. exponentially and it's just dumb he's.

like no underwater tea party longest. underwater tea party that's interesting. who cares if you're wearing a tutu or. not frankly you should be wearing a tutu. if you have an underwater tea party that. should be you know it should go without. saying. yeah uh the last two things are it has. to be Universal so like because they. sell this book all over the world it has. to be something that everyone can kind. of see and understand and enjoy very. inclusive again yeah very much inclusive. and then finally it has to be. substantially uh different than a.

current record yeah which ties into that. underwater tea party 22 thing yeah a. little bit I think so about 50,000. applications a year like we said um and. I think something like every year 2,000. new records are added to the um Guinness. World Records database so say 25,000. give it a try 2,000 are successful. that's what between 5 and 10% I think of. attempts are successful that's actually.

not too bad um and this database just. keeps growing and growing apparently. there's like 40,000 records and if. you're trying to set a record you have. access to all 40,000 because you need to. um but if you're just hanging out on the. website and just looking up stuff for. fun you can still see 15,000 different. records but only 4,000 records are put. into the book every year and a lot of. those are like Classics like I think at. least half are like Classic on that have. been in there for years and years and.

years that people just want to see that. weren't necessarily broken you know in. the past year yeah I tried to find new. entries in the book each year and I I. couldn't find that number but I mean. it's not a lot so Le less than 5% even. get that world record so out of 50,000. people you have a very very slim chance. of making it in that book if that's what. you're and that's kind of what. everyone's goal is you want to be in the. book you do because that's the thing. even even if you um set a record you're.

not necessarily going to be in the book. like you said there's actually a slim. you have a slim chance of being in the. book even if you break a record the. thing you can definitely uh be. guaranteed to get is a certificate. saying that you are the official record. holder and you'll be in that giant. database yeah should we tell the story. of our our our friend and uh guy who. designed our website the Web Master yeah. our buddy Brandon uh I mean you should. tell the story CU you understand more. about this I guess that you knew that.

Brandon had had briefly held a Guinness. record is that right and you had you. emailed about it yes he and a friend so. apparently brand Brandon was one of. those people who we'll kind of touch on. later on in the show but he's one of. those people who just had like a. lifelong ambition it was on his life. list as he put it to um break a world. record to be a world record holder just. wanted to do it yeah love it so he said. he looked into all sorts of different. stuff I think one of them was like. fastest moonwalk in 100 meters. um longest distance travel on like a.

bouncy ball and he finally came up with. um fastest 400 meter piggyback ride okay. and he and a friend trained for that for. a while from what I remember and they. finally did it they broke the record and. apparently the record he chose was just. randomly not the record he should have. chosen because they had their record. broken by somebody else so quickly that. he wasn't even able to get a certificate. he said that he got an email saying like.

you you actually your record was broken. but for a very brief time you were the. world record holder on the 400 meter. piggyback ride oh man poor Brandon I. know I know but he's got that to carry. around with him he was he he achieved. his life goal because I mean think about. it he could have trained for years and. still never broken the record but he did. do you know if he was the piggy beer or. piggy Becky I believe he was the well. which one's which I honestly don't know. okay so he's the guy carrying the the.

piggy as far as I remember okay I think. that would be the piggy beer oh no maybe. the piggy back e i yeah I would say the. piggy backy is probably what what that. would be let's go to the polls okay all. right so we talked a little bit about. what they what you have to do to get a. record or what qualifies uh they do. exclude here's here's what you can't do. uh you you can't do something that's. dangerous to other people. um if you're a grown adult and you want.

to try something you know uh reasonably. dangerous like a Skydive or something I. think Olivia found the example of a. Bonsai Skydive that's when i' never. heard of this that's when you you throw. your parachute out of the plane then you. jump out and you wait as long as you can. before like grabbing hold of this thing. and deploying it so you can do something. like that if you're a grown adult and. decide that that you want to undertake. that danger but what you can do is put.

someone else in danger right um and. there's some other stuff too that that. they they're like we're not doing this. anymore um like uh anything that has to. do with um pets yeah that it involves. that that could be dangerous to them. like they used to do like a heaviest pet. thing and then they were like you know. just having a record out there. constitutes a dare to some people so. there just some things we shouldn't do. and encouraging people overfeed their. pet yeah so that they can become the.

world record holders is that's just one. we should avoid excessive eating for. people as well like humans as well yeah. for sure what else uh anything involving. drinking um funny kind of for Guinness. but they're like yeah I mean I get the. spirit but you can't try and set the. record for you know funneling Jack. Daniels uh like K Marino did party you. just may be nauseated man uh anything. illegal obviously is not allowed and. then uh anything involving kids under 16.

that they deem. unsuitable um if you're between 16 and. 18 and it is suitable you have to you. still have to have a parent or Guardian. um sort of sign up with you yeah that. Craig glenday the editor and chief was. like you know we actually don't trust. parents to not give their kids steroids. to break some of these records so we're. just not going to do that at all some of. the other ones they used to do longest. kiss but like you have to keep kissing. and people would kiss for literally days.

and it's just dangerous dance Marathon. same thing and then invasive surgery. Chuck they used to have stuff for. invasive surgery and now they're like. people actually go get surgery just to. be a record holder so we should stop. stop doing that as well boy boy all. right so let's take another break uh and. we'll talk about how how these things. are um judged or uh you know kind of the. oversight I guess right after this. [Music]. learning things with ch and.

Jos stuff you should. [Music]. know all right so we promis talk of. oversight very exciting stuff but you. can't just willy-nilly send in a video.

and say all right I've done my job um. they employ what's what are called. adjudicators. adjudicator that's right uh there're. about 90 of them uh that travel all over. the world and in Pre you know sort of. digital age this is the only way to do. it um you would have an adjudicator come. to you uh the adjudicators apparently it. have to sort of like Mission Impossible. you agree to you know like hey I got to. go to Singapore um and then you find out.

what record that you're agreeing to. oversee which is. interesting uh what else what's this. business about a jacket oh well you have. to wear the officially approved um. outerwear yeah a jacket that has like. the Guinness World Records logo on it um. you also there's other rules too you. can't socialize with the the record. attempters no or their people after. hours no professional yeah no.

fraternization you can't um eat or drink. uh during the whole thing like you're. just meant to be a an impartial. businesslike um professional yeah that's. what your job is no matter how wacky or. nuts what the person is trying to do is. you're taking it seriously they're. trying to break a record that's your job. as an adjudicator and like you said they. travel the world apparently there's a. huge emphasis on speaking to the media. cuz that's big role for Guinness World. Records they're a media company that's.

extraordinarily media savvy so they make. sure that their 90. adjudicators are uh Savvy as well yeah. and you you know go through about a week. of training and part of that is Media. training uh and just um simple stuff. like uh how to work a measuring tape or. how to measure whatever you need to. measure uh you mentioned that they have. to take it seriously even if it's dumb. um you also have to have the the the. very you know you're faced with a very. tough job of telling someone sometimes a.

small child is trying to break a record. that they failed and that they didn't. get it so you have to be able to break. the news to people in a in a way that I. I would assume is uh has some compassion. a note of. compassion uh and then sometimes you. might be in a situation that you need to. get out of uh like Glend day was talking. about this um one adjudicator was uh or. maybe Glend was sent I think it was him. yeah yeah to Moscow on attempt to an. attempt to break the largest concrete.

pouring um the engineers learned that. they couldn't make it possible due to. weather uh the weather conditions so. they were going to try and fake it so. he's there in Moscow these guys are. trying to fake this thing and the the. idea that they came up with was which. was officially sanctioned and I guess. this is probably a rule is like hey if. you're in a scary situation like that um. just tell them they got the record and. get out of there and we'll revoke the. next day yeah that's what he did he was.

worried about standing on the edge of a. massive hole with the kind of people who. would try to break a concrete pouring. record yeah and be upset when you told. them that they didn't break the record. he was like no I'm just going to go. ahead and say Yes congratulations and. then the next day text them sorry I have. to revoke it LOL yeah uh they come with. a that certificate uh frame certificate. uh if they fail they shred it I was. going to say right in front of their. face I was going to say hopefully not in.

front of them they shred it to make sure. it's not stolen from. somebody um they shred it and then they. make the attempter eat the shredded. paper was a. marinara uh but these days you know. obviously even with 90 adjudicators. there are 50,000 entries um even if half. of those drop out you still can't send. these people all all over the world that. much so now in the digital age uh most. of this stuff is remote but there are. lots of strict rules and Hoops you have.

to jump through to prove that you're not. faking uh again just some video that. you've deep faked or something yeah I. mean they take this quite seriously like. you can't you can't send a video that. that shows it and just that like you. just did it yourself you set up a camera. on a tripod and you may very well have. broken the record but that doesn't that. doesn't cut it um you have to have. actual live Witnesses who are not family. members uh who are not even friends.

necessarily I don't like there's a lot. like there's a lot right there's a lot. you want to do ahead of time to. understand and make sure that you're. doing everything correctly which is why. they have those guidelines which again. is why a lot of people drop out because. they think I just need to set up a a. phone on like one of those right. tabletop mounts and you know hula hoop. for 18 days in front of it and then do. that uh yeah you can um though you know. I mentioned the adjudicators obviously. can't go to that many places it seems.

like they're pretty much reserved these. days for uh paid appearances so you can. FastTrack if you've got 6,000 PS or. almost 7500 American uh US Dollars you. can FASTT track your record and get that. adjudicator to come out uh it's it's a. lot of money to drop on a world record. uh but if you're into that then you can. spend that my friend you think that's a. lot of money imagine a £1,000 to get an. adjudicator to come out and what is that.

well that is actually like a separate. wing of go of Guinness World Record. called gwr consultancy and it's a. controversial new um Revenue stream as. the HR would put it um where if you're a. company you're a brand uh again as HR. would put it um you can go to gwr. consultancy and say like hey I'm not. getting a lot of play on Instagram these. days how can I get my brand out there in.

a really eye popping way yeah and gwr. consultancy says well let's figure out a. record you can break that may or may not. be tied to your business but either way. we're going to make a big deal out of it. and you will get some media exposure. even if you don't break the record but. you're going to have to pay us some. money first and everything that they're. doing is above the boards it like when. you when the company tries to break the. record supposedly like a quarter of them. don't do it even though this is like. almost tailor made for their company.

they still don't necessarily succeed and. none of them make it in the book it's a. money-making side but they're still. legitimately setting or breaking records. yeah I'm trying not to like knock it too. much about half their revenue comes from. that companies you know companies need. to make money but um it almost just. feels like hey if you want to pay for. this official stamp. uh then you can do so like the Better.

Business Bureau like you can pay to get. a higher rating yeah which is like well. what's the point of the Better Business. Bureau that doesn't quite rise to that. with Guinness World Records because. they're still saying like yes they paid. to get you know their thing FastTrack. and to get an adjudicator out there to. work with them about figuring it like we. worked with them but they're actually. doing this actual thing and they may or. may not succeed so it is legitimate it. is very like I said it's a lot of people. like you don't like it um there are some.

that have been way more controversial. than others um Guinness got itself in a. little bit of international hot water. because apparently turkmenistan's. dictator gbin Gully ber. mov um. he I practiced that so much chuck say. the last name and I still didn't get it. quite right I'm G to try it again. gerbing Gully bered mov I think that's. right so I I found his name from John.

yeah John Oliver on Last Week Tonight oh. you didn't say it with a British accent. no he and he's like not to be confused. with the gerbing gouie bery mamadov that. you went to high school with this is the. the dictator from. turkistan and the reason the re he was. apparently a fan of the um Guinness. World Records and so he started like. ordering his country to start breaking. records and Guinness worked with him and. um took a lot of heat for it yeah I mean. this record is so dumb uh one of the.

ones that was successful was highest. density of buildings with white marble. cladding yes but he didn't have that. already and then call Guinness he. ordered that to be built in one of the. cities in Turkmenistan so that he like. that Turkmenistan could have this record. yeah well because of stuff like this uh. some of the old guard is they used to. work there isn't too thrilled with the. direction the company's taken uh this a. woman named Anna Nicholas who was the. head of PR in the 80s and 90s uh in a.

guard Guardian interview that was just. saying like you know they kind of lost. their way they're more sensationalist to. too sensationalist now and Norris MC's. own son uh Alistair said they've lost. the intellectual Integrity that the. twins had as well as that love and. feeling that's right should we talk. about some fun records let's but real. quick I just want to kind of put a bow. on that whole thing what we're talking. about is the Guinness Book of World.

Records not just surviving but actually. thriving in the internet age um and that. is just amazing in and of itself that. it's not just like some brand that's on. like its last leg or something like that. it still sells a million books a year it. still makes like international news. they're very media Savvy like they'll. tie World Records to you know. international news and all of a sudden. they're in the international news cycle. like they're still around and one of the. reasons why is because they still um.

adhere to like the principles that um. Norris and Ross created which is like it. has to be correct it has to be accurate. it has to be factual it has to be. legitimate and they try to do that as. much as possible I think some people are. like they're playing way too fast and. loose for that to be to be um the case. still but they's still like they're. still doing it and I I say hats off I'm. really glad that the Guinness World. Records is still around totally. absolutely okay now we can talk about. some funny records okay good uh we'll.

talk fingernails because we mentioned. that early that was um one of the just. sort of legendary pictures from those. early books was that uh that Chinese. priest uh didn't even have a name on. this guy who had those those curly um. those you know long curly fingernails 22. and 3/4 in uh today the woman who owns. that record is a woman named Diana. Armstrong uh I believe she's from. Minnesota soda MH uh and her her total.

fingernail length is uh over 42 ft close. to 43 42 feet 10.4. in uh and she uh this is very sad but. she um hasn't cut her nails since. 1997 when her 16-year-old daughter uh. died from an asthma attack in her sleep. and her daughter apparently loved her. mom's fingernails helped her do her. nails so Dian Armstrong was like I'm. never cutting these. and if you wonder what 42 feet of. fingernails looks like it's astounding.

yeah like she's there's there's pictures. where she's holding her hand about. shoulder height uh and the fingernails. reach all the way down to the floor like. like a. cane and they are just astounding. looking I don't I don't know how she. gets anything done yeah we also we have. to like give credit to the previous. record holder a woman named Lee Redmond. who held the record before Diana. Armstrong and who I guess is like okay.

if you're gonna lose it to somebody else. like that's a pretty good person to lose. it to yeah um so what about evil coneval. I remember we mentioned this in the evil. coneval two-parter which I still can't. believe we did yeah uh yeah broken bones. by a human yeah. 433 as the story goes yeah no not all at. once um there's a guy named George. Kaminsky who was serving a life sentence. in. Pennsylvania and apparently the prison.

yards in Pennsylvania were full of. fourleaf clovers and for a little while. Kaminsky held the largest collection of. four leaf clovers at just under. 73,000 fourleaf Clover clovers that he. collected while in prison and then they. moved him to a prison with fewer. fourleaf clo clovers in the prison yard. and he's he suddenly was quickly he lost. his his record all right uh uh I would. like to mention uh ashria Ferman um.

because if you're wondering if someone. wanted to hold like the record for. Guinness Records then that of course has. happened uh this is a a dude in New York. City uh he has the record for the most. World Records and uh he's been doing. this for 40 years plus uh he was a kid. just like us that was sort of obsessed. with this book and in the late 1970s was. like all right here's my deal I want to. get in that book more than anyone else. by doing stuff like jumping jacks and uh.

uh farthest distance trekked on uh while. balancing a bike on a chin hula hooping. underwater these are the sort of little. just funny odd human Feats that um that. ashria has made over the years and you. know how many records is it 700 plus 700. plus yeah I mean he just said it's his. life's work to to hold as many records. as he possibly could and I he holds the.

record for the most records right yeah. yeah that's what I'm saying that's just. amazing man I love that yeah he's. apparently a really good guy too like he. helps other people who are like him. figure out you know what records to go. after he's like a jack of all trades. yeah and I've noticed I think there's an. economy of scale to it so for example he. holds the record for longest distance um. I guess walked or whatever with a. bicycle balanced on your chin yeah he.

also holds the record for the most pint. glasses balanced on your chin 81 um. that's a lot of pine classes glass Pine. classes he gotta good at balancing. things on his chin yeah so I think. that's what he'll do he'll like dedicate. himself to learning something and then. you can break a bunch of different. records by doing similar things right. like balancing stuff on your chin but. he's all over the place like most arrows. broken with your neck in one minute sure. like hula hooping underwater like he. he's like he not he's not a one trick.

pony he's a multiple trick pony I guess. is the best way to put it hey you got to. be if you want to set the record for. records exactly that's exactly right CH. yeah there's so much more I want to say. but it will never come up with a better. ending for this episode than that so. let's leave it at that huh agreed if you. want to know more about Guinness World. Records then friends there are some. great ones out there that you can. delight and amuse yourself and your. friends with just go all over the. internet or even better go buy a copy of. the Guinness Book of World Records comes.

out every year uh and since I said it. comes out every year that's triggered. listener. mail well I'm going to call this wind. power in Texas we heard from quite a few. Texans uh this is from Ben in Denton. Texas M uh hey guys it's fun to hear you. talk about the great ways that we. bolstered our wind in solar over the. years a lot of people don't realize that. Texas has its own grid and another thing. people don't realize Iz is that there. are many uh municipally owned um utility.

companies here and Denton is one the. City of Denton owns and and manages. utilities for its citizens I was. actually a member of the public. utilities board for a couple of years. which is a board made just of citizens. to have oversight of the city's utility. operations and I really learned a lot uh. namely that Denton has pushed to Source. our electricity Supply exclusively from. renewable resources for many years now d. also has a huge push for other renewable. energy efficient options for its.

citizens from discounts on solar panels. and smart thermostats to free trees for. your property nice um while we're. talking about Texas uh Denton is the. home to one of the largest universities. in Texas uh University of North Texas Oh. i' meant to look at their. mascot failed to do so uh which makes it. a little bit of a liberal leaning town. in a lot of ways but much of Texas. obviously is still hyper conservative. it's a real shame how how many. politicians here seem to be arbitrarily. pushing it to uh to shut down solar and.

wind farms there's no logical reason for. it uh sure it doesn't grow the oil. industry but it does grow our supply in. total which is what we need and it's. sustainable which is a win-win in my. book uh anyways as always I appreciate. what you guys do what you say and how. you say it may not always agree but. that's life that is from Ben jumper very. nice thanks a lot Ben what are they did. you look it up do you want me to look it. up it's the University of North Texas.

right uh yeah sure why not can you hear. me. going I'm looking it up I've got it. right here Scrappy the. eagle I would have never come up with. that that's their mascot uh they say. they're the mean green Nation okay so. yeah they're the north Texas mean green. there you go so go mean green yes and go. wind energy who is that from again that. was from Ben jumper thanks a lot Ben. that's wonderful glad you're doing great. work out there keep it up buddy and if.

you want to be like Ben and tell us. about some great work your town or your. region or your country or your universe. is doing we want to hear about it you. can send it via email to stuff podcast. at iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.