The Only Records You Want to Break

In November 1951, Hugh Beaver, then CEO of Guinness Breweries went shooting birds with friends at County Wexford in Ireland. Beaver missed a shot at a Golden Plover. This lead to a debate: which is the fastest game bird in Europe, the Golden Plover or the Red Grouse? Unfortunately, the answer couldn't be found in any reference book. Beaver thought questions like this arise in the minds of most people. At the heat of the moment he decided to commission somebody to write a book that compiles answers to this and similar questions.

Guinness employee Christopher Chataway referred two of his old friends from Oxford University: the twin brothers, Norris and Ross McWhirter.  They were running a fact-finding company at Fleet Street in London. Beaver commissioned the McWhirter twins to compile a book that provided information on extreme facts (note the word 'extreme'). The McWhirter twins worked day in and day out. On August 27, 1955 they finished the 198 page compilation of The Guinness Book of Records. The first instalment didn't sell well. However, news soon spread. By Christmas 1955, the book became the number one best-seller in Britain. In 1956, it launched in the USA. Sixty years later, in 2015, The Guinness Book of World Records, as it's now known, has officially sold 100+ million copies in 100 countries in 37 languages. This makes it the highest sold copyrighted book in history.

On its sixtieth anniversary, what's baffling is why does The Guinness Book of World Records keep baffling us year after year? The answer lies in the word 'extreme', and a little bit more.

We're fascinated by extremes because extremes aren't the average. The average is what we see every day. Anything outside the average lights up our eyes and our mind. An average person won't capture our attention, but the tallest and the smallest person; the heaviest and the lightest person; and others likewise will. There's more to extremes, though. 

There are constant extremes and there are moving extremes. Constant extremes are universally accepted facts like Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world. Moving extremes are the extremes that change from time to time. During special years like an Olympic Year; or a World Cup Year current extremes will be moving and some existing records will certainly be broken.  It's the moving extremes or records that attract us and keep us fascinated. In a BBC interview in 1979, Norris McWhirter mentioned that 22-23% of current records become outdated each year. Keeping the mind constantly baffled by records of extremes was one skill the McWhirter twins were very good at.

Record Breakers was a BBC TV Show for children, aired between December 1972 and December 2001. The McWhirter twins would appear on the show and answer questions from a panel of children. The record breaking feat was that the twins did so from memory. After Ross McWhirter's assassination in 1975, Norris continued. As time went on, the compiling team grew larger as the book was translated into more and more languages and more and more records were made and broken. 

The Guinness Book of World Records is testimony to our fascination for extremes. One Guinness Record may never be broken: won't there be next year's edition of the book? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Asrar Chowdhury teaches economic theory and game theory in the classroom. Outside he listens to music and BBC Radio; follows Test Cricket; and plays the flute. He can be reached at: asrar.chowdhury@facebook.com