Guinness World Records: Behind The Book

From the most tattooed man and a 103-year-old skydiver to homemade LEGO limbs and the largest testicle in the animal kingdom, Craig and the team look back over a year of record-breaking at Guinness World Records. Join Craig for an eggnog or two in The Golden Plover, the virtual pub at GWR HQ. For this annual record-breaking round-up, Craig is joined by Social Media Manager Dan Thorne, who unveils the year's most explosive tweets, YouTube videos and Tik-Tok posts; Life Sciences Record Manager Megan Bruce returns with her favourite skydiving centenarian; Lewis Blakeman introduces us to two record-holders who've used technology to craft ground-breaking prosthetic limbs; Science Editor Ben Hollingum shares with us his favourite robotics record (and reveals that we DO have a record for first human killed by a robot!); and Animals Editor Adam Millward enlightens us on the animal that's spent the longest time in cryobiosis (as in, which creature has spent the longest time frozen before being defrosted and brought back to life... how festive!)

Who’s survived the highest fall without a parachute? How many lightning strikes did one man endure in his lifetime? And what happens when you’re stung more than 4,000 times by African killer bees? Join GWR Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday as he delves deep into the archives for the most remarkable, terrifying and life-affirming stories of human survival. Plus, hear from GWR’s Life Sciences Record Manager Megan Bruce, who shares with Craig a selection of eye-watering medical records, including the largest hairball removed from a human stomach and the largest object left inside a surgery patient. Find out more about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR_2020

In this week’s podcast, GWR’s Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday offers a quick-fire tour of the history of human speed records, taking you from sledges and skis to supersonic planes in the blink of an eye. Journey back 8,500 years to discover how our Neolithic ancestors satisfied their need for speed (clue: we still do it today!). And trace the exponential evolution from riding horses to riding steam trains as human inventiveness gradually catches up with our ambition to go faster. Along the way, you’ll meet the man who first broke the sound barrier and the three men who have travelled faster than anyone in history. And you’ll also find out what can happen when you lose control of a turbojet-powered car at 400 mph-plus. Travel through more than 10,000 years of land-speed records in just 20 minutes, with Craig Glenday at the wheel. Learn more about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR-2020

One Sunday morning a woman went to hospital. She has abdominal pain, a swollen stomach and problems breathing. When the nurse asked the patient about her medical history, she found out that just hours earlier the 23-year-old had eaten 19 lb (8.5 kg) of food including 500 g of mushrooms, 226 g of steak and 681 g of “poorly cooked” liver. The total weight of food she’d consumed was heavier than a bowling ball. Guinness World Records has monitored gastronomy - or eating – records since the first edition in 1955. But during the last 64 years they’ve changed substantially. In this week’s episode of Guinness World Records: Behind The Book, Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday explains the evolution of these records and how people train for competitive eating.. Learn more More about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR-2020

What’s life like when you’re more than 7 ft, maybe even more than 8 ft tall? Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief recalls meeting the world’s tallest men and explains why it’s less easy to confirm who the tallest women are. He explains how people get to become so tall and the challenges they face. But for some there have been some welcome spin-offs too such having bespoke shoes and crutches manufactured to make the simple act of walking easier. Then there’s the story about how the tallest man in the world (at the time) helped save the lives of two dolphins with plastic in their stomachs, all thanks to his record-breaking size. Learn more Find out more about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR_2020 A history of record-breaking giants: http://bit.ly/GWR-Robert100th

Why does the world’s smelliest plant reek of death and decay? Why does it bloom only once every few years? And why on Earth is it called the Giant Misshapen Penis? In this episode, Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday takes you on a trek through the Sumatran jungle to seek out the Titan arum – a phone-box-sized plant that’s both the tallest inflorescence and the stinkiest plant. Craig marvels at Mother Nature’s inventiveness, and shares his recipe for recreating the superlative stench in your own kitchen. Be sure to have some stale beer, rotting fish and some cough medicine at the ready… Want to know more? Find out more about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR_2020 Watch kids react to the world’s smelliest plant: https://youtu.be/pIEno5Mef7Y Read about when the world’s smelliest plant arrived at Kew Gardens: http://bit.ly/GWR-SmellyPlant

Why are we humans preoccupied with collecting the likes of bagpipes, lip balms, traffic cones and spoon rests? For some, it’s an all-encompassing lifelong obsession that can cost them thousands, if not millions, of dollars. And everything’s up for grabs, with the records limited only by the collectors’ imagination. In this episode, Editor-in-Chief meets some of the more obsessive collectors from the archives, and shares his favourite holders from the new Guinness World Records 2020 edition. He also explores WHY people go to such extreme lengths to get their collections into the record books. Follow GWR: Behind the Book on Twitter @gwr and @craigglenday – just search for #GWRPodcast. Please leave us a review or rating, and if you have any questions, just ask and we’ll answer them on a future episode. Read more Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR_2020   The largest collection of coprolite: http://bit.ly/GWR-dinosaurpoop The fast food fanatic with the largest collection of hamburger items - http://bit.ly/GWR2017-burger 

Why grow your fingernails to a combined length of nearly nine metres? And how do you use the toilet if your thumbnail alone is 90 cm long? In this week’s episode of Guinness World Records: Behind The Book, Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday (who, as he explains, nearly died from biting his fingernails!) explains the history of VERY long nails and tells you about the people who have earned a place in the record books because of them. We also hear from Lee Redmond who grew her nails for more than 30 years, setting the record for the longest fingernails on a pair of hands (female) at 8.65 metres. Want to know more? Learn more about Lee Redmond and her record-breaking nails: http://bit.ly/GWR-leeredmond Why the man who had the longest nails ever record on a single hand had them cut after 66 years: http://bit.ly/GWR-nailcut How to grow record-breaking nails: http://bit.ly/GWR-YaniNails More about Guinness World Records 2020: http://bit.ly/GWR-2020

Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday reveals how a heated debate during a boozy dinner in Ireland led to the founding of The Guinness Book of Records and also the book's original purpose. Plus, he answers the question: what does the book have to do with Guinness beer? Got a record-breaking question of your own? Get in touch on Twitter tagging @GWR or @craigglenday and using the hashtag #GWRPodcast You can find out more about Guinness World Records 2020 at: http://bit.ly/GWR-2020book

Why grow your fingernails to nearly 30-ft in length? How do you find clothes when you’re over 8-ft tall? Who left skid-marks stretching for 6 miles…? Find the answers to all your record-breaking questions in Guinness World Records: Behind The Book! To celebrate the launch of the new Guinness World Records 2020 edition, Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday shares his favourite stories and anecdotes from his 17 years working on the world’s best-selling annual book. In this new series of weekly podcasts, Craig chooses one record from the new book and reveals the stories behind the superlatives. Could Lee Redmond really survive for a month eating nothing but her 9-m-long fingernails? Can you really build your own prosthetic arm from LEGO bricks? And why did one man cover his entire body head to foot in black tattoo ink? Craig also takes the opportunity to answer the questions that he gets asked more than any other, such as “What’s the weirdest record you’ve ever witnessed?”, “Who’s the most amazing record-holder you’ve ever met?” and “Can I get a record for this?!” And if you have any questions of your own, or want to know how to get your name in the famous Guinness World Records books, then just ask Craig! You’ll find him on Twitter @CraigGlenday and @GWR, or search for #GWRPodcast.  #GWRPodcast @CraigGlenday @GWR