Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke, UK, was the venue for two record attempts on Friday, 10 July 2009.
The records being attempted were, the most potatoes peeled in one hour by a team of five and the most ice cream eaten in 30 seconds.
The first record attempted was that for most potatoes peeled in one hour by a team of five, which took place at 3 p.m. The two teams consisted of five colleagues from the Marks & Spencer’s outlet and five members of the Debenhams store.
Both teams were clearly very excited to be taking part in the challenge, and didn’t want to let their fellow team members down in front of the onlooking crowd, which was growing by the minute.
As the record got underway both teams were trying their best to make sure every potato was fully peeled to an institutional cooking standard.
At the end of the hour, Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Carl had only discounted a handful of each team’s potatoes, which showed the care everyone was putting into making sure they were peeling correctly.
Finally the time was up and both teams downed their potato peelers. Next came the weigh-in of the successfully peeled potatoes; the two teams looked on in anticipation.
The previous record, set in 1992, was an incredible 482.8 kg (1,064 lb 6 oz). Both teams knew they had a big task on their hands to break this record.
The Debenhams team had a final weight of 49 kg (108 lb) and the M&S team finished with 64 kg (141 lb). Although neither team had broken the record, the M&S team had won the battle of the heavyweight stores in the Festival Place shopping store. Both teams had great fun – along with the crowd that had gathered to watch them.
The second record attempt of the day was for the most ice cream eaten in 30 seconds, and two people were taking part in the challenge: Dave Hudson and Tejwant Bajwa.
Both participants made sure they didn’t eat too much during the course of the day, to ensure they had a good chance of beating the current record – 382 g (13.5 oz) – which had been set in the USA in 2006.
The par of contestants got off to a good start. The cold ice cream soon became too much for the two challengers, however, and they managed just 111 g, or 3.9 oz (Dave) and 69 g, or 2.4 oz (Tejwant). Both had clearly given it their bes shot, though, which clearly pleased the crowds that had built up to watch the second Guinness World Records challenge of the day.
"Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women" finally take their toll on world's oldest man.
Henry Allingham, the oldest surviving veteran of World War I, passes away after a short period as the world's oldest living man.
Henry (b. 6 June 1896), whose remarkable life spanned three centuries and six monarchs – and who saw the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the first Moon landings – has died peacefully from natural causes at his care home in Ovington, near Brighton, UK. He leaves behind five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great-grandchildren and one great-great-great-grandchild.
"We never had the opportunity to meet Henry and award him his Guinness World Records™ certificate," said Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief. "It was only a month ago that he took the title of oldest living man – indeed, we were in Barcelona printing the UK edition of the 2010 book when we heard the news of Henry's achievement, and to make sure we recognized this fantastic character, we stopped the presses, updated the record and printed new copies with Henry's photograph. I'm pleased we were able to honour Henry and provide this lasting tribute to such an inspirational man."
When asked his secret to long life, Henry joked, tongue in cheek: "Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women – and a good sense of humour." He also swore by a diet of jellied eels, his favourite food.
The title of world's oldest living man will now most likely fall to American Walter Breuning, who was born on 21 September 1896. Guinness World Records will make a formal announcement as soon as the record has been verified by Senior Gerontology Consultant Robert Young.
Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Carl Saville attended this amazing record attempt at the SkyFest event in Middlesex, UK, on 18 July 2009.
Sky and The Rouge Partnership were attempting to beat the current record for the largest game of head, shoulders, knees and toes, which stood at 1,217 people and was achieved last year in Taiwan.
The SkyFest team had been working for months preparing for this record attempt, making sure every last detail was in place ready to try and set a new Guinness World Records achievement.
The weather was holding out and the clock was ticking down ready for the attempt to start. Crowds came in from all over the festival, eagerly awaiting the exciting record attempt.
With a total of 1,375 people – of all ages – ready to take part, the SkyFest team was all set to get underway, and they started both the clock and the music. Not everyone was successful, however, and I discounted 123 people, which still gave a total count of 1,252 and established a new Guinness World Records achievement!
As the dark clouds stayed away and the sun shone (occasionally), everyone enjoyed the event; what's more, setting a new record really brought all the families together. People stayed on after the record attempt as there was still a lot happening at SkyFest, including fairground rides and children's entertainers.
The record for the largest inflatable furniture was broken in Bremen, Germany, on 14 April 2009. The super-size inflatable furniture resembled a gigantic sofa and was created by Jacobs Krönung. The sofa is part of the coronation that the Jacobs Truck will carry out around Germany.
The largest inflatable furniture has an internal volume of 801 m³ (28,287 ft³), and is 20.5 m (67 ft 3 in) long, 8.10 m (26 ft 9 in) wide and 8.10 m (26 ft 5 in) high. This was enough for it to beat the previous record, which was set in Dubai, UAE, on 2008.
"Inside the truck, the visitor will go on an exciting journey through the world of coffee at the coffee museum where all your senses can be experienced," says Marco Gottschalk, Marketing Manager of Jacobss coronation.
The green sofa and Jacobs Truck coronation are part of the "Initiative for the good conversation”. The coffee brand has launched this initiative to encourage a better quality of interaction between individuals. "We want to use our initiative and ideas to inspire people to enjoyable conversation. It succeeds best in a pleasant atmosphere and with a cup of coffee," said Mr Gottschalk.
Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Talal Omar was on site to verify all aspects of the record attempt. At the end, Mr Omar awarded the certificates to Mr Gottschalk, who declared that the event had been a great success.
On Wednesday, 15 July 2009, Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Aadil Ahmed attended the record attempt for the most trees planted in 24 hours by a team. The event took place in Keti Bundar, Thatta District, which is about 200 km (125 miles) south-east of Karachi in Pakistan.
Aadil's journey for the event started with a three-hour car trip from the city of Karachi followed by a 40-minute boat journey to the location of the attempt, which was in quite a remote region, green and lush and surrounded by a lovely blue sea. It was a beautiful warm day with a nice breeze coming in over the water; Aadil received a warm welcome, with local town members throwing petals and a local band playing traditional music. The day turned into a festive event; fresh from the victory of the T20 Cricket World Cup the Pakistanis were determined to achieve a new GWR feat.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Environment (Government of Pakistan) and was part of their planned initiatives to mark 2009 as the National Year of Environment in Pakistan. The attempt took place in collaboration with the Forest Department Sindh and the National Bank of Pakistan.
The team of 300 planters – local community members who had experiencing of working in the costal area – were carefully selected and well prepared for the event. Due to nature of the land being used the planters knew they had a difficult task on their hands, as they had to plant as many trees as they could before the tide came in: once the tide was in, planting would have to stop for a few hours. Mudflats were chosen as the location for this event, as this is the best location for the type of tree that was to be planted.
The planters had chosen mangrove (rhizophora mucronata) saplings, as this kind of tree plays an important role in carbon seizure and acts as a protection against natural disasters such as tsunamis. Mangrove forests are also a great breeding ground for fish, shrimps, prawns and other wildlife.
Fifteen teams took part, each consisting of 20 members; every team was given a dedicated portion of land to work on, which was clearly marked out with flags. The event took place on two islands that are next to each other and a total of 322 hectares (795.85 acres) of land were used in the record attempt.
Mr Tahir Qureshi, an International Union for Conservation of Nature member, and Marvi Memon, a National Assemble member, were elected as independent witnesses and were present throughout the event, making sure everything was conducted in the correct manner.
The record attempt was attended by many local dignitaries and media, including the Minister of Environment for Pakistan, Hamidullah Jan Afridi, who had travelled from the capital Islamabad to attend the event. The record attempt took seven months to plan and involved many members of the forestry arm within the government, including: Dr Sial (Inspector General for Forests); Dr Shazad and Mr Qaimkhani (Deputy Inspector Generals for Forests); Mr Naeem Raja (Assistant Inspector General for Forests); and event co-ordinator Mr Tanveer Haider. Mr Rahim Bux Awan (Chief Conservator for Forests) and Mr Riaz Ahmed Wagon (Conservator for Forests) also took part in organizing the record attempt. Mr Kamran Lashari (Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment) played a large role in creating the festivities surrounding the event, making sure the locals and guests enjoyed the day; throughout the event Mr Lashari encouraged the planters by trying to boost morale in the teams.
The record attempt started at 6:45 a.m. and by 7:35 p.m. it was all over. The previous record had been set in India: the 21 JAT Regiment (Indian Army) had planted 447,874 trees in the Shrigram Reserve Forest in Dhubri, Assam, on 12–13 June 2009. That record had now been broken!
The most trees planted in 24 hours by a team (of 300 people) is now 541,176 and was achieved by the Ministry of Environment (Government of Pakistan) in collaboration with the Forest Department of Sindh and the National Bank of Pakistan in Keti Bundar, Thatta District, Pakistan, on 15 July 2009.
The certificat
e was presented to Dr Muhammad Iqbal Sial and members of the Forest Department of Sindh, who were in charge of the tree plantation.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this event!
Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday joins Science Editor Dave Hawksett on a trip to the home of astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to unveil the largest digital lunar mosaic...
Sir Alfred Patrick Caldwell Moore, CBE, HonFRS, FRAS, is every bit the eccentric English gentleman – impeccably dressed, monocle squeezed securely up to his right eye, gin and tonic in his hand. A childhood hero of mine, the amateur astronomer is the only living person who can claim to have met one of the Wright brothers and Neil Armstrong. A mean xylophonist, he's also played a duet with Albert Einstein (Patrick on the piano, Albert on the violin)!
Sir Patrick's other claim to fame is his Guinness World Records™-recognized achievement of hosting the TV same show – The Sky at Night (BBC) – since 1957. I had the chance to meet Patrick recently, when he invited me to his home in Selsey, on the south coast of England. There, our Science Editor David Hawksett and I had the honour of presenting the old gent with his certificate, which he immediately hung on the wall beside countless other awards, diplomas and plaudits.
The main event of day, however, was the unveiling of the world's largest digital lunar mosaic. The impressive image – a richly detailed snapshot of the Moon on the ninth day of its cycle – is 87.4 megapixels in size, and was pieced together from 288 shots taken on 4 April this year by a team of amateur astro-imagers. A total of 1.1 terabytes of data were collected and painstaking pieced together to create the most detailed Earth-based image of the Moon.
Inspired by their tutor Patrick, who allowed the team to use his garden-based observatory, the image was created to mark the anniversary of the Moon landings, and to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
"This is a monumental image, worthy of the International Year of Astronomy 2009," said Nick Howes, who is part of the imaging team, and who came up with the original plan for the record attempt. "It's also our way of honouring Sir Patrick's incredible work in mapping the Moon for the Russian and American Moon missions in the 1960s, on this, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing."
Congratulations to Nick Howes, Damian Peach, Bruce Kingsley, Dave Tyler, Trevor Little, Nick Smith, Pete Lawrence, Mark Irving, Leanne Irving, David Mason and Ninian Boyle (all UK).
On 25 June 2009, Pronósticos para la Asistencia Pública (Mexico) set a new Guinness World Records™ total for the most people on space hoppers at the Campus Tlalpan of the Universidad del Valle de México, in Mexico City, Mexico. An incredible 1,257 participants took part in this bouncing bonanza.
Guinness World Records Adjudicator Carlos Martínez was on site to certify this feat, in which the participants hopped for one minute simultaneously.
Pronósticos para la Asistencia Pública wanted to use the action of hopping as a metaphor for Mexican hearts beating simultaneously and driving Mexico towards better health, education and nutrition through its assistance programmes.
The record for the largest parade of Subaru cars was achieved by Subaru of America, Inc., Great Lakes Region, in partnership with the Village of Itasca, at 500 Park Boulevard in Itasca, Illinois, USA, on 11 July 2009. This record was confirmed by Guinness World Records'™ on-site Adjudicator Carlos Martínez. To achieve this feat, 339 Subaru owners drove their cars in a 4.1-mile (6.6-km) parade route through the town of Itasca.
In celebration of this achievement, Subaru of America, Inc., donated $7,000 to be shared equally by two charities. The recipient charities are:
Subaru of America, Inc., the Village of Itasca and the participating Subaru owners are very excited about this recognition and the opportunity to help two non-profit organizations.
One, two, three strikes and you’re out… on a breezy July evening at Citi Field, New York City, USA, to help set a new Guinness World Records™ record for the most people eating potato chips simultaneously!
In the middle of the second inning, Guinness World Records™ Adjudicators Danny Girton Jr and Jennifer Gilmour observed as 33,756 fans opened their 0.75-oz (23.2-g) bags of Wise Potato Chips to eat and participate in the attempt – bags had been distributed to fans upon entry to the stadium.
The Guinness World Records™ record attempt was part of the Big City Crunch, the finale of a two-month New York City promotional campaign developed by Wise's sports marketing agency, Source Communications.
With one salty summer-time success established, how about an aptly sized soft drink to wash it down?
Founded in 1921, Wise Foods, Inc. is a privately held company based in Berwick, PA, that makes and sells salty snacks.
Established in 1983, Source Communications is a privately held, full-service advertising agency based in New Jersey, with offices in New York and San Diego.
Following its global exposure at the Confederations Cup, the traditional South African sporting instrument known as the vuvuzela was the subject of Guinness World Records™' most recent live adjudication.
Taking place at the brand-new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the "Windy City" of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, an attempt for the most vuvuzelas blown simulatenously took place on the evening of 23 July 2009, before the Vodacom Challenge game between the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs.
The event was an outstanding (and deafening) success, with a total of 12,511 people all managing to blow together for a brand-new Guinness World Records-approved achievement. GWR's Rob Molloy was on hand to officially recognize the record attempt.
After the attempt, a pulsating game of high-tempo soccer followed between South Africa's top two teams, ending 1-1 at full time. With no extra-time, the Chiefs eventually won in a sudden-death penalty shoot-out and now go on to play Manchester City in the final of the tournament in Pretoria on Saturday.
