Created by engineer Hugh Beaver in 1955, the reference book of human achievements, named the «Guinness Book» after the brewing company in which he held a leading position, contains more than 45 thousand records. And it continues to grow. Alongside the interesting and somewhat useful ones, there are also those that arouse nothing but astonishment. We will tell you about the most unusual ones.
The Longest Fingernails
The length of the fingernails of the American Lee Redmond on both hands amounted to 8 meters 65 cm. The record-holder stopped cutting her nails when they were just five centimeters long. And it was not for nothing that she tried so hard, for now her name is immortalized. Understandably, Lee did not work anywhere, but only cared for her treasure, nourishing them with all sorts of oils. At the same time she managed to use a mobile phone and even drive a car.
True, this did not lead to anything good: one day Redmond was in a car accident, which the nails did not survive. The woman admitted that this was the loss of all losses, since she lost the greater part of herself. And although she kept fragments of the nails, she no longer grows them.
Her record was broken by Shridhar Chillal from India. He did not cut his nails for 66 years and grew them to a length of more than 9 meters 9.6 centimeters. All because back in school a teacher punished him for a broken nail. But the Indian was a more prudent man; he did not cut the nails only on his left hand and therefore could live a full life, taking care of himself with his right limb. However, after his record was recorded, Shridhar did cut his nails after all – he was 82 years old at the time.
Photo: guinnessworldrecords.com
But the absolute record-holder was Melvin Booth – he grew his nails to a length of 9 meters 85 centimeters. «Well, it was my hobby», – that is how he explained why he needed such beauty.
Tattoos and Piercings
Brazilian resident Elaine Davidson got into the reference book thanks to an all-consuming love of piercing. The restaurant owner had her first piercing back in 1977 and has not stopped since. She now has about five thousand rings, pendants, and other little things on her. Understandably, with such a load there is no longer any time to run her own business.
American Frank Vacca from the United States is also a piercing enthusiast, but exclusively on his tongue – his organ of communication is pierced 20 times.
And the most tattooed man in the world is named Lucky Diamond Rich. He is a street circus performer from New Zealand. He colored everything on himself black: ears, eyelids, gums, and intimate places. He spared no thousands of hours of his time.
By the way, there is a Russian record-holder in the Book as well — this is Pavel Vyatchaninov, but he decorates not himself, but clients, since he is a tattoo artist. His longest session of nonstop work was last summer and lasted 63 hours without a break for rest. During this time Pavel inked eight full tattoos. And he managed not to ruin a single one.
Hug and Cry
There are plenty of records in the reference book that make your blood run cold. For example, sitting in a vat of ice or stuffing snakes up the nose. Record-holders also ate tons of iron, Big Macs and cockroaches in enormous quantities, smoked cigars the size of a soccer field, and hit each other in the groin to see who could do it harder.
Photo: guinnessworldrecords.com
And there are some that you read – and you marvel at how such a thing could even come into someone's head. Here they are:
- Simon Elmore from Germany in 2009 put 400 cocktail straws into his mouth and held them for 10 seconds.
- Aaron Casey from Canada balanced 17 spoons on his face at once.
- A librarian from Australia collected lint from his own navel for 26 years. He collected 22.1 grams.
- In 2007 Fin Keleher placed 43 snails on his face for a total of 10 seconds.
- Zdeněk Zahradka from the Czech Republic spent 10 days in a coffin underground without food or water. He breathed through a tube led out above the surface.
- Kim Goodman popped her eyeballs out 1.09 centimeters beyond her eye sockets.
- Jeff Van Dijk managed to put on 227 T-shirts at once – a 2008 record.
- Maren Zonker from Germany ran the 100-meter hurdles while wearing flippers. It took her 22.35 seconds.
- 972 students of an Ohio university gathered in their school's gymnasium and dressed up in penguin costumes. In this way they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their alma mater.
- American Charlotte Lee, who assembled the largest collection of rubber ducks, makes you want to hug her and cry from tenderness. The record was recorded on April 10, 2011 – Charlotte had 5,631 rubber ducks at the time.
