Taking record-breaking to a whole new dimension, GWR 2017 is bursting with all-new records on topics such as black holes, domes, owls and killer plants. You’ll also find exclusive interviews with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Chris Hadfield.
In collaboration with the Scout Association, we have set five challenges giving scout groups the chance to become No.1 and earn their very own records.
Meet Ludo, the longest cat in the world! Owned by Kelsey Gill (UK), Ludo is 118.33 cm from head to tail, which is about three times the size of your average moggy.
Read his long tale on p.64
Imagine riding inside a wheel travelling almost as fast as a cheetah! Kevin Scott and his team (UK) hit 98.464 km/h (61.18 mph) in a monowheel motorcycle.
Catch him while you can on pp.156–157
Football freestyler John Farnworth (UK) can do pretty much anything with a soccer ball. He has earned several record titles, including the longest time controlling a football on a slackline.
Check out his skills on p.103
Check out some of our more terrifying records in this special section dedicated to stunts and daredevils. As the title suggests, these records are strictly for the professionals!
In this chapter, you’ll find records that use everyday items in your home and garden.
Get the latest facts and stats from all your favourite videogames in Guinness World Records 2017: Gamer’s Edition. The 10th edition includes a special Star Wars section, as well as online gaming legends, such as “Ali-A”, “Syndicate” and “DanTDM”.
“PangaeaPanga”, aka Alex Tan (USA), completed Super Mario World in a mere 23 min 14 sec while blindfolded. Yes, blindfolded!
Take a peep at his record and more on pp.60–61.
“OMGitsfirefoxx”, aka Sonja Reid (CAN), was recognized as the most followed female gamer on Twitch in 2016.
Read more about Sonja’s achievements on pp.152–153.
Everyone’s favourite Minecraft expert, “DanTDM” – aka Dan Middleton (UK) – entered the record books with a brand-new title: most views for a dedicated Minecraft channel.
Read the full blockbusting story on pp.62-63.
Julian Checkley (UK) built his first costume with papier mâché at the age of 7. Today, he’s record holder for most functional gadgets in a cosplay suit. It includes a fireball launcher and smoke bombs.
When Maxwell Day saw a poster of the previous title holder, he was sure he could beat the record.
Ukuleles are usually very small and light instruments, but Lawrence Stump from the USA has created a tuneable and playable ukulele that is a giant 3.99 metres (13 ft 1.08 in) long.
Meet Rasputin, the Walliser black-necked goat who has entered Guinness World Records 2017 for having the world's largest horn spread on a living goat.
No one loves burgers as much as Hamburger Harry. Meet the man who lives surrounded by 3,724 hamburger related items.
You have to watch out when Keon the Irish wolfhound starts wagging his tail because it is a huge 76.8 cm (30.2 in) long
Caspa, owned by Sue Williams (UK), cleared a bar set at 1.13 m (3 ft 8.4 in) during DogFest at Arley Hall in Cheshire, UK, on 14 Jun 2015. The bar was part of a standard horse jump, on which heights were marked at regular intervals.
Football fan Christian Kinner from Germany set a record shouting "Tor" ("Goal" in German) for 43.56 sec. Back of the net!
61 year-old businessperson Jim Bolin has spent the last few years helping his beloved hometown, Casey, in Illinois, USA get back on its feet after the recession. His idea was initially to build one record-breaking item to put the town on the map… but he has now built eight humongous items and has achieved Guinness World Records titles for each of them. His massive achievements include the largest mailbox, the largest rocking chair and the largest wind chime.
Ludo, owned by Kelsey Gill (UK), measured 118.33 cm (3 ft 10.6 in) long on 6 Oct 2015 in Wakefield, UK. Ludo is one of the oldest American breeds: a Maine Coon, named after the US state. There is a myth – impossible in reality, but encouraged by its typical brown tabby colouring and abundant fur – that it resulted from matings between semi-wild cats and raccoons. The Maine Coon’s robust health and companionable, lively personality has ensured its popularity as a family pet for well over a century.
The most functional gadgets in a cosplay suit is 23, in a Batman suit created by Julian Checkley (UK), demonstrated in Galway, Ireland, on 1 November 2015. Examples include: a fireball launcher, tracking device, smoke bombs, and Batman's signature grapnel gun.
George Frandsen (USA) owns 1,277 coprolites, or fossilized faeces, as documented at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida, USA, on 1 Aug 2015.
Snooty (b. 21 Jul 1948) was aged 67 years 254 days as of 31 Mar 2016. He lives at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida, USA.
No one likes to be called a big mouth… but in the case of Bernd Schmidt from Germany it’s actually a record-breaking compliment!
The fastest speed achieved on a monowheel motorcycle is 98.464 km/h (61.18 mph), by the UK Monowheel Team and Kevin Scott (all UK), riding WarHorse, at Elvington Airfield, North Yorkshire, UK, on 20 September 2015.
Tyler Wright (USA) is the proud owner of a head of hair that measures 25.4 cm (10 in) high, 22.9 cm (9 in) wide and 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) in circumference.
George Frandsen (USA) owns 1,277 coprolites, or fossilized faeces, as documented at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida, USA, on 1 Aug 2015.
The longest monster truck was created by Brad and Jen Campbell (both USA) of Big Toyz Racing and is currently operated by Russ Mann (USA). The truck measured 9.8 m (32 ft) long at Last Stop in White Hills, Arizona, USA on 10 July 2014.
The Arsenal and Everton stars take on a Guinness World Records football quiz.
Harnaam Kaur (UK, b. 29 Nov 1990) was aged 24 years 282 days when she was confirmed to have a full beard, in Slough, UK, on 7 Sep 2015. Harnaam began to grow facial hair at the age of 11. She is an avid body- confidence and anti-bullying activist.
Proud Italian Dimitri Panciera loves ice-cream so much that two scoops just isn't enough, he prefers to squeeze as many as possible on top of a cone. He set the record with 121.
Since its launch on 14 July 2012, "TheDiamondMinecart // DanTDM" by Daniel Middleton (UK) had uploaded 2,082 videos and accrued a total of 7,943,141,552 views as of 23 August 2016. This is the highest number of views for any dedicated Minecraft video channel.
The most tricks performed by a dog in one minute is 32, achieved by Smurf and his owner Sarah Humphreys (both UK) in Hertfordshire, UK, on 7 August 2015.
The most tricks performed by a cat in one minute is 24, achieved by Didga and her owner Robert Dollwet (USA/Australia) in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia, on 5 February 2016. Didga completed tricks varying from rolling over to jumping over a bar whilst on a skateboard.
Lizzy, a Great Dane, stood 96.41 cm (3 ft 1.96 in) tall in Fort Myers, Florida, USA, on 14 Nov 2014. She was measured aged seven years, but owner Greg Sample says she was this tall by the age of three. He calls her a “show-stopper”, adding that she always attracts attention when they’re out and about.
Meet the stars from the new Guinness World Records 2017 Edition
Meet the videogaming talents from the new Guinness World Records 2017 Gamers Edition
Petr Čech (CZE) kept the ball out of his net in 174 games between 15 Aug 2004 and 7 Feb 2016, while playing for two clubs: Chelsea (2004–15) and Arsenal (2015–).
The most starts for a Premier League football (soccer) player is 572 and was achieved by Gareth Barry (UK) playing for Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton between 2 May 1998 and 11 May 2016.
Harnaam Kaur (UK, b. 29 Nov 1990) was aged 24 years 282 days when she was confirmed to have a full beard, in Slough, UK, on 7 Sep 2015. Harnaam began to grow facial hair at the age of 11. She is an avid body- confidence and anti-bullying activist.
Lizzy, a Great Dane, stood 96.41 cm (3 ft 1.96 in) tall in Fort Myers, Florida, USA, on 14 Nov 2014. She was measured aged seven years, but owner Greg Sample says she was this tall by the age of three. He calls her a “show-stopper”, adding that she always attracts attention when they’re out and about.
The most tricks performed by a dog in one minute is 32, achieved by Smurf and his owner Sarah Humphreys (both UK) in Hertfordshire, UK, on 7 August 2015.
The most tricks performed by a cat in one minute is 24, achieved by Didga and her owner Robert Dollwet (USA/Australia) in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia, on 5 February 2016. Didga completed tricks varying from rolling over to jumping over a bar whilst on a skateboard.
The longest monster truck was created by Brad and Jen Campbell (both USA) of Big Toyz Racing and is currently operated by Russ Mann (USA). The truck measured 9.8 m (32 ft) long at Last Stop in White Hills, Arizona, USA on 10 July 2014.
Ludo, owned by Kelsey Gill (UK), measured 118.33 cm (3 ft 10.6 in) long on 6 Oct 2015 in Wakefield, UK. Ludo is one of the oldest American breeds: a Maine Coon, named after the US state. There is a myth – impossible in reality, but encouraged by its typical brown tabby colouring and abundant fur – that it resulted from matings between semi-wild cats and raccoons. The Maine Coon’s robust health and companionable, lively personality has ensured its popularity as a family pet for well over a century.
No one likes to be called a big mouth… but in the case of Bernd Schmidt (DEU), it’s actually a record-breaking compliment! The gap between his incisors measured 8.8 cm (3.46 in), as officially ratified at a dental practice in Wendlingen, Germany, on 17 Jan 2015. The measurement was confirmed by dentist Silvia Locklair. Bernd’s son had asked him to submit an attempt after seeing this record listed in the 2015 edition of Guinness World Records.
Maxwell Day (UK) is able to rotate his right foot through 157°, as verified in London, UK, on 23 Sep 2015. Maxwell was discovered at the Minecraft conference Minecon 2015 – he saw a picture of the previous record holder and told a Guinness World Records team member that he could break the record. In fact, Maxwell can rotate both his feet, although he can “only” rotate his left foot 143°.
The largest collection of hamburger related items belongs to Harry Sperl, (a.k.a. Hamburger Harry, Germany) and consists of 3,724 items, verified in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, on 20 September 2014.
George Frandsen (USA) owns 1,277 coprolites, or fossilized faeces, as documented at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida, USA, on 1 Aug 2015. His prehistoric poo comes from 15 states in the USA and eight countries worldwide. George began finding the fossils on camping trips to Utah as a youngster. A prize piece is “Precious” (below right), his largest true-to-form coprolite, weighing in at 1.92 kg (4 lb 3.5 oz). It was found in South Carolina and dates from the Miocene epoch, 23.8–5.3 million years ago. It is naturally glossy, feels and smells like rock, and was produced by a huge crocodilian species around 6 m (20 ft) long. “Coprolite” comes from the Greek for “dung stone”.
The largest clogs / wooden shoes measure 3.5 m (11 ft 5 in) long, 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) wide and 1.48 m (4 ft 10 in) tall and were created by Jim Bolin (USA) and verified in Casey, Illinois, USA, on 20 October 2015.
On 4 Apr 2014, a chess king measuring 5.076 m (16 ft 7 in) tall and 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) in diameter at its base was unveiled by the Gitok technical school (BEL) in Kalmthout, Belgium. The piece was made during lessons in which students learned artisanal skills such as woodworking. The attempt was also a team-building exercise, and helped to raise money and awareness for an orphanage and cancer charity.
Tyler Wright (USA) is the proud owner of a head of hair that measures 25.4 cm (10 in) high, 22.9 cm (9 in) wide and 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) in circumference. Tyler’s afro was measured in St Louis, Missouri, USA, on 19 Jun 2015, when he was 12 years old.
The famous Canadian popstar has sung himself into the new Guinness World Records 2017 book with an incredible eight new record including most streamed track on Spotify in one week with 'What Do You Mean?'
Caspa, owned by Sue Williams (UK), cleared a bar set at 1.13 m (3 ft 8.4 in) during DogFest at Arley Hall in Cheshire, UK, on 14 Jun 2015. The bar was part of a standard horse jump, on which heights were marked at regular intervals.
On 20 Sep 2015, driver Kevin Scott and the UK Monowheel Team (all UK) achieved a speed of 98.464 km/h (61.182 mph) with WarHorse, a monowheel motorcycle, at Elvington airfield in North Yorkshire, UK. Scott broke the previous speed record for single-wheel motorcycling – 91.7 km/h (57 mph), set by Kerry McLean (USA) at Irwindale Speedway in California, USA, on 10 Jan 2001. The team spent two years building WarHorse, which includes a carbon-fibre frame and custom-made parts, but the result more than justified all that effort. The other members of the record-breaking team included Peter Orton, Peter Kay and Tim Mann.
On 20 Oct 2015, Jim and his team debuted yet another Casey landmark – a giant version of a standard US mailbox. It has an internal volume of 5,743.41 cu ft (162.63 m³) and has a stairway inside the post stand so that visitors can climb up to the box. It’s designed to accept mail (which, when deposited, raises a red flag), and Jim intends to use the interior space to set up a museum of mail history. The box is located in Casey’s downtown business district.
Dimitri Panciera (ITA) carefully balanced 121 scoops of ice-cream on a single cone in Forno di Zoldo, Italy, on 20 Sep 2015. In doing so, he topped his own record of 109 scoops, set in the same location on 20 Jul 2014 at the Gelatiamo festival, an annual celebration of the ice-cream that the Val di Zoldo area produces.
Harnaam Kaur (UK, b. 29 Nov 1990) was aged 24 years 282 days when she was confirmed to have a full beard, in Slough, UK, on 7 Sep 2015. Harnaam began to grow facial hair at the age of 11. She is an avid body- confidence and anti-bullying activist.
Global singing sensation Abel Tesfaye AKA The Weeknd enters Guinness World Records 2017 for the records most streamed album on Spotify in one year, current (unique listeners) and most consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 by a solo male artist
Rasputin is an eight-year-old Walliser black-necked goat (Capra hircus). The distance between the tips of his horns measured 1.35 m (4 ft 5.1 in) in Lienz, Tyrol, Austria, on 5 Jun 2015.
Lawrence Stump (USA, below) has created a tunable and playable ukulele 3.99 m (13 ft 1 in) long, as verified in Lansing, Michigan, USA, on 11 Dec 2015. The instrument was built using the same methods and materials as a standard-size soprano ukulele – although it is 7.5 times larger.
Keon, an Irish wolfhound owned by Ilse Loodts (BEL), revealed the full extent of his 76.8-cm (2-ft 6.2-in) tail in Westerlo, Belgium, on 18 Aug 2015. Ilse applied for the record on Keon’s behalf when her sons realized that his tail surpassed that of the previous record holder, a fellow wolfhound, by just over 4.5 cm (1.7 in).
Dimitri Panciera (ITA) served up a gigantic ice-cream scoop in Forno di Zoldo, Italy, on 20 Sep 2015. It measured 1.95 m (6 ft 4.7 in) long and 58 cm (1 ft 10.8 in) wide, with a depth of 17 cm (6.6 in). The super-sized scoop has a working mechanism to eject the ice-cream.
David A Book Jr (USA) drew a maze measuring 15.2 m (49 ft 10.4 in) long and 1.12 m (3 ft 8 in) wide at Covington Library in Washington, USA, on 11 Aug 2014. But as you can see, it didn’t take GWR adjudicator Shantha Chinniah long to get to the middle of it…
Most of us find it hard enough to perform “keepie-uppies” at the best of times. But to do it in mid-air? On 14 Dec 2015, in Brentford, London, UK, John Farnworth kept a soccer ball airborne for 29.82 sec while maintaining his balance on a slackline.
Dan Middleton (UK) – better known as “DanTDM” – has amassed a staggering 7,943,141,552 views on his channel as of 23 Aug 2016.
Created by YouTuber “PangaeaPanga”, aka Alex Tan (USA), “Pit of Panga: P-Break” has given even the most experienced Mario players feverish nightmares. As of 21 Mar 2016, the level had been beaten 49 times from 1,550,870 tries since it was created on 21 Sep 2015, producing a miserly completion rate of just 0.0031% (or 0.00% on the official site). That’s the lowest success score of any SMM level that has been attempted at least 500,000 times.
From early 2013 to Dec 2014, Liverpool FC fan Darren Bland (UK) pursued a single career in Football Manager 2010 on PC for 154 seasons. He managed just one team throughout – Fiorentina (ITA) – winning 151 league championships and securing “legendary” status. His marathon game was only brought to an end when a liquid spillage damaged his laptop. Incredibly, the in‑game year was 2163 and his in-game manager would now have been theoretically more than 180 years old.
The most functional gadgets in a cosplay suit is 23, in a Batman suit created by Julian Checkley (UK), demonstrated in Galway, Ireland, on 1 November 2015. Examples include: a fireball launcher, tracking device, smoke bombs, and Batman's signature grapnel gun. Julian's invention has earned him a place in the new Guinness World Records 2017 Gamers Edition book.
On 4–5 Jul 2014, Harry Twyford, Josh Alexander, Matt Smith and James Hickman (all AUS) played the Mario Kart series on the Wii, Wii U and Nintendo 64 for 35 hr 45 min at Brauer College in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. They had practised for six months, including one 10-hr marathon training session that ended in disaster when one member threw up and the rest fell asleep!
On 23 Jun 2015, crack SMW speed-runner “PangaeaPanga”, aka Alex Tan (USA), completed the game blindfolded in an incredible 23 min 14 sec. He had begun practising his attempt only eight days earlier, mapping out the best route before memorizing musical cues to know when to jump and fire. “This run features three deaths, getting lost briefly in Starworld, baby Yoshi eating the goal tape, and entertaining spectators to keep the hype up for when I was too concentrated on the run,” he said.
