Guinness World Records’ iconic editor talks about the BEST records of all time!
Guinness World Records is 70 years old! 🥳
To celebrate, we interviewed one of its most iconic editors ever, Craig Glenday, who’s been discovering and sharing amazing records with the world for over 20 YEARS.
Craig has seen it all – from the world’s tallest and oldest people, to huge celebrities, astronauts, and people with impossibly long fingernails!
Pretty incredible, right?
So let’s learn more about him…
Craig’s first time meeting with a tallest man was when he popped to the airport to collect Bao Xi Shun, the 236.1 cm (7 ft 8.9 in) tall Chinese man who’d flown into London to officially claim his title.
“It was one of my first things to do as Editor-in-Chief,” Craig said. “It brings it all home that what we do is all about the record holder – it’s meeting them and hearing their stories.”
The world’s tallest living man today is Sultan Kösen, and of course, Craig has not only met him, but he even measured him himself! 📏
Craig commented: “People like Sultan, you just think, are we ever going to see that again? It’s probably unlikely.”
Oh, and here you can see him with the world’s tallest woman, Rumeysa Gelgi, and shortest woman, Jyoti Amge.
Craig had so many stories to share…
“Another highlight I really enjoyed was meeting the world’s oldest man ever, Jiroemon Kimura.
“I went to his house in Japan and met his family and he’d learned a bit of English so he could say hello.
“He was 116 and the oldest person I’ve ever met.
“He had a big magnifying glass and was sitting reading the paper and he still had so much life in him.”
Craig has also met many celebrities as part of his job, and he said he loves getting to experience what a day in their lives is like. 😎
But one of his favourite memories is meeting amazing astronauts, like Buzz Aldrin, who was part of the first mission to the Moon!
“That’s a big one for me - all the astronauts I’ve been able to meet,” he said.
“They’ve got this amazing view of the world and I wish everyone had their sense of perspective.
“I was such a space nerd as a kid so it’s lots of people ticked off my list, including William Shatner, who ended up becoming the oldest man in space.”
Are you a… space nerd, like Craig? Do this Space Quiz and let’s see if you’re a future astronaut, or an astro-not!
Who would you want to meet in real life if you had Craig’s job? 🤔
And what record would Craig want to break?
“Richest man would be nice,” he laughed.
“I always thought it would be amazing to break a record by going to space, maybe I could edit the book up there and be the first person to do that.
“I’d really love to go to Antarctica as well. I came very close once. It’s still on my bucket list to go in a way that’s respectful for the environment.
“This is what this job does, it puts you in places you would never get to go as a tourist.”
What an amazing job!
Happy anniversary, Guinness World Records – here’s to another 70 years of amazing records and stories. ❤️