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Seventy years ago, Sir Hugh Beaver was shooting game with his friends in Ireland.

He aimed and took a shot at a golden plover, which he missed.

No surprise he missed it, because the golden plover is the fastest game bird in Europe.

Or is it the red grouse? An argument broke out

amongst the shooting party, and Sir Beaver realized there was no way to confirm which was the fastest

bird in reference books at the time. Why would anyone need to know? It's a fairly inconsequential fact.

But Sir Beaver was the managing director of Guinness Breweries

and realized that there were probably hundreds and thousands of other ridiculous questions

being debated over a pint or two in pubs all over the world.

Arguments that needed a validated source to answer these questions once and for all.

And that's how the Guinness Book of World Records was born. In August, 1954, a thousand copies of the Guinness Book of Records were printed and given away.

The next year, Guinness published and sold a 198-page book that was a runaway success,

and quickly rose to the top of the bestsellers list.

The book was first sold in the US a year later, in 1956, to similar success. 65 years later, the Guinness Book of World Records has over 53,000 records in its database,

as the lore of obscure fame inspires people to find their true talent.

For example, under the category of, why would you do this, there is a Guinness record for

most straws stuffed in the mouth, hands off. In order to win this glamorous title,

challengers must cram straws into their mouth and keep them there for 10 seconds. The challengers

cannot use their hands to support the straws during this 10-second period,

but they are permitted to put elastic bands around the plastic tubes to hold them together.

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