A new world’s record!

When I was a young kid, I was fascinated with record books like The Guinness Book of World Records. My friends and I joked about how we wanted to be famous and own a record. We brainstormed ideas. We came up with a day of doing nothing but jumping jacks or jumping rope. We tried a few of each and gave up on them after about five minutes.

We figured something more sedentary might be smarter and came up with 24 hours of standing on our head. Of course, that meant getting into a handstand. Yea, we didn’t get too far with that one either.

Oh, we soon gave up, but I couldn’t help but think about our big dreams when I heard that the Guinness Book of Records celebrates its 68th anniversary this week. The book was first published on August 27, 1955.

Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of the Guinness Brewery came up with the idea for the book when he was on a hunting trip and members of his hunting party got into a debate on Europe’s fastest game bird and were unable to locate a reference book with the answer. Brewer thought he was onto something. In 1954, he commissioned twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter to come up with the book. It was intended to be given away for free in pubs to promote the Guinness brand. However, the idea became so popular that the company started selling the book that fall and it became a best-seller. Since then, Guinness World Records has sold more than 100 million copies in 100 countries and 37 languages

Oh, my dreams have changed, but I must admit to occasionally letting my brain wander. Here’s two of my latest brainchild ideas: Is there a record for spending the most amount of time in bed? Snoring the loudest? Hmm, maybe there’s still time for me yet.

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