RECORD BREAKING

Chris Hallam looks back on 70 years of Guinness World Records

- 

It all started with an argument. One day in November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver enjoyed a shooting session in County Wexford, southeast Ireland. The quarrel arose over a discussion which developed among Sir Hugh's party over the speed of the birds they had been attempting to bag. It ultimately came down to one question: what was the fastest game bird in Europe? Sir Hugh returned to Castlebridge House and resolved to find out.

He soon found himself frustrated. None of the bird books he consulted gave him a clear, definitive answer to this simple query. He started to imagine other such questions. What was the tallest tree in the world? The most poisonous snake? The loudest sound ever recorded? He imagined all the people eagerly arguing over such issues in pubs across the world. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was one such handy reference book which could answer all these questions, in a matter of moments? A plan slowly began to form in his mind to create just such a book.

Sir Hugh was then in his 60s and already had a few claims to fame. During World War Two, as the head of the Ministry of Works, he had overseen the construction of the floating Mulberry harbours of the D-day landings. He was also now the managing director of Guinness Breweries. When he brought up the idea of his book, the runner Christopher Chataway, then working for Guinness as an underbrewer, recommended two young men he knew from his days at Oxford as potential editors. The duo happened to be twin brothers and, like Chataway, had a background in athletics. More importantly, they had a clear love of statistics and facts.

After working in journalism, they now ran their own fact-finding agency.