Guinness World Records 2013.pdf

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T E N A R I A N S O F A L L -T I M E

Will you be joining the 110+ club"? The chart below details the chances of survival of supercentenarians (those over 110 years). It reveals that the longevity of Jeanne Calment. the oldest person ever (see below) is an anomaly, with the next oldest at 119 (one person only), two at 117 and three at 116.

S U PE RC E NTENARIAN SURVIVAL RATES Survival rate

Living to a grand old age is one thing, but proving it is another. To qualify for a GWR certificate, claimants must provide sufficient proof of birth {preferably with an original certificate, issued at the time of birth: later-life certification does not count). Supporting documentation is then required to place a claimant at given key points in their life - so, national service papers, census reports, marriage certificates, medical reports and so on. Note: passports only really provide confirmation of nationality, not proof of age. Proof of age

Hair: Greying occurs as pigment cells i n t h e hair follicles die off. When the follicles themselves atrophy (waste away). the hair falls out. Hormonal differences between men and women result in differing patterns of baldness between the sexes.

Nervous system: Reaction times slow as signals take Longer to pass from the nerves to the m uscles .

Age

Surviving

123

0

Deaths

Yearly

Mortality rate

Cumulative

Yearly

Cumulative

0.00%

122

-1

50.00%

0.00%

100.00%

100.00%

121

0

100.00%

0.07%

0.00%

99.92%

120

0

100.00%

0.07%

0.00%

99.92%

119

2

-1

50.00%

0.07%

50.00%

99.92%

118

2

0

100.00%

0.15%

0.00%

99.84%

117

4

-2

50.00%

0.15%

50.00%

99.84%

116

7

-3

57.14%

0.30%

42.86%

99.70%

115

23

-16

30.43%

0.52%

69.57%

99.48%

114

78

-55

29.49%

1.70%

70.51%

98.30%

113

167

-89

46.71%

5.77%

53.29%

94.23%

112

354

-187

47.18%

12 .36%

52.82%

87.64%

111

683

-329

51.83%

26.20%

48.17%

73.80%

110

1,351

- 668

50.56%

50. 56%

49.44%

49.44%

Oldest person euer

To reach a record-breaking age, you will need to be a "longevity hybrid" - someone optimized for endurance, just as runners are optimized for strength. A diet low in fat and calories, and high i n fresh fruit and vegetables, will help, as will regular, moderate exercise, a stimulated mind and a positive attitude to life. But you m ust also be capable of avoiding or managing disease and disability (and avoiding debilitating falls).

Sight: The Lenses in our eyes slowly Lose their abi lity to "accommodate" - i.e., focus. As the focal Length shortens, glasses are needed for read i ng. The pupils also shrink and it becomes difficult to see i n Lower Light.

An i ncreasing n um ber of humans and the effects of better healthcare across a lifetime mean that we can and should expect humans to live longer in the future - and that a 130-year lifespan is possible.

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The star's 29th studio release featured eight new recordings, along with four songs that had appeared on earlier albums.

Author to have a fi rst book published

Oldest liuing man Jiroemon Kimura (Japan) was born on 1 9 April 1897 and celebrated his 115th birthday in 2012. Seen here with GWR's Frank Foley, he is the only man verifiably born in the 19th century who is still alive today. Living m ixed twins

Abseiler

Pauline Shipp Love and Paul Gerald Shipp (both USA) were born on 22 April l911. As of 23 March 2012 they were 100 years 11 months 1 day old. As of 16 April 2012, the highest aggregate age for two siblings was 213 years 3 months 27 days for sisters Marjorie Phyllis Ruddle (b. 21 Apri l l 907) and Dorothy Richards (b. l5 December l903; both U K). Dorothy lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, while Marjorie resides in Peterborough in Cambridgeshire (both UK).

Intrepid pensioner Doris Cicely Long, M B E (UK, b. l 8 May 1914) completed a descent of 60 m (197 ft) from the top of Millgate House in Portsmouth, U K, on 21 May 2011 at the age of 97 years 3 days.

Acrobatic salsa dancer (female)

Bertha Wood's (UK, b. 20 June 1905) Fresh Air and Fun: The Story of a Blackpool Holiday Camp was published on her lOOth birthday.

BASE jumper James Talbot Guyer (USA, b. 16 June 1928) parachuted off the 148-m-high (486-ft) Perrine Bridge near Twin Falls, Idaho, USA, on 2 August 2002, aged 74 years 1 month 17 days.

Bodybuilder (male) Competitive bodybuilder Raymond "Ray" Moon (Australia, b. 1929) performed at the NABBA International Bodybuilding Figure and Fitness Championships in Melbourne, Australia, on 23 May 2010, aged 81.

The UK's Sarah Paddy Jones (b. 1 July 1934) won first prize on Spain's TV talent show Tu Sf Que Vales (You Are Worth It) on 2 December 2009, aged 75 years 5 months 1 day.

Darts player As of 24 February 2012, Candy M iller (UK, b. 21 October 1920) was still playing in competitive darts matches in the Bourne mouth and District Ladies

Bournemouth, U K, aged 91 years 4 months 3 days.

Act to release a new album Australian artist Smoky Dawson (1913-2008) released a new album of original songs, Homestead of My Dreams, at the age of 92 years 4 months 14 days. The album went on sale on 22 August 2005. On 17 September 2011, aged 87 years 5 months 14 days, 1950s screen favourite Doris Day (USA, nee Doris Kappel hoff; b. 3 Apri l l 924) became the oldest act to achieve a UK Top 10 album with a

Ballroom dancer Frederick Salter (UK, b. 13 February 1911) passed his I DTA Gold Bar Level 3 exams in Latin and Ballroom with Honours, aged 100 years 8 months 2 days, in London, UK, on 1 5 October 2011.

Film director Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal, b. 11 December 1908) began directing in 1931. His most recent movie was 0 Estranho Coso de Angelica (The Strange Case of Angelica, Portugal/ Spain/France/Brazil, 2010).

Indoor bowls player As of 1 March 2012, Jean Ella Cowles (UK, b. 10 September 1917) was a member of Spalding and District Indoor

Bowls Club in Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK, aged 94 years 5 months 22 days.

Lifeguard (active) Louis Demers (USA, b. 3 September 1923) of Quincy, Illinois, USA, was aged 88 years 6 months 4 days as of 7 March 2012. He has been a lifeguard since 1954.

MOBO winner In 1998, B B King (USA, b. Riley B King, 16 September 1925) picked u p the Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Award for Lifetime Achievement aged 73. Over a recording career stretching back to 1949, King has won an impressive 16 Gram my Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. His 1969 track "The Thrill is Gone" has also received a Gram my Hall of Fame Award.

Nobel laureate Professor Francis Peyton Rous (USA, 1879-1970) shared the Physiology or Medicine prize in 1966 at the age of 87.

Patient Jeanne Calment (France, 18751997) - the oldest person ever - was aged 114 years 11 months when she underwent a hip operation in January 1990.

A I RBORnE OAPs m A RATHOn FEAT ELDERLY ATH LETES •

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TOP 10 OLDEST ALIVE Below is a list of the 10 oldest people alive in the world, as of 11 May 2012. You'll notice that your chances of living to a very ripe old age are greatly increased if you happen to be a woman ... 1. Besse Cooper (USA) born: 26 August 1896 age: 115 years 250 days 2. Dina Manfredini (Italy/ USA) born: 4 April 1897 age: 115 years 28 days

Oldest newspa per deliuery person Ted Ingram ( U K , b. 18 March 1920) was still delivering the Dorset Echo in Weymouth, Dorset, UK, aged 91 years 11 months 4 days, as of 22 February 2012. The oldest female newspaper delivery person, Joyce Pugh (UK, b. 10 September 1931), delivers the Shropshire Star in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, U K. She was 80 years 6 months 3 days old as of 13 March 2012. Shopkeeper Jack Yaffe (UK) ran his hardware store in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, UK, for 78 years. He retired in January 2012, on h is 103rd birthday.

Person to complete a marathon Dimitrion Yordanidis (Greece) completed a 42-km (26-mile) marathon in Athens, Greece, on 10 October 1976, aged 98.

Oldest gym nast Johanna Quaas (Germany, b. 20 November 1925) is a regular competitor in the amateur competition Landesseniorenspiele, staged in Saxony, Germany. She performed a floor-and-beam routine on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy, in April 2012 and can still perform cartwheels at the age of 86!

3. Jiroemon Kimura (Japan)

born: 19 Aprll1897 age: 115 years 13 days 4. Misawo Okawa (Japan) born: 5 March 1898 age: 114 years 58 days S. Kame Nakamura (Japan) born: 8 March 1898 age: 114 years 55 days

He finished in 7 hr 33 min. On 12 December 2010, at the age of 92 years 19 days, Gladys Burrill (USA) completed the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii, USA, making her the oldest woman to complete a marathon. Burrill completed the race in 9 hr 53 min 16 sec.

Person to swim the English Channel Roger Allsopp (UK, b. 6 April 1941) swam the Channel from Shakespeare Beach, Dover, U K , to Calais, France, in 17 hr 51 m i n 19 sec, aged 70 years 4 months 24 days, on 30 August 2011. The oldest woman to swim the English Channel is the UK's Linda Ashmore (b. 21 October 1946), who crossed from England to France in 15 hr 11 min, aged 60 years 9 months 29 days, on 19 August 2007.

Sylvia Brett ( U K) was 80 years 5 months 13 days old when she parachuted over Cranfield in Bedfordshire, UK, on 23 August 1986, making her the oldest woman to make a solo parachute jump.

Wing walker At the age of 91 years 16 days, Thomas Lackey (UK, b. 22 May 1920) completed a wing walk across the English Channel from Lydd Airport, Kent, U K , t o Calais Airport, France, on 7 June 2011.

6. Marie-Therese Bardet (France) born: 2 June 1898 age: 113 years 335 days 7. Mamie Rearden (USA) born: 7 September 1898 age: 113 years 238 days 8. Hatsue Ono (Japan) born: 31 October 1898 age: 113 years 184 days 9. lchi Ishida (Japan) born: 15 January 1899 age: 113 years 108 days

10. Maria Redaelli-<;ranoli (Italy) born: 3 April1899 age: 113 years 29 days

Supercentenarians As of 11 May 2012, there were 71 people over the age of 110. These "supercentenarians" are monitored by the Gerontology Research Group, which collects data such as age, gender, race and nationality:

S Men 66Women

H EA U I EST... Birth In February 2012, the birth of baby Chun Chun to mother Wang Yujuan in Henan Province, China, made headlines because of his i mpressive weight of 7.03 kg (15 . 5 lb) - twice the average birth weight. As remarkable as this new delivery was, it pales when compared with the heaviest birth of all time: on 19 January 1879, Anna Bates (Canada, pictured below right) - who measured 2.27 m (7 ft 5. 5 in) tall - gave birth to a boy weighing 10.8 kg (23 lb 12 oz)!

Twins The world's heaviest twins, with a combined weight of 12.58 kg (27 lb 12 oz), were born to Mary Ann Haskin of Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA, on 20 February 1924.

Triplets The heaviest triplets ever weighed 10.9 kg (24 lb) and were born to Mary McDermott (UK) on 18 November 1914.

Quadruplets irls and two boys, with a total weight of 10.42 kg (22 lb 15.75 oz), were

Saunders (UK) at St Peters Hospital in Chertsey, U K, on 7 February 1989.

Quintuplets There have been two recorded cases of quintuplets with a combined birth weight of 11.35 kg (25 lb): on 7 June 1953 to Liu Saulian (China) and on 30 December 1956 to a M rs Kamalammal (India).

LIGHTEST... Birth The lowest confirmed birth weight for a surviving infant is 260 g (9.17 oz), in the case of Rumaisa Rahman (USA), who was born at Loyola U n iversity Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA, on 19 September 2004, after a gestation period of 25 weeks 6 days.

Twins The lowest combined birth weight recorded for a surviving set of twins is 847 g (1 lb 13.57 oz) i n the case of Hiba (580 g; 1 lb 4.4 oz) and Rumaisa (260 g; 9.17 oz) Rahman, who were born to Mahajabeen Shaik (India). The twins were born by Caesarean section (or (-section), a procedure whereby an incision is made in the mother's abdomen, through which the baby is delivered.

Triplets With a combined weight of 1,385 g (3 lb 0.8 oz), Peyton (585 g; 1 lb 4.6 oz), Jackson (420g; 14.8 oz) and Blake (380g; 13.4 oz) Coffey (all USA) became the lightest triplets to

most siblings born on the sam� day There are only five verified examples of a mother producing two sets of twins with the same birthdays in different years. The most recent case is that of Tracey Bageban (UK), who gave birth to Arm ani Jafar and Diego Mohamed on 27 February 2008 and Elisia Christina and Dolcie Falimeh three years later on 27 February 2011.

survive when they were born by Caesarean section at the University of Virginia Hospital (USA) on 30 November 1998.

mOST... Prolific mother The wife of Russian peasant Feodor Vassilyev bore a total of 69 children. In 27

pregnancies from 1725 to 1765, she had 16 pairs of twins (the most sets of twins born), seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets (the most sets of quadruplets born). See far right for more information. The most sets of triplets born to one mother is 15, by Maddalena Granata (Italy, b. 1839).

MOST C H I LDRE BORN TO ONE MOTH ER The peasant Feodor Vass Shuya, Russia, lived betwee� c. 1707 and c. 1782 and fa e __ ::::: children with his first wife (lOt name is sadly not recorded) . ...,.." births came in 27 confineme ;s and consisted of four quadrup ..-.s seven triplets and 16 twins*!

OLDEST

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Children delivered at a single birth

Father

Nine children (nonuplets) were born to Geraldine Brodrick in Sydney, Australia, on 13 June 1971. Unfortunately, none of the children lived for longer than six days.

Les Colley (Australia, 18981998) had his ninth child to his third wife at the age of 92 years 10 months. Colley met Oswald's Fijian mother in 1991 through a dating agency.

Children delivered at a single birth to survive

Mother to g ive birth �

Nadya Suleman (USA) gave birth to six boys and two girls at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Bellflower, California, USA, o n 26 January 2009. The babies were conceived with the aid of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and were nine weeks premature when they were delivered by Caesarean section.

Caesarean sections Kristina House of California, USA, gave birth to 11 children (six girls and five boys), all by Caesarean section, between 15 M ay 1 979 and 20 November 1998.

Premature James Elgin Gill was born to Brenda and James Gill (both Canada) on 20 May 1987. He was 128 days premature and weighed 624 g (1 lb 6 oz). CH ECK OUT MORE

Following IVF treatment, Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara (Spain, 1940-2009) gave birth by Caesarean section to twin boys, Christian and Pau, at the age of 66 years 358 days in Barcelona, Spain, on

29 December 2006. This achievement also gave Maria the record for the oldest mother to give birth to twins. On 20 August 1997, a baby was born to Dawn Brooke (UK) who, at the age of 59 years, became the oldest mother to conceive naturally (i.e., without the aid of fertility treatments). She conceived him accidentally, having ovulated past her last period.

Woman to g ive birth to her grandchildren Aged 56 years, Jacilyn Dalenberg of Wooster, Ohio,

Heauiest woman to giue birth Donna Simpson o f New Jersey, USA, weighed 241 kg (532 lb; 38 st) when she gave birth to her daughter Jacqueline on 13 February 2007 at Akron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio, USA. Jacqueline was born after a gestation period of 37 weeks 4 days, and weighed 4 kg (8 lb 14 oz) at birth. Donna, who wears size XXXXXXXL clothing and was reportedly consuming around 15,000 calories a day at one point, has embarked on a diet since giving birth to Jacqueline. She had shed around 38.5 kg (85 lb) by December 2011.

USA, acted as surrogate mother for her daughter, Kim Coseno (USA), and carried and delivered her own grandchildren: three girls. The triplets were delivered two months premature - by Caesarean section.

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The case was reported to the government in Moscow on 27 February 1782 by the Monastery of N i kolsk, where the births were recorded. The report revealed that Vassily� married a second time and fathered a further 18 childre� in eight confinements of t...o triplets and six twins:

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By the time of the ·-.:,z Vassilyev was in - _.-<-:<:." at the age of 75 ar= :: of 87 surviving ch - -

BRIDAL W EA R Most expensive wedding dress Jeweller Martin Katz and bridal couturier Renee Strauss (both USA) created a $12-million (£6.1-million) gown bedecked with 150 carats' worth of diamonds for the Luxury Brands Lifestyle Bridal Show held on 26 February 2006 at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, California, USA.

Most crystals on a wedd ing dress Ozden Gelinlik Mod a Tasanm Ltd (Turkey) created a wedding dress adorned with 45,024 crystals that was presented at the Forum Istanbul Shopping Mall, i n Istanbul, Turkey, on 29 January 2011.

Longest wedding dress train Measuring 2.48 km (1.54 miles) and created by Lichel van den Ende (Netherlands), the longest wedding train was presented and measured in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, on 22 December 2009.

Longest wedding veil At the wedding of Sandra Mechleb to Chady Abi Younis (both Lebanon) in Arnaoon, Lebanon, on 18 October 2009, Sandra wore a veil 3.35 km (2 miles) long.

CAKES Most expensive wedding cake slice A piece of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's 1937 wedding cake sold at Sotheby's, New York, USA, on 27 February 1998 for $29,900 (£18,163) to Benjamin and Amanda Yin of San Francisco, USA.

Oldest wedding cake Two pieces of the wedding cake of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, preserved since their wedding day on 10 February 1840, went on d isplay at the Drawings Gallery, Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK, for the first time on 27 April 2007. On the opening day of the exhibition, which celebrated royal marriages, the cake was 167 years 2 months 17 days old.

most expensiue wedding OLDEST

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Bride At the age of 102, M innie M unro (Australia) married 83-year-old Dudley Reid (both Australia) at Point Clare, New South Wales, Australia, on 31 May 1991.

Bridegroom Harry Stevens became the oldest bridegroom at the age of 103 when

The wedding of Vanish a Mittal, daughter of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, to investmef1i banker Am it Bhatia (all India) was a wallet-busting affair. The six-day event, held in Versailles, France, in 2004, included a re-enactment of the couple's courtship and an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles - the only private function ever to have been held there. The entertainers at the reception included Shah Rukh Khan and Kylie Minogue. The bride's father picked up a bill for $55 million (£28 million) . he married Thelma Lucas (both USA), then aged 84, at the Caravilla Retirement Home in Wisconsin, USA, on 3 December 1984.

Bridesmaid On 31 March 2007, Edith Gulliford (UK, b. 12 October 1901; d. 29 April 2008) was bridesmaid at the wedding of Kyra Harwood and James Lucas (both UK) at Commissioner's House, Chatham, UK, at the age of 105 years 171 days.

Best man Gerald W Pike (USA, b. 1 2 October 1910) served as best man at the marriage of Nancy Lee Joustra and Clifford Claire Hill (both USA), aged 93 years 166 days on 26 March 2004 at Kent County in Michigan, USA.

Couple to marry (combined age) On 1 February 2002, Fran�ois Fernandez (France, b. 17 April 1906) and Berthe Andree "Madeleine" Francineau (France, b. 15 July 1907) exchanged marriage vows at the rest home Le Foyer d u Romarin, Clapiers, France, at the age of 96 years 290 days and 94 years 201 days, respectively. Their aggregate age at the time of the ceremony totalled 191 years 126 days.

Heauiest wedding cake

Most couples married underwater simultaneously On Valentine's Day 2001 (14 February), 34 couples from 22 countries exchanged wedding vows at the same time, 10 m (32 ft 9 in) underwater near Kradan Island, Southern Thailand. The submarine service was organized by Trang Chamber of Commerce and Thai Airways International.

First robot wedding A robot named 1-Fairy conducted the wedding ceremony between robotics enthusiasts Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue (both Japan) in Tokyo, Japan, on 16 May 2010.

H IGHEST MARRIAGE RATES Some nations are more in love with the idea of marriage than others. Below is a list of the countries with the highest marriage rates. (Number of marriages per 1,000 population; figures for 2009 or last available year.) 10 Barbados 9 Jordan 8 Bermuda 7 1ran 6 Mongolia S Guam 4 Tajikistan 3 British Virgin Islands 2 Antigua & Barbuda 1 Virgin Islands (US)

LOWEST MARRIAGE RATES Most wedd ing guests On 7 September 1995, more than 150,000 people witnessed the wedding of V N Sudhakaran to N Sathyalakshmi (both India). The ceremony - shown on screens at the 20-ha (50-acre) grounds in Madras, India was followed by the largest wedding reception!

First zero-gravity wedding

Marriage isn't for everyone, of course. Here's a list of those nations who don't care so much for the sound of wedding bells ...

Erin Finnegan and Noah Fulmor (both USA) were sky high when they got married on 23 June 2009 - their weightless wedding took place aboard G-Force One, a modified Boeing 727-200.

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Most weddings in a TV soap opera A total of 79 wedding ceremonies have been celebrated on the British TV soap opera Coronation Street. The first

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largest mass wedding ceremony 1 n a pnson •

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On 1 4 June 2000, a group of 120 inmates of Carandiru prison, Sao Paulo, Brazil, married their fiancees in a mass ceremony organized by prison officers and volunteers from 19 local churches. Although the brides wore traditional white dresses, the grooms were required to wear their prison trousers along with formal jackets and ties.

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Longest tongue Stephen Taylor (UK) holds the record for the longest tongue, which stretches 9.8 em (3.86 in) from the tip to the middle of his closed top lip. It was measured at Westwood Medical Centre in Coventry, UK, on 11 February 2009. The woman with the longest tongue is Chanel Tapper (USA). Her lengthy licker was found to be 9.75 e m (3.8 in) from t h e t i p t o the middle of the lip when measured in California, USA, on 29 September 2010.

Most teeth As of 17 October 2008, both Kanchan Rajawat (India) and Luca Me ria no (Italy) could boast a more-than-full set of 35 adult teeth.

Oldest person to grow a new tooth Spare a thought for Brian Titford (Australia, b. 14 January 1933): in March 2009, two of his u pper wisdom teeth erupted when he was 76 years old. His dentist subsequently removed the teeth to restore the stability of Brian's denture.

Youngest person to have a wisdom tooth extracted Matthew Adams (USA. b. 19 November 1992) had his lower two wisdom teeth removed at M idland Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Michigan, USA, on 24 October 2002. He was aged just 9 years 339 days.

Most fingers and toes on a living person The greatest number of fingers and toes on a living person is 25, com prising 12 fingers and 13 toes. Two Indian citizens hold this record: Pranamya Menaria (b. 10 August 2005) and Devendra Harne (b. 9 January 1995). This digital abundance is the result of the congenital conditions polydactyly (a m ultiplicity of finger or toe) and syndactyly (in which fingers or toes have become fused together).

Fewest toes Some members of the Wadomo tribe of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, and the Kalanga tribe of the eastern Kalahari desert, Botswana, are born with only two toes. The three central toes are missing and the two outer toes are turned inwards. The condition is passed down via a single mutated gene.

Largest feet ever Robert Wadlow (USA, 1918-40), the tallest man ever, wore US size 37AA shoes ( U K size 36 or approximately a Eu ropean size 75), equivalent to 47 em (18.5 in) in length. Excluding cases of elephantiasis, the largest feet on a living person are those of Bra him Takioulla h (Morocco), whose left foot measures 38.1 em (1 ft 3 in) and right foot measures 37.5 em (1 ft 2.76 in). The measurements were taken in Paris, France, on 24 May 2011.

Longest fingernails ever (male) The fingernails of Melvin Boothe (USA, 1948-2009)

totalled 9.85 m (32 ft 3.8 in), when measured in Troy, Michigan, USA, in May 2009. When last measured in 2004, the fingernai ls on the left hand of Shridhar Chillal (India) totalled 7.05 m (23 ft 1 . 5 in) in length, the longest fingernails on one hand .

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Hairiest family Victor "Larry" Gomez, Gabriel "Danny" Ramos Gomez. Luisa Lilia De Lira Aceves and Jesus Manuel Fajardo Aceves (all Mexico) are four members of a family of 19, spanning five generations, all of whom have a condition. called congenital generalized hypertrichosis, characterized by excessive facial and torso hair. The women have a light-to med iu m coat of hair, while the men have thick hair on around 98% of their bodies.

Longest hair (female) Xie Qiuping's (China) hair measured 5.627 m (18 ft 5.54 in) on 8 May 2004.

The longest nose on a living person measures 8 .8 em (3:46 in) and belongs to Mehmet Ozyurek (Turkey).

Stretchiest skin Garry Turner (UK) has a rare medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a d isorder of the connective tissues affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs. He is able to stretch the skin of his stomach to a d istended length of 15.8 em (6.25 in). The condition makes the collagen that strengthens the skin, and determines its elasticity, defective. Its effects include a loosening of the skin and "hypermobility" of the joints.

Longest fingernails ever (female) Lee Redmond (USA) began g rowing her fi ngernails in 1979 and nurtured them to a length of 8.65 m (28 It 4.5 in), as verified in Madrid , Spain, on 23 February 2008. Sadly, in early 2009, Lee lost her nails .::�,"""� " " in a car accident. The current owner of the longest fingernails (female) is singer and recording artist Chris "The Dutchess" Walton (USA). Her left fi ngernails total 309.8 em (10 It 2 in) and her right total 292.1 em (9 It 7 in) - an overall length of 601.9 em (19 It 9 in) - as measured in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 21 February 2011.

Longest eyeball pop Keith Smith (USA) kept his eyes popped out of their sockets for 53.01 seconds. The eye-watering record attempt took place in Madrid, Spain, on 28 January 2009.

Ta llest mohican When it comes to mohican hairstyles, one man's achievements tower above the rest. Kazuhiro Watanabe (Japan) had a mammoth 113.5-cm (44.6-in) mohican as of 28 October 2011. Kazuhiro's lofty achievement easily broke his own world record: on 10 January 2011, his mohican had been measured at "just" 105 em (41.3 in) in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. And that was a hair-raising 25 em (9.8 in) taller than the previous record holder... Longest beard ever The beard of Hans N Langseth (Norway) measured 5 . 33 m (17 It 6 in) at the time of his burial at Kensett, Iowa, i n 1927, after 15 years' residence in the USA. His record-breaking beard was presented to the Smithsonian I nstitution, Washington, DC, USA, in 1967. The longest beard on a living man can be combed out to 2.495 m (8 It 2. 5 in). It belongs to Sarwan Singh (Canada), head priest of the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Longest nose ever There are historical accounts that Thomas Wedders, who lived in England during the 1770s and was a member of a travelling circus, had a nose measuring 19 em (7.5 in).

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Most extensive scarification Women of the Tiv and Nuba peoples of Nigeria in west Africa endure extreme scarification rituals as part of a rite of passage (as in the case of the Nuba) or to accentuate their beauty. The scars are made using a knife or, more traditionally, stone or shards of glass or coconut shell. The deep wounds are rubbed with toxic plant juices to create swollen welts or "keloids".

for her hand. The plates can reach 15 em (6 in) in diameter, which would require a payment of 50 cattle.

Longest neck The maximum known extension of a human neck is 40 em (15.75 in). It was created by the successive fitting of copper coils - practised by the women of the Padaung or Kareni tribe of Myanmar as a sign of beauty.

TATTOOS

Largest lip plates For the Surma people of Ethiopia, lip plates serve a financial purpose. The process of inserting these plates (made by the women themselves from local clay) begins around a year before marriage and the final size indicates the number of cattle required by the girl's family from her future husband

Most tattooed person The acme of multi-layered tattooing is represented by the chainsaw-juggling, unicycling, sword-swallowing Lucky Diamond Rich (Australia, b. New Zealand}, who has spent more than 1,000 hours having his body modified.

most tattooed woman euer On 3 1 March 2011, licensed medical practitioners confirmed that Cynthia J Martell ( USA, 19582011) had tattoos covering slightly more than 96% of her body. Cynthia - from Parker in Arizona, USA - was regularly tattooed for five

He began with a collection of colourful designs from around the world tattooed over his entire body. Lucky next opted for a 100% covering of black ink, including eyelids, the delicate skin between the toes, down into the ears and even his gums. He is now being tattooed with white designs on top of the black, and coloured designs on top of the white.

Most tattooed senior citizen Tom Leppard (UK, b. c. 1934}, has 99.9% of his body covered i n tattoos. Tom opted for a leopard-skin design, with all the skin between the dark spots tattooed saffron yellow. Having

he moved to one of the island's villages, Broadford, i n 2008. The most tattooed female senior citizen is lsobel Varley (UK, b. 1938}, who had covered 93% of her body with tattoos. as revealed on the set of Lo Show dei Record, in M ilan, Italy, on 25 April 2009.

Longest tattoo session (multiple people) M ichael Cann (USA) tattooed multiple people in a marathon session lasting 35 hr 8 m i n a t Ski pass 2010 in Suffolk, Virginia, USA, from 18 to 19 November 2011. The longest tattoo

SCA RRED FOR LIFE BODY mOD m A D •

most pierced tongue COSMETIC SURGERY

A s of 1 7 February 2012, Francesco Vacca (USA) of Belleville, New Jersey, USA, had 16 piercings in his tongue. Francesco actually wants to take all of his piercings out... but only so that he can space them out more efficiently. Then he's aiming to fit in double the amount! by tattooist Tyson Turk and tattooee Chris Elliott (both USA) at the Tyson Turk Body Mod Studio, Texas, USA, on 9-11 September 2011.

Most tattoos in 24 hours by a single artist Hollis Cantrell (USA) performed 801 tattoos in 24 hours at Artistic Tattoo in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on 16 November 2008. The most tattoos by a single artist in eight hours is 331 and was achieved by John McManus (USA) at Joker's Tattoo Studio in Louisiana, USA, on 31 October 2008.

PIERCI OGS Most piercings in a lifeti me (female) Since first receiving a skin piercing i n January 1 997, Elaine Davidson (Brazil/UK) had been pierced a total of 4,225 times as of 8 June 2006. The former restaurant owner is constantly adding and replacing jewellery, mostly in her face; this number reflects her re-piercings.

Tattoos, piercings and body modifications aren't for everyone, of course. The quest for idealized beauty is seeing more and more people turn to cosmetic surgery. GWR takes a look at the world of nips and tucks. TOP FIVE COSMETIC SURGICAL PROCEDURES

Elaine also holds the record for the most piercings in a single count. On examination on 4 May 2000, she was found to have a total of 462 piercings: 192 piercings on her facial area including ears, forehead, eyebrows, chin, nose and tongue (30), 56 piercings on her body including stomach, breasts and hands and 214 adorning her pubic area. The most pierced man is Rolf Buchholz (Germany). Rolf had 453 piercings, including 158 around his lips, as of 22 February 2012.

Most 1 8-gauge surg ical needle piercings Jeremy Stroud (USA) had 1,197 18-gauge surgical needle body piercings inserted into his body at the Tyson Turk Tattoo Studio in Arlington, Texas, USA, on 2 May 2009. Jeremy broke the previous record with his back alone, which received 901 needles. N i n e piercings i n right eyebrow

In 2011, there were more than 13 million cosmetio surgery operations in the USA:

(7'\ Breast augmentation: � 307,180 (up 4% from 2010) 1.

2. Nose re-shaping: 243,772 (down 3% from 2010)

Subdermal (under the skin) forehead implants (and o n the chest and forearms)

{A 3. Uposuctlon: 204,702 � (up 1% from 2010) 4. Eyelid surgery: 196,286 � (down 6% from 2010) � � 5. Facellft: 119,026 '::;;:J} (up 5% from 2010)

Kristina Ray (Russia) has had more than 100 silicone injections to boost the size of her lips.

Fou r u p pe�nose ba� TOP FIVE COSMETIC "MINIMALLY INVASIVE" PROCEDURES

When it comes to less dramatic surgery, botox implants are way out in front: 1. Botox: 5,670,788 (up 5% from 2010)

2. "Soft tissue" implants (e.g. collagen): 1,891,158 (up 7% from 2010)

3. Chemical peel: 1 ,110,464 (down 3% from 2010) 4. Laser hair removal: 1,078,612 (up 15% from 2010)

5. Microdermabrasion: 900,439 (up 9% from 2010) Source: American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Figures for 2011

(723 lb; 51 st 9 lb) respectively. Each brother had waists measuring 213 em (84 in) in circumference.

TALLEST... Actor

H EA U I EST

•••

Man

Woman

T h e heaviest person i n medical history was Jon Brower Minnoch (USA, 1941-83), who had suffered from obesity since childhood. He was 185 em (6 ft 1 in) tall and weighed 178 kg (392 lb; 28 st) in 1963, 317 kg (700 lb; 50 st) i n 1966 a n d 442 k g (975 lb; 6 9 st 9 lb) in September 1976. In March 1978, M innoch was admitted to University Hospital in Seattle, Washington, USA. where consultant endocrinologist Dr Robert Schwartz calculated that he must have weighed more than 635 kg {1,400 lb; 100 st), a great deal of which was water accumulation due to his congestive heart failure.

Rosalie Bradford (USA, 1943-2006) was claimed to have registered a peak weight of 544 kg (1,200 lb; 85 st 9 lb) in January 1987. The heaviest woman living is Pauline Potter (USA) of Sacramento, California, USA, who weighed 291.6 kg (643 lb; 46 st) on 13 May 2010.

Twins Billy Leon {1946-79) and Benny Loyd (1946-2001) McCrary, alias McGuire (both USA), were average in size until the age of six. In November 1978, Billy and Benny weighed 337 kg (743 lb; 53 st) and 328 kg

Matthew McGrory (USA, 19732005) stood 229 em (7 ft 6 in) tall. His film career began in 1999 with The Dead Hate the Living! (USA, 2000). He also featured in Tim Burton's Big Fish (USA, 2003), playing the role of Karl the Giant alongside Ewan McGregor. Two actors hold the title for the tallest actor in a leading role, with a height of 194 em {6 ft 5 in). Christopher Lee (UK) has played most of the major horror characters in films since 1958. Vince Vaughn (USA) had his first leading role in Return to Paradise (USA, 1998). Four women share the

Heauiest man liuing The heaviest living man i s Manuel U ribe (Mexico), who weighed 444.6 kg (980 lb; 70 st) as of March 2012. At his absolute heaviest, in January 2006, Manuel peaked at 560 kg (1,235 lb; 88 st 3 lb). Since then - and with medical assistance - he has gradually been able to lose �eight. Although he has been bed-bound since 2002, Manuel married his second wife, Claudia Solis, in 2008. fn a leading role. Margaux Hemingway (USA, 1955-96), Sigourney Weaver (USA), Geena Davis (USA) and Brigitte Nielsen (Denmark) all stand 182 em (6 ft) tall.

Basketball player Suleiman Ali Nashnush (1943-91) was 245 em (8 ft 0.25 in) tall when he played for the Libyan national team in 1962.

NATIONS BY HE IGHT According to Statistics Netherlands, the Dutch are, on average, the world's tallest citizens, reaching 181 em (5 ft 11.2 in); the shortest citizens are the Cambodians at 160.3 em (5 ft 3.1 in).

Boxer The tallest professional boxer was Gogea Mitu (Romania, 1914-36). In 1935, he was 223 em (7 ft 4 in) tall and weighed 148 kg (327 lb; 23 st 5 lb). John Rankin, who won a fight in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in November 1967. measured 223 em tall too. Jim Cully (Ireland), "The Tipperary Giant" who fought as a boxer and wrestled in the 1940s, was reputedly also this height.

Crown prince The current heir apparent to the Spanish throne, Principe de Asturias, Don Felipe de Borb6n y Grecia (Spain), stands at 197 em (6 ft 5.5 in).

Tallest man Sultan Kosen (Turkey) is the tallest person alive today. He was last measured in Ankara, Turkey, on 8 February 2011, at the age of 26 years, when he stood at an incredible 251 em (8 ft 3 in). This photo shoot took place on a basketball court in Manhattan, New York, USA. Sultan is a big basketball fan - as a teenager, he was signed to the Galatasaray team but proved too big to play!

NATIONS BY WEIGHT

player in National Hockey League history.

Professional model Amazon Eve (USA) topped out at 201 em (6 ft 7.4 in) when measured on 25 February 2011.

Grand Slam tennis player lvo Karlovic (Croatia) stands at 208 em (6 ft 10 in), taller than any other Grand Slam player in history. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) measured 198 em (6 ft 6 i n) when he triumphed in the 2009 US Open in New York, USA, on 14 September 2009, making him the tallest tennis player ever to win a Grand Slam.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a calculation made by dividing your body weight by the square of your height. It was devised by Adolphe Quetelet (Belgium) in the 19th century to track the problem of obesity in the population. According to the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group, Nauru in the South Pacific has the heaviest citizens, with an average BMI of 34.4; Bangladesh has the lightest citizens, averaging 20.4.

Shortest siblings Bridgette and Brad Jordan (both USA) are 69 em (2 ft 3 in) and 98 em (3 ft 2.5 in) tall respectively, giving them a combined height of 167 em (5 ft 5.5 in). Their reduced height is caused by the condition Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II. They both enjoy full and active lives; Bridgette wants to become a model.

Shortest woman On 1 6 December 2011, former shortest living teenager Jyoti Amge (India) reached the age of 18 and so took the title of shortest living woman .

Dr Manoj Pahukar, an orthopaedic consultant, performed the official· meas.� rements at the Wockhardt Hospital in Nag pur, India, in the presence of GWR's Rob Molloy. Jyoti's average height was 62.8 em (2 ft 0.7 in) - 6.2 em (2.3 in) shorter than the previous record holder.

Measuring stature

When assessing absolute "shortest" and "tallest" claims, Guinness World Records insists on making a series of measurements over the duration of a day. The principal assessment is standing height, or stature, which is the length of the claimant standing as straight as possible, measured using a stadiometer (a ruler with a vertical sliding head piece). Three measurements are taken then averaged.

Shortest twins Matyus and Bela Malina (1903-c. 1935) of Budapest, Hungary, who later became naturalized American citizens, both measured 76 em (30 in). Primordial dwarfs, they appeared in The Wizard of Oz (USA, 1939), billed as M i ke and Ike Rogers.

Recent "shortest" record holders

The shortest identical twin sisters are 124.4-cm (4-ft l-in) Dorene Williams and Darlene McGregor (both USA, b. 1949).

Shortest married couple Brazilian couple Douglas Maistre Breger da Silva and Claudia Pereira Rocha measured 90 em (2 ft 11 in) and 93 em (3 ft 0.6 in) respectively when married on 27 October 1998, in Curitiba, Brazil.

Shortest newborn baby Nisa Juarez (USA) was born on 20 J u ly 2002, measuring just 24 em (9.4 in) long, at the Children's Hospital and Clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota, . USA. (The average newborn length in the USA is 43 em, or 17 in.) Born 108 days premature, Nisa weighed 320 g (11.3 oz) - more than 10 times the average weight of 3.5 kg (7 lb). She was discharged from hospital on 6 December 2002.

The difference in height between He Ping ping and Chandra Bahadur Dangi is illustrated here actual size, with their fellow record breakers included for comparison.

H e Pingplng 74.6 em (2 ft 5.3 in)

of San Carlos, Mexico, an emaciated ateleiotic dwarf who stood 67 em (2 ft 2 in) tall, weighed 1.1 kg (2 lb 6 oz) at birth and only 2.1 kg (4 lb 11 oz) at the age of 17. She had fattened up to 5.9 kg (13 lb) by the time of her 20th birthday.

Edward " N ino" Hernandez 70.2 em (2 ft 3.6 in) Bridgette Jordan 69 em ( 2 ft 3 in)

Most variable stature

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Adam Rainer (Austria, 1899-1950) measured 118 em (3 ft 10.5 in) at the age of 21. He then suddenly started growing at a rapid rate and by 1931, he had reached the height of 218 em (7 ft 1.8 in). Sadly, he became so weak as a result of his dramatic growth spurt that he was bedridden for the rest of his life.

Shortest actor in a leading adult role The Indian actor performed in the lead role of his debut

feature film, Albhutha Dweep (India, 2005), measures 76 em (2 ft 6 in) in height. Tamara de Treaux (USA, 1959-90) was, at 77 em (2 ft 6.3 in) tall, the shortest actress ever to appear in a leading adult role. Her most celebrated (shared) role was as E .T. in Steven Spielberg's E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (USA, 1982).

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Heights to one decimal place

60 c m

Shortest stuntman Kiran Shah (UK, b. Kenya) is the shortest professional stuntman now working in the movie industry, standing 126 em (4ft 1.7 in) when measured on 20 October 2003. He has appeared in 52 movies since 1976 and performed stunts in 31 of them. He doubled as Elijah Wood in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

lyoti Amge 6 2 . 8 em (2 ft 0.7 in)

J unrwy Bat.wing 59.9 em ( 1 ft 1 1 . 5 in)

To the Li mits: H ow Heavy Can We Lift? Strength Teamwork Circus Arts Fun with Food Big Food Sweet Treats He Collects ... She Collects ...

084 086 088 090 092 094 096 098 100 102

But is it Art? Youngest... Curious Contests Risky Business

104 106 108 110

UJhat is the heauiest weight a huma n can lift? The super heavyweight category of Olympic weightlifting can, arguably, be considered the ultimate test of a human's lifting ability. Powerlifters may well disagree, but whoever holds the total world record in the over-1 05-kg category - the combined weight of a snatch lift plus the clean and jerk - can rightly consider themselves the strongest in 0 the world. But it's not j ust a bout brute strength - technique is equally as important. So what's the lifting limit i n competition?

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Heart: Weightlifting is a n aerobic - meaning that it does not need oxyge n . This means the cardiopulminary aspect of the train i ng is less i m portant than the muscu loskeletal.

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Double Olympic champion and the athlete dubbed the "strongest man in the world" by his peers, Iran's Hossein Rezazadeh holds the total lifting record in the over lOS-kg category (athletes compete in different classes ..:2J depending on their body mass). He achieved this twice in the Olympics (2000 and 2004) with snatches of 212.5 and 210 kg, and clean and jerks of 260 and 263.5 kg.

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legs make better levers (but too short a nd the correspond ing reduction i n bodyweight means the risk of dropping down a category in competition).

Sup port belts Weightlifting rules allow competitors to wear a belt - no wfder than 12 em (4.72 in) - outside their clothing, to provide support and protection. The belt stiffens the torso and increases intra abdominal pressure, allowing the muscles to work more efficiently; it also gives the torso more of an elastic "bounce" during lifts. Stance: Bad positioning and technique can effectively add weight to a lift: moving the bar j ust 1 em (0.4 in) away from the vertical (as opposed to lifting straight up) adds a load of u p t o 4 . 8 k g t o t h e total.

hou Lulu Lifting is not just for the boys women have been competing at Olympic level since 2000. Pictured is Zhou Lulu (China), the current world record holder for the "total" in the over75-kg category - the heaviest female class. She achieved a snatch of 146 kg and a clean and jerk of 182 kg to give a world-beating total of 328 kg at the World Weightlifting Championships in Paris, France, on 13 November 2011.

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Feet: Flexi bility is needed to m ove the feet through a range of movements. Approved "lifting shoes" provide stability, keep the foot at the optimal angle and help balance the lifter d u ring holds.

Rezazadeh's total record of 472 . S kg has stood for more than a decade (a lthough his eight-year reig n as snatch world record holder ended in November 2011 when fellow I ran ian , Behdad Salim ikordasiabi, lifted 214 kg). Combining the heaviest-ever resu lts of both types of lift - a 21 6-kg snatch by Antonio Krastev (Bulgaria) in 1987 and a 266-kg clean a nd jerk by Leonid Taranenko (USSR) i n 1988, both of which are now considered " historical" following the recategorizi ng of classes - gives a theoretical total of 482 kg. As simplistic as this calculation is, it certainly gives current contenders something to aspire to.

4-75 kg LEON I D TARAN E N KO (USSR) Canberra, Australia (1988)

4-72.5 kg ALEXAN DER KURLOVICH

Ostrava, Czech Rep. (1987)

4-67.5 kg ANTONIO KRASTEV (Bulgaria) Reims, France (1987)

4-65 kg ALEXANDER GU NYASHEV (USSR) Reims, France (1984)

Vehicle lifted with the breath On 23 July 2011 at the Arrowhead Mall in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, Brian Jackson (USA) lifted a 2011 Ford Festiva weighing 1,143 kg (2,520 lb) by blowing into a bag that, when inflated, raised the vehicle off the ground.

Weight lifted by both eye sockets Yang Guang He (China) lifted two buckets of water weighing 23.5 kg (51 lb 12.96 oz) with both eye sockets on the set of Lo Show dei Record in M ilan, Italy, on 28 April 2011. Yang rested hooks on the bones under his eyes and connected them to the buckets.

Combined weight of aircraft pulled simultaneously More than 200 Hong Kong citizens pulled four aircraft weighing 474.72 metric tonnes (1,046,578 lb) for 50 m (164 ft) at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, China, on 17 March 2011. The aircraft were a Boeing 747-400, an Airbus 330-343, an Airbus 300-200 and a Zlin Z-242 L, and the feat took 2 min 53 sec.

Vehicle pulled by a woman with her hair Rani Raikwar (India) pulled an 8,835.5-kg (19,479-lb) truck on the set of Guinness World Records - Ab India Todega in Lalitpur, Bhopal, India, on 3 March 2011. Ajit Kumar Singh (India) holds the record for heaviest vehicle pulled by a man with his hair. He pulled a 9,385-kg (20,690-lb) truck in Nawada, Bihar, India, on 21 September 2010.

Weight lifted by n ipples

Weight lifted by tongue

Sage Werbock (USA), aka "The Great Nippulini", lifted a 31.9-kg (70. 5-lb) weight from his pierced nipples i n Hulmeville, Pennsylvania, USA, on 26 September 2009.

Thomas Blackthorne (UK) lifted a 12.5-kg (27-lb 8.96-oz) weight hooked through his tongue on the set of El Show Olimpico, in Mexico City, Mexico, on 1 August 2008.

Fastest 100 m light aircraft pu l l Montystar Agarawal (India) pulled a light aircraft 100 m (328 ft) in 29.84 seconds on the set of Guinness World Records - Ab India Todega in Baramati, Maharashtra, India, on 23 February 2011. Deadlift in one hour (male)

Nick Molloy (UK) dead lifted 45,702 kg (100,755 lb) in an liour at the White Swan pub in London, UK, on 25 May 2011. For his total, Molloy completed 164 repetitions of a 75.5-kg (166-lb) barbell and 490 repetitions of a 68-kg (150-lb) barbell to reach his total.

Deadlift in one minute (male)

Markus ROcker (Germany) dead lifted 4,680 kg (10,317 lb) at the Marktplatz in Ellenburg, Germany, on 13 June 2011. ROcker lifted a bar and weighted plates, with a combined weight of 120 kg (264 lb), for 39 repetitions.

Vehicles to run over the stomach Tom Owen (USA) had nine pick-up trucks, each weighing between 3,000 kg (6,614 lb) and 4,000 kg (8,818 lb), run over his stomach o n the set of La Show dei Record, i n M ilan, Italy, on 26 April 2009.

Consecutive bench presses underwater Marcello Paredi (Italy) achieved 20 bench presses while holding his breath underwater, on the set of La Show dei Record in Rome, Italy, on 25 February 2010. His barbell weighed 50 kg (110 lb)

H EAVI EST DEADLIFT TWO-ARM 455 kg (1,003 lb) Andy Bolton (UK) 4 November 2006

ONE-ARM 301 kg (663 lb 8 oz) Hermann Goerner (Germany) 29 October 1920

Farmer's walk over 20 m Stacked benches held between the teeth For 10 seconds, Huang Changzhun (China) held 17 benches between his teeth on the set of CCTVGuinness World Records Special in Beijing, China, on 19 August 2011.

Weight lifted by arm curls in one hour

Consecutive 90° push-ups

In Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland, on 12 November 2011, Keith Cresham (Ireland) used arm curls to lift 29,570.5 kg (65,191 .8 lb) in one hour. Keith completed 1,253 repetitions of 23.6 kg (52.02 lb) during the record attempt.

Starting from a headstand, Jesus Villa (USA) completed 13 consecutive push-ups, attaining a 90° angle at the elbow on each, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 18 September 2011.

Chin-ups in 24 hours Lucas Garel (Canada) completed 5,045 chin ups in 24 hours at Fitness Force gym in Keswick, Ontario, Canada, on 17-18 July 2011.

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World's Strongest Woman wins Aneta Florczyk (Poland) has won the World's Strongest Woman competition on four occasions, in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008. The annual event is staged by the International Federation of Strength Athletes.

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On the set of CCTVGuinness World Records in Beijing, China, on 5 December 2011, Laurence Shahlaei (UK) completed a 20-m (66-ft) farmer's walk (see p.84) in 6.73 seconds, carrying a 150-kg (330-lb) weight in each hand. Laurence won England's Strongest Man competition in 2009.

116.90 kg (354.72 lb) Benik lsraelyan (Armenia) 11 June 2011 on the set of CCTV Guinness World Records Special in Beijing, China, on 16 August 2011. Jarno has won Holland's Strongest Man competition on six occasions, most recently in 2010.

20 m carrying 300 kg on shoulders Derek Boyer (Australia) carried a 300-kg (661-lb) weight between his shoulders for 20 m (66 ft) in 6.88 seconds on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, on 2 September 2011.

MOST PUSH -UPS IN ONE M I N UTE CARRYING ...

Time holding a 500 -kg weight with shoulders Kevin Fast (Canada) held a 500-kg (1,102.31 - lb) weight on his shoulders for 1 min 1.4 sec on the set of CCTVGuinness World Records Special in Beijing, China, on 19 August 2011.

20 m carrying a car on the shoulders Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania) carried a car 20 m (66 ft) strapped to his shoulders in 14.44 seconds on the set of Lo Show dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on 10 March 2011.

Time restraining two aircraft Using ropes, Chad Netherland (USA) prevented two Cessna planes from taking off by pulling in opposite directions for 1 min 0.6 sec at Richard I. Bong Airport in Wisconsin, USA, on 7 J uly 2007.

Bus-pull over 50 m by an individual Jarno Hams (Netherlands) pulled a bus weighing 17.2 tonnes (37,920 lb) over 50 m (164 ft) in 1 min l3.12 sec

LITTLE-FINGER 104.43 kg (230 lb 3 oz) Krist ian Holm (Norway) 3 November 2008

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All held by multiple record holder Eamonn Keane (Ireland).

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• Air guitar: On 22 September 2011, a group of 2,377 air-guitar aficionados performed at an event organized by San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino (USA) in H ighland, California, USA. • Carol singers: 15,111 singers performed eight Christmas carols at the Hong Myung-bo Charity Soccer Game in Seoul, South Korea, on 25 December 2010, in an event organized by the Hong Myung-bo Foundation (South Korea). • Choir: The Art of Living (India) assembled a 121,440strong choir who sang in unison in Perungalathur, Chennai, India, on 30 January 2011. • Gospel choir: 1,138 gospel singers performed 17 songs in an event organized by Mano Ezoh (Germany) at the Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany, on 15 October 2011. • Human beatboxers: A group of 2,081 human beatboxers

- including artists Shlomo and Testament (both U K), and staff at Google (Ireland) performed at the Convention Centre in Dublin, Ireland, on 14 November 2011. • Ukulele players: On 20 August 2011, a group of 1,547 ukulele players strummed "Leende Guldbruna bgon", byVikingarna, in Helsingborg, Sweden, in an event organized by ABF, Folkuniversitetet and Studieforbundet Vuxenskolan (all Sweden). • Violinists: 4,645 violinists played at Changhua Stadium, Chinese Taipei, China, on 17 September 2011, in a performance set up by the Changhua County Government. • Whistlers (one venue): 672 members of the Make A-Wish Club at the Nazareth Area Middle School whistled "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" in the Andrew S Leh Stadium at the Nazareth Area High School in Nazareth, Philadelphia, USA.

most people crammed into a mini Cooper The maximum number o f people t o have squeezed into a Mini Cooper (old model) is 21 and was last achieved by female members of the Caless Dance School (Japan) on the set of 700 Beautiful Women Who Have Guinness World Records, at the Shiodome Nihon TV Studios in Tokyo, Japan, on 5 May 2011. How do you fit 21 dancers into a Mini Cooper? Twelve in the back of the car, eight in the front and one person in the boot! This superlative feat of tight-fitting equalled an existing record, achieved by 21 students from INTI College Subang Jaya at INTI College Subang Jaya Campus in Selangor, Malaysia, on 1 7 June 2006.

Head shaving at once On a theme-park ride (costu med) A total of 330 riders took to the Steel Force ride in costume at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Pennsylvania, USA, on 18 August 2011.

On 19 September 2010 in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, 57 people shaved their heads at once in an event set up by Nancy Salvage (Canada).

I nside a soap bubble Fan Yang, Deni Yang and Melody Yang (all Canada)

popped 118 people into a soap bubble at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California, USA, on 4 April 2011.

Wearing underwear Clad only in their underwear, 2,270 people (all USA) met up at the Utah Undie Run in Salt Lake City, USA, on 24 September 2011.

Zombies

4,093

New Jersey Zombie Walk (USA)

MASSIVE PARTICI PATION

Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA

Wally/Waldo

3,872

Street Performance World

Records for mass participations can involve literally hundreds

Dublin, Ireland

of thousands or even millions

Championship ( I reland) Bees

2,176

Yateley and Westfield schools

of attendees, as these great gatherings - the largest in

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the GWR archive - attest.

campus (UK) Skeletons

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characters

Star Trek

1,040

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Jiangsu Province,

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Las Vegas, Nevada,

characters Vampires Turkeys

The areas of the circles are in directproportion to the amount of participants.

Swansea, UK

13 Aug 2011

USA 1,039 661

Kings Dominion (USA)

Doswell, Virginia, USA

30 Sep 2011

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Dallas, Texas, USA

24 Nov 2011

Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot (USA) Superman

437

Nexen Inc. (Canada)

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Videogame

425

BUYSEASONS, I n c . (USA)

characters Garden

USA 331

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New Berlin , Wisconsin,

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Bayview Glen Day Camp

Don Mills, Ontario,

(Canada)

Canada

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Netherlands

19 Jul 2011

1 0 Sep 2011

(all Netherlands) Sunflowers

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27 May 2011

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by centimetre, record for the highest shallow dive edges ever more slcywards. As per GWR rules, daredevil divers are a llowed just 30 em (12 in) of water in which to land, cushioned by a mattress a mere 2 5 em (10 i n hick... Currmt GWR - 11.2 m Darren Tay!Elr, USA (2011) Changzhou City, Jiangsu, China 10.99 m Darren Taylor (2010) Louisville, Kentucky, USA 10.9 m Darren Taylor (2009) Atlanta, Georgia, USA 10.83 m Darren Taylor (2008) Tokyo, Japan 10.7S m Darren Taylor (2007) Cologne, Germany 10.65 m Darren Taylor (2006) Madrid, Spain 10.3 m Darren Taylor (2005) Denver, Colorado, USA Largest-ever in ease in record (1.35 m)

8.9S m Danny Higg nbottom, SA (2004) Twickenham, Mta lesex, U K 8.86 m Danny Higginbottom (2000) Therme Erding Spa, Germany 8.83 m Danny Higginbottom (1999) Metairie, Louisiana, USA

--'

The current Guinness World Record holder, Darren Taylor, aka Professor Splash, hits the water at an estimated speed of 53 km/h (33 mi/h)! Regulation-sized paddling pool: 3.65 m (12 ft) long.

30cm (12 in) deep, l.82m (6ft} wide,

Lasagne (30 sec): Rafael Bujotzek ate 358 g (12.6 oz) of lasagne in 30 seconds at an event organized by Twentieth Century Fox (Germany) at the Theatre Cinedom in Cologne, Germany, on 3 August 2006. Mashed potato (30 sec): On 23 November 2011, Hasib Zafar (UK) consumed 266 g (9.38 oz) of mashed potato at the British Potato Conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK. Brussels sprouts (1 min): Linus Urbanec (Sweden) downed a record 31 Brussels sprouts in one minute in Rottne, Sweden, on 26 November 2008. Jaffa Cakes (1 min): Gustav Schulz (Germany) scoffed

eight Jaffa Cakes in a minute in Essex, UK, on 9 October 2009. His feat was matched by Connor Whiteford (UK) in H u ll, U K , on 6 October 2011. Marshmallows (1 min): Prolific record-setter Ash rita Furman (USA) consumed 12 marshmallows in a minute at the Panorama Cafe in New York City, USA, on 13 January 2011. Mince pies (1 min): Catherine Jones, Michael Xuereb and Luke Chilton (all UK) each ate two mince pies in one minute at the offices of Real People magazine in London, U K, on 22 November 2010. Oranges peeled and eaten (3 min): Ash rita Furman (USA) ate six oranges, which he had also peeled, at the Panorama Cafe in New York City, USA, on 14 July 2010. Sausages (1 min): On 22 July 2001, Stefan Paladin (New Zealand) chomped his way through eight whole sausages at the Ericsson Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Dumplings (2 min): Seth Grudberg (USA) ate a stomach-bulging 18 dumplings in just two minutes at the Third Annual Tang's Natural NYC

Dumpling Festival i n New York City, USA, on 17 September 2011. Baked beans (3 min): Nick Thompson (UK) consumed 136 baked beans from a plate with a cocktail stick in three minutes at an event organized by the advertising agency Claydon Heeley Jones Mason (UK) at Harrow School, Harrow-on the-Hill, M iddlesex, UK, on 18 August 2005. G rapes (3 min): Ash rita Furman (USA) downed 186 grapes in three minutes at the Sri Chinmoy Center in New York City, USA, on 31 May 2011. lam doughnuts (3 min): Lup Fun Yau downed six sugared jam doughnuts,

without licking his lips, in three minutes at the offices of The Sun in London, U K, on 2 May 2007. This equalled the record set in 2002 by Steve McHugh (UK). Oysters (3 min): Colin Shirlow (UK) ate a belt-busting 233 oysters in three minutes at the annual World Oyster Eating Championship held in Hillsborough, County Down, U K, on 3 September 2005.

.Shrimps (3 min): On 26 February 2003, William E Silver (USA) worked his way through 272.1 g (9.6 oz) of shrimps in three minutes at the Calabash West Restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Baked beans (S min): Gary Eccles (UK) consumed a total of 258 baked beans with a cocktail stick in five minutes on 18 March 2011.

A n a ppetite r reco rd-breaking Patrick Bertoletti (USA) has stacked up a mouth-watering array of food-related records. They include the most chicken nuggets eaten in one minute (12) - at Sierra Studios in

East Dundee, Illinois, USA, on 14 January 2012. And on the set of ABC's Live with Regis & Kelly in New York City, USA, he set the record for the most ice-cream eaten in 30 seconds (382 g; 13.5 oz). But that's just for starters. Check out his other records - all set in one minute!

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most hot dogs eaten in three minutes

Takeru won Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest a e ord six times in a row! Other feasting feats include:

way through six hot dogs in three minutes for Bikkuri Chojin 100 Special #2 (Fuji TV) at Kashiwanohakoen Sogokyogijo, Kashiwa, Japan, on 25 August 2009. Takeru's healthy appetite has earned him a few GWR records and seen him become a big cheese in the world of competitive eating (see right) ...

in one minute: 29 Most Twinkles (cake snacks) eaten in one minute: 14

Three eclairs A raw onion Peter Czerwinski (Canada) consumed a raw onion in 43.53 seconds in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on 2 November 2011.

A lemon Ashrita Furman (USA) peeled then ate a lemon in 8.25 seconds at the Songs of the Soul offices in New York City, USA, on 3 May 2010. Bap (SO calories);

Jonathan Coull (UK) scoffed three pastry eclairs in 1 min 11 sec at the offices of Zoo magazine, London, UK, on 17 November 2011 in celebration of GWR Day.

most jel ly eaten with chopsticks in one minute

Three chillies (Bhut Jolokias) Birgit Tack (Germany) ate three Shut Jolokia chillies in 1 min 11 sec on Guinness World Records: Wir holen den Rekord nach Deutschland in Berlin, Germany, on 2 April 2011. Mozzarella cheese (100 calories);

mayonnaise (150 calories); tomato slice (20 calories); lettuce (0 calories)

at the Panorama Cafe in New York City, USA, on December 2010 .

7

.........., records for the most bananas

Competitors in a hot-dog eating contest

A total of 3,189 participants took part in a hot-dog eating contest at an event organized by Oscar Mayer (Spain) in Puente de las Flores, Valencia, Spain, on 12 March 2011.

Watermelons crushed with the head (1 min) Tafzi Ahmed (Germany) smashed 43 watermelons with his head in a minute at the Rose Festival, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on 27 May 2011.

Apples snapped (1 min) The greatest number of apples snapped in one minute is 40, a feat achieved by Ash rita Furman (USA) in New York City, USA, on 31 December 2011. Ash rita, who has recently turned to food in order to satisfy his h u nger for record-breaking, also holds YOU'LL F I N D M O R E TASTY RECORDS ON

P.94

snapped with both hands (1 min) - he broke 99 of them at the Sri Chinmoy Center New York City, USA, on 4 May 2010 - and the most cucumbers snapped (1 min) 118 at the Smile of the Beyond Luncheonette in New York City, USA, on 24 March 2011.

in

Mentos and soda fountains A total of 2,865 mint and soda fountains were unleashed in an event organized by Perfetti Van Melle (Philippines) at the SM Mall of Asia Complex in Manila, Philippines, on 17 October 2010 (pictured below).

THE FIZZ- ICS OF CANDY-SODA FOUNTAINS Physicists a t Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, USA, have applied their scientific minds to explaining and perfecting - the ever-popular candy-soda fountain:

· Cheese slice: Long Clawson Dairy (UK) created a 110.5-kg (243-lb 9. 7-oz) piece of Stilton cheese. It was presented and weighed in Long Clawson, Leicestershire, UK, on 20 September 2011.

· Chocolate Easter egg: Tasca (Italy) made an Easter egg that measured 10.39 m (34 It 1.05 in) tall on 16 April 2011. Doner: On 26 August 2011, Doner Restaurant (UAE) created a 468-kg (1,031-lb 12-oz) doner on Jumeirah Beach Road, in Dubai, UAE. •

largest hot dog commercially auailable

Heauiest pineapple Tipping the scales at 8.28 kg (18 lb 4 oz), and measuring 32 em (12.5 in) long, is the pineapple (far right) picked in November 2011 by amateur gardener Christine McCallum (Australia). The prodigious pineapple has a girth of 66 em (25.9 in) and iook two-and-a-half years to grow in Christine's garden in Bakewell, Northern Territory, Australia. Cocktail: A margarita with a volume of 32,176 lit res (7,077.73 UK gallons) was made by Margaritaville Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 14 October 2011. .. Falafel: The Santa Clarita Valley Jewish Food and Cultural Festival (USA) prepared a 23.9-kg (52-lb 12-oz) falafel ball at the College of the Canyons in Valencia, California, USA, on 15 May 2010. Lasagne: Weighing a titanic 3. 71 tonnes (8,179 lb 2 oz), and measuring 21.33 x 2.13 m (70 x 7 ft), the largest lasagne was created by the Food Bank for Monterey County at Salinas, California, USA, on 14 October 1993. · Pasty: On 19 August 2010, the Proper Cornish Food Company produced a pasty that weighed 728 kg (1,604 lb) in Fowey, Cornwall, UK. · Ploughman's lunch: Sylwia Ciszewski, from Seriously Strong Cheddar (UK), made a ploughman's lunch weighing 1,853.9 kg (4,086 lb), which was shown •

·

H EAVI EST FRUIT & VEG The largest produce grown in our gardens is the pumpkin, the mightiest of which is the 821.23-kg (1,810-lb 8-oz) monster grown by Chris Stevens (USA) of Wisconsin, USA. The pumpkin is 10 times heavier than its nearest rival, the cabbage, as this list of garden giants reveals ... Cabbage . . . . . . . . . 57.61 kg (127 lb) Sweet potato . . . . . 37 kg (81 lb 9 oz) Radish . . . . . . . . . 31.1 kg (68 lb 9 oz) Cantaloupe . . 29.4 kg (64 lb 13 oz) Courgette . . . . 29.25 kg (64 lb 8 oz) Celery . . . . . . . 28.7 kg (63 lb 4.8 oz) Cauliflower . . . 24.6 kg (54 lb 3 oz)

Largest meatbal l Balced potatoes: Shopping centre El Mirador (Spain) baked 1,116 kg (2,460 lb 5.7 oz) of potatoes at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, on 28 May 2011. The dish - papas arrugadas ("wrinkly potatoes") - is popular in the Canary Islands. · Chilli con carne: On 19 July 2003, the Keystone Aquatic Club (USA) cooked up a pot of chilli con carne that weighed 652.4 kg (1,438 lb 5.1 oz) at the Broad Street Market, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. · Fish and chips: Weighing in at 45.83 kg (101 lb 7 oz), the heftiest helping of fish and chips was created by the Wensleydale Heifer hotel (UK) in West Witton, Yorkshire, UK, on 2 July 2011. · Fried chicken: Weighing 1,076 kg (2,372 lb 2.7 oz), the largest serving of fried chicken

.

Beetroot . . . . 23.4 kg (51 lb 9.4 oz)

This mountain of meat weighs 503.71 kg (1 ,110 lb 7.84 oz) - making it around 5,926 times larger than a more conventional 85-g (3-oz) meatball - and has a diameter of 1.38 m (4 ft 6.5 in) . It was prepared by the Columbus Italian Club (USA) at the St John's Italian Festival, in Columbus, Ohio, USA, between 5 and 8 October 2011. The meat and spices were mixed in batches of 22.5 kg (50 lb) , then refrigerated, moved to another location, packed into a pod-like vessel and cooked in a specially made oven.

•

.

Turnip . . . . . . . . 17.7 kg (39 lb 3 oz) Broccoli

.

. . . . . . . . . 15.87 kg (35 lb)

Cucumber . . . . . 12.4 kg (27 lb 5 oz) Leek . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 kg (20 lb 5 oz) Carrot . . . . . . . . 8.61 kg (18 lb 13 oz) Brussels sprout . 8.3 kg (18 lb 4 oz) Pineapple . . . . . . 8. 3 kg (18 lb 4 oz)

.

Onion . . . . . . . . 8.15 kg (17 lb 15 oz) Parsnip . . . . . . . . . 7.8 kg (17 lb 4 oz)

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was produced by NOAS FM (Japan) at the Fourth Karaage Festival at AEON Mall Sanko in Nakatsu City, Oita, Japan, on 23 September 2011. · Potato salad: Spilva Ltd (Latvia) exhibited a 3.27-tonne (7,209-lb 1-oz) potato salad at the International Exhibition Centre of the Riga Technical University in Latvia, on 1 September 2002. · Risotto: On 26 November 2004, the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia served up a- 7.51-tonne (16 ,556-lb 11-oz) helping of risotto at First

Largest box of popcorn

Fleet Park, Sydney, Australia. · Salsa: A team led by Bob Blumer (Canada) created a super-sized salsa weighing 1,212 kg (2,672 lb) at the 26th Annual Tomato Festival in Jacksonville, Texas, USA, on 12 June 2010. Snails: The Omara M unicipal de Loures (Portugal) created a 1,111-kg (2,449-lb) serving of snails in Lou res, Portugal, on 11 J u ly 2009. · Stir-fry: On 5 September 2011, the University of •

Massachusetts Dining Services (USA) created a 1,818.91-kg (4,010-lb) stir-fry in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. · Vegetable stew: The city council of Tudela (Spain) created a 2,040-kg (4,497-lb 6.8-oz) vegetable stew in Tudela, northern Spain, on 30 April 2011. The recipe included locally grown artichokes, peas, broad beans, green beans, asparagus, onions and garlic.

Lemon . . . . . . . . . 5.26 kg (ll lb 9 oz) Potato . . . Tomato

. .

. . .4.98 kg (10 lb 14 oz)

. . . . .

. . . 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz)

Mango . . . . . . . . . . 3.43 kg (7 lb 8 oz) Crapefruit . . . . 3.21 kg (7 lb 1.2 oz) Pear . . . . . . . . . . . 2.94 kg (6 lb 8 oz) Avocado . . . . . . . 2.19 kg (4 lb 13 oz) Apple . . . . . . . . . . . 1.84 kg (4 lb 1 oz) Carlic .

.

.

. . . . . . . 1.19 kg (2 lb 10 oz)

Peach . . . . . . . . . . . 725 g (1 lb 9 oz) Pepper . . . . . . . . . . 290 g (10.08 oz)

.

Strawberry . . . . . . . . 231 g (8.14 oz) Cherry . . . . . . . . . . . 21.69 g (0.76 oz) Blueberry . . . .

. .

. . . 11.28 g (0.4 oz)

Pictured is record vegetable grower Peter Glazebrook (UK) with his prize-winning onion, weighed ot the Harrogate Flower Show in Yorkshire, UK, on 16 September 2011.

Oreo cookies The world's best selling cookie is the Oreo, witb total sales in excess o(SOO bi llion since its introduction i n the USA i n 1912. I f every O r e o ever made were to be stacked o n t o p of e a c h oth e r, the pile would reach to the Moon a n d back more than six times.

Cadbury's Dairy Milk The best-selling chocolate bar is Cadbury's Dairy Milk, generating annual sales worth $852 million (£551 m i llion) globa lly. It is especia lly popular i n the U K - the British get through a n average of 8.6 kg (19 lb) of chocolate per person every year.

After Eights Anthony Falzon ( M alta) downed a record-breaking 1 0 After Eight t h i n mints in one m i n u te, without using his ha nds, i n Sliema, M alta, o n 1 4 December 201 1 .

Coconut ice A 140.14-m -long (459-ft 9-in) cocon u t candy was made to celebrate the Coconut Festival at Tecolutla, Mexico, on 28 February 1 998 . Ferrero Rocher S i lvio Sabba (Ita ly) stacked a record 12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates on top of each other i n Pioltello, M i lan, Italy, on 30 J a n uary 201 2.

Chocolate coins The world's largest chocolate coin was unveiled at the Sun Plaza shopping centre i n Bucha rest, Romania, on 1 7 N ovember 201 1 . The enormous 1, 325,000-calorie co i n measured 1 4 em (5.5 in) thick with a diameter of 1 . 3 5 m (4 ft 5 i n) a n d wei g hed i n at 265 kg (584 lb 3 . 5 oz). If it had been made from gold, it would have cost £9.5 m i llion ($1 5 m i llion)!

Pez In May 1998, David Welch (USA) sold t h ree Pez dispensers for $6,000 (£3,660) each - a total of $18,000 (£10,980) - making them the most expensive sweet dispensers. Around 5 0 years old at the time, they had t h ree separate designs: a one-piece s h i ny gold elephant, a Mickey Mouse softhead and a head less dispenser embossed with the words "PEZ-HAAS". All three were bought by an anonymous dealer.

Kit Kat � The Kit Kat is t h e chocolate bar w i t h t h e greatest number of flavou r variants. To date, the sta ndard four finger KitKat has been available i n more than 1 20 flavours, including cucumber, wasabi, watermelon and salt and, of course, milk chocolate.

Candy floss The longest candy floss (cotton candy) measures 1 ,400 m (4,593 ft 2 i n) and was spun by Kocaeli Fuar Mud urlugu (Turkey) in lzmit, Kocaeli, Turkey, 10 My 2009.

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With a n nual sales worth $1 . 8 billion (£900 million) i n the USA alone as of 2007, the world's most popular sweet is the M&M. The candy coated chocolate drops were i ntroduced i n 1941 b y Americans Forrest Mars, Sr and R Bruce M u rrie, who na med the product after them selves.

largest chocolate bar TITAN IC TREATS Jelly beans

Hershey's Kiss The largest individual chocolate was a H e rshey's Kiss weighing 1 3,852 .71 kg (30,540 lb). It was made to celebrate the iconic chocolate's 100th a n niversary and was d isplayed at Chocolate World, Hershey, Pen nsylva nia, USA, on 7 J u ly 2007.

Smarties Using chopsticks, Kathryn Ratcliffe ( U K) ate a record 170 Smarties in three min utes at the G u i n ness World Records 2005 Roadshow at the Trafford Centre, M anchester, UK, on 27 November 2004.

Pick 'n' Mix An 800-g (1 - lb 1 2-oz) bag of "p ick 'n' mix" sweets, including fizzy cola bottles, white mice and jelly worms, sold for £14,500 ($23,653) at a charity auction for Reta i l Trust (UK) on 21 February 2009. It was the last pick 'n' mix to be sold by the now defunct Woolworths cha i n . Proceeds went towards a helpline for retail workers and their fa m i lies affected by redundancy.

I

Piece of toffee

String of liquorice

Hig hest chocolate consu m ption Switzerland has the highest per capita chocolate consumption. On average, its citizens m a nage to consume 1 0 . 5 5 kg (23 lb 4 oz) of chocolate each per year - hardly surprising, given the legendary q u ality of Swiss chocolate.

t Chocolate Easter Egg

Fudge The largest slab of fudge weighed 2.61 tonnes (5,754 lb) and was made by Northwest Fudge Factory (Canada) in Levack, Ontario, Canada, on 23 October 2010.

10.3 m tall

Chocolate bar

4 m wide

Gummy bear candy

Maltesers The farthest distance to blow a Malteser with a straw is 14.07 m (46 ft 1 in), achieved by Ash rita Furman (USA) i n the gymnasium of the Jama ica YMCA, New York City, USA, on 29 November 2010.

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Bubble-g u m T h e largest bubble-gum bubble blown through the nose had a dia meter of 27.94 e m (11 in). I t was created by Joyce Samuels (USA) on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime in Los Angeles, USA, on 1 0 November 2000.

Airline boarding passes

Autographed baseballs

Miguel Fernandez Dfaz (Spain) had a collection of 1,020 airline boarding passes from 54 airlines as of May 2009.

Dennis M Schrader (USA) had collected 4,020 baseballs, all autographed by different professional baseball players, as of August 2011.

Armoured vehicles As of 3 February 2007, Jacques Littlefield (USA) had 229 de-a�tivated armoured fighting vehiCles, including a German Panzer IV tank, displayed at his ranch in California, USA.

Autographed books As of 11 March 2011, Richard Warren of Lake Forest, California, USA, had collected 2,381 books, all signed by their original authors.

Harry Potter memora bilia The largest collection of Harry Potter memorabilia belongs to Steve Petrick of Pittsl>urgh, USA, and consisted of 608 individual items as of 30 October 2011. Steve's huge hoard includes lifesize cardboard cut-outs of all the main characters, adult and children's versions of the books, Quidditch trophies, goggles and snitches, and a large assortment of toy owls and wands. He also has numerous , soft toys, including one of Hag rid's three-headed dog, Fluffy.

Manfred Rothstein (USA) has amassed 675 back scratchers from 71 countries, housed in his dermatology clinic in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA.

YOUR COLLECTIONS D o you have a record-breaking collection'? If you see a record here that you think you can break, or have a collection that's not already featured in the book, let us know - you might even get your name in the next edition!

1. A record-breaking collection is based on the number of items of a particular kind that are distinguishable in some way (i.e., no two items should be the same).

Candles Lam Chung Foon (Hong Kong) owned 6,360 different candles, as of 23 December 2011. He keeps them in four temperature regulated showrooms.

Charlie's Angels memorabilia Jack Condon (USA) has 5,569 items of Charlie's Angels memorabilia, which he has been collecting since 1976.

Dioramas Nabil Karam (Lebanon) has 333 unique dioramas (three dimensional models of a scene). Nabil also has the largest collection of model cars, with 27,777 unique items (see p.13). Both collections were counted on 17 November 2011.

"Do Not Disturb" signs Jean- Fran�ois Vernetti (Switzerland) has collected 11,111 different "Do Not Disturb" signs from hotels in 189 countries since 1985.

Film cameras Richard LaRiviere (USA) owns 894 different film cameras that he has collected since 1960.

Film projectors Christos Psathas (Greece) had 1,919 film projectors, as of 29 July 2011.

Fireman's patches Bob Brooks (USA) has 8,158 fireman's patches, all of which

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he displayed at the Albany Fire Department in Albany, Oregon, USA, on 22 June 2011. Bob was a fireman for 35 years.

Hats Roger Buckey Legried (USA) has collected hats since 1970 and, as of 2 March 2010, he had 100,336 of them.

2 . All items should have been

accumulated personally (rather than by an organization).

Horse-related items Edgar Rugeles (Colombia) had 2,149 horse-related items, as of 26 August 2011.

Miniature champagne bottles Christoph Bermpohl (Germany) had 1,030 different miniature champagne bottles, as of July 2011.

Moutai bottles Zhang J inzhong (China) had 432 different bottles of Moutai liquor, as of May 2011. He's been collecting since 2003.

N umber plates Brothers Peter and Tamas Kenyeres (both H ungary) had 11,345 different number plates from 133 countries, as of April 2011. They have been collecting since 1990.

Pizza-related items Brian Dwyer (USA) had 561 different pizza-related items, as of 31 J u ly 2011. He has only been collecting since 2010. His collection includes games, puzzles and matchboxes.

Jozsef Tari ( Hungary) owns 4,500 miniature books, including one that measures only 2.75 mm high and 1.75 mm wide - that's almost the same size as the "H" in "Hungary" in this sentence. Jozsef, a printer by trade, has been collecting miniature books since 1972 and he has even made some of his own miniature books. He has a special bookcase for his collection each shelf is about half the height of a matchbox.

3. An inventory of all the items should be compiled in the presence of two independent witnesses. The witnesses should not be family members, friends or teachers and, preferably, one of them should be an expert in collections (i.e., a museum curator or librarian). The final total should be included in statements submitted by your

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two (unrelated) independent

witnesses.

4. Owing to the huge umber of items it is

possible to collect, priority will be given to those that reflect proven widespread interest.

5. We will ask you for photographs

or video of your entire collection.

For full details on how to register your claim, visit www.guinnessworldrecords.com

Hello Kitty memora bilia Asako Kanda (Japan) had amassed 4,519 d ifferent Hello Kitty items a s 1 4 August 2011. H e r house is filled with a huge range o f products relating to the white bobtail cat whose full name is Kitty White, including a frying pan, an electric fan and even a Hello Kitty toilet seat!

Angels Since 1976, Joyce and Lowell Berg (both USA) have collected 13,165 angelic objects, including angel and cherub figurines, music boxes and even an angel smoke alarm.

Bells Myrtle B Eldridge (USA) has built up a collection of 9,638 bells si nce the 1980s.

Butterflies As of September 2011 , N i n a Merinova (Russia) owned a total of 735 different butterfly

ornaments. S h e started her collection in 1996 and makes many of the ornaments herself.

Cats Carmen de Aldana (Guatemala) had 21,321 different cat-related items as of 14 March 2011. She began her collection in 1954 with three ceramic kittens, one of which she still owns.

Coca-Cola memorabilia Rebecca Flores (USA) began collecting Coca-Cola items in 2005. As of 15 December 2008, she had 945 unique objects.

Shoes

100 www . g u i n n e s s wo r ld re c o r d s . c o m

Donald Duck memorabilia Mary Brooks (USA) had 1,411 objects related to Donald Duck as of March 2011. Her collection began more than 35 years ago and it now occupies a spare room in her house.

Flamingos Sherry Knight (USA) owned 619 flamingo-related items as of 19 February 2011. Her collection is d isplayed at the Path Shelter Store in Lecanto, Florida, USA.

Fridge magnets Louise J Greenfarb (USA) has amassed a total of 35,000 non-duplicated fridge magnets. Her collection dates back to the 1970s.

Gnomes and pixies Ann Atkin (UK) had 2,042 � un�ue ga�en gnomes and pixies as of March 2011.

Handmade dolls Isabel Romero Jorques (Spain) has made 500 felt dolls by hand, each 10 em (3.9 in) high. Although she made dolls as a child, it was only aged 69, prompted by her grandchilden, that she began creating her record-breaking collection.

Mickey Mouse memorabilia

Janet Esteves ( USA) owned 2.760 different M ickey Mouse items as of 11 December 2008.

Pandas

Miranda Kessler ( USA ) had put together a collection of 1,225 unique panda items by March 2011.

Pigs

Anne Langton ( U K ) has a collection of 16,779 pig items which she has been collecting for more than 40 years.

Barbie dolls Dorfmann shares her home i n Dusseldorf, Germany, with 15,000 unique

Barbie dolls. She received her first doll back in 1 966, but has only been collecting seriously since 1993. Barbie was first released by US toy giants Mattel in 1959. Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, the name of the daughter of Mattel founders Elliot and Ruth Handler (USA). Pokemon memorabilia

Lisa Courtney ( UK) was the proud owner of 14,410 different items of Pokemon memorabilia as of 14 October 2010, after more than 14 years of collecting.

Rubber ducks

Charlotte Lee ( USA ) owned 5,631 unique rubber ducks by 10 April 2011.

Spice Girls memorabilia As of April 2011, Elizabeth West ( U K) owned 2,066 different Spice Girls items.

COLLECTOR MAN lA

1 3,788,795

total number of unique items collected by Guinness World Records collectors•

• current holders only; not including public collections amassed by libraries or universities

Top 1 0 largest collections

•

W Human teeth.. .. . . . ... .... 2,000,744 • Books Matchbook covers ...... 3,159,119

.

(privately owned). . . . .. 1,500,000

• Matchbox labels... . . . . . 1,054,221 rl C igarette cards .. . .. . ... . 1,000,000 8 Buttons ...................... 439,900

� Beer labels................ 424,868

C Scratchcards . . . . .. 319,011

. . .. .. ..

� Ballpoint pens ........... 285,150 / Cigar bands . . .... . .. .. . .. .. 211,104

10

items in the smallest record· breaking collection: playable musical instruments made of matchsticks. A total of 106,000 matcheswere used to make, among other instruments, a violin, a mandolin, a recorder and a ukulele! The collection is owned by Tony Hall (UK). TOP 10 COLLECTING NATIONS

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Artificial climbing wall Scared of heights? The tallest artificial climbing wall measured 41.89 m (137.42 ft) and was constructed at Historic Banning M ills in Whitesburg, Georgia, USA. It was scaled in 12 minutes by experienced climber Kalib Robertson on 9 December 2011.

Bar chimes Consisting of 1,221 parts, the largest playable bar chimes reach 19.58 m (64 ft 2 in) in length. They were built by U niversal Percussion Inc., TreeWorks Chimes, Tom Shelley and Mitch McMichen (all USA) and presented and played at the Drum Festival in Columbiana, Ohio, USA, on 28 August 2011.

the largest cup of coffee contained around 54,304 regular servings. It was made by PuertoRicolsCoffee.com and served at the Puerto Rico Coffee Expo 2011 held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 9 October 2011.

Drum A drum measuring 5.54 m (18 ft 2 in) in diameter, 5.96 m (19 ft 6 in) tall and weighing 7 tonnes (15.432 lb 5.76 oz) was built by the Yeong Dong-Gun local government and Seuk Je Lee (all South Korea) in Simcheon-Meon, South Korea, on 6 July 2011.

Flag (flown) The city of Piedras Negras in Coahuila, Mexico, raised a flag measuring 34.3 m x 60 m (112 ft 6.39 in x 196 ft 10.2 in) on 2 December 2011. The largest draped flag, unveiled in Rayak, Lebanon, on 1 0 October 2010 in honour of the Lebanese Army, was 325 m X 203 m (1,066 ft X 666 ft).

Garden gnome A giant garden gnome built by Ron Hale (Canada) in 1998 reached a record height of 7.91 m (25 ft 11 in).

Bed On 28 May 2011, the biggest bed was created by Commissie Zomerfeesten St Gregorius Hertme (Netherlands) in Hertme, Netherlands. It is 26.5 m (86 ft 11 in) long and 16.44 m (53 ft 11 in) wide.

Jacket A jacket measuring 12.95 m (42 ft 6 in) from collar to base and 1 5.32 m (50 ft 3 in) across from sleeve to sleeve was made at St George's Church (UK) i n Stockport, U K , o n 29 June 2011.

Cup of coffee At 12,847.69 litres (2,826.09 UK gal; 3,394 US gal),

Biggest drum kit The Largest drum kit comprises 340 pieces, is owned by Dr Mark Temperate (USA) and was counted in Lakeville, New York, USA, on 31 October 2011. A huge converted truck is used to transport the

102

Jigsaw puzzle When measured by number of pieces, the largest jigsaw is a 551,232-piece puzzle completed on 24 September 2011 by 1,600 students of the University of Economics of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), at a local stadium. It had an overall size of 14.85 x 23.20 m (48 ft 8.64 in x 76 ft 1 . 38 in). The largest jigsaw by area comprised 21,600 pieces and measured 5.428.8 m2 (58.435 ft2). Devised by Great East Asia Surveyors & Consultants Co. Ltd, it was assembled by 777 people at the former Kai Talc Airport in Hong Kong on 3 November 2002.

FANTASTIC FASH ION For the gentleman or lady with the fuller figure, we present the Guinness World Records wardrobe of outsized-outfits. 7.92 m

Sock A sock measuring 9.93 m (32 ft 7 in) 6.86 m (22 ft 6 in) x 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in) was displayed on 2 December 2011 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. Rhode Island, USA. Made by Project U n dercover, Inc. (USA), it was designed to resemble a "sock monkey" puppet.

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Biggest telephone The world's Largest operational telephone was exhibited on 16 September 1988 to celebrate the 80th birthday of Centraal Beheer, an insurance in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. It was 2.47 m (8 ft 1 in) high and 6.06 m (19 ft 11 in) Long, and weighed 3.5 tonnes. The handset, being 7.14 m (23 ft 5 in) Long, had to be Lifted by crane for a call to be made. Magazine

Pocket knife

An edition of Veronica Magazine was the largest magazine ever, at 190 em 270 em (6 ft 2 in 8 ft 10 i n). It was measured in Hilversum, Netherlands, on 31 October 2011.

When opened, the world's largest pocket knife measures 6.02 m (17 ft 33 in) and has a steel blade 2.46 m (8 ft 1 in) long. It was designed and manufactured by Garima Foundation and Pankaj Ojha (all India) and was presented at the Pink Square Mall, Jaipur, India, on 21 December 2010.

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Screwdriver A giant screwdriver was created by Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury · (India) and was unveiled in New Delhi, India, on 20 April 2011. It is 2.27 m (89.2 i n) long and has an acrylic handle which measures 24.13 e m (9.5 in) at its widest point and is 71.12 em in) long. The steel shaft em (3.5 in) thick and

Tea bag Capable of producing over 50,000 cups of tea, the biggest tea bag weighs 120 kg (264 lb 8.8 oz) and was achieved by All About Tea (UK) aboard HMS Warrior i n Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK, on 16 November 2011. The tea bag measures 2.48 m (8 ft 1 .64 in) in length and width.

White cane On 27 August 2011. the largest white cane measured 23.55 m (77 ft 3.16 in) and was achieved by the Swiss Federation of the Blind and Visually I mpaired Fribourg Section (Switzerland) in Fribourg, Switzerland.

Wine glass At 3.37 m (11 ft) tall and 1. 73 m (5 ft 8 in) at its widest, the biggest wine glass was completed by the Limassol M u nicipality in Cyprus on 8 September 2011. It was revealed at the 50th

Finger painting Drawing (one artist) A pencil drawing by Ashok Nag pure (India) measuring 98.75 X 2.43 m (324 X 8 ft}, depicting the life of Indian film maker Dadasaheb Phalke, was shown in Nashik, Maharashtra, India, on 24 May 2010.

On 26 November 2009, a total of 3 , 242 students created a finger painting measuring 2,101.43 m2 (22,619.51 ft2}. The event was organized by the Organizing Committee of the Anti Youth Drug Abuse Campaign at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, China.

largest pa noramic painting

A 3,012.36-m2 (32,424.82-ft2) panoramic painting entitled Splendid Central Plains was unveiled by the Henan Administration of Radio Film and Television (China) at the Tower of Fortune in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China, on 26 April 2011. Handprint painting A handprint painting covering 5,893 m2 (63,431 ft2) - larger than an American football field - was created by 5,000 children in an event organized by the UN Relief and Works Agency. It was made at the Khan Younis Stadium in Southern Gaza, Palestinian Entity (West Bank-Gaza) on 21 July 2011 and depicted the United Nations logo as the sun rising over the Gaza Strip.

Painting-by-numbers

Painting by mouth

In celebration of GWR Day 2010, a painting-by-numbers ·artwork measuring 3,130.55 m2 (33,696.95 ft2) was unveiled by the Ecole de Dessin in Lagos State, Nigeria.

R Rajendran (India) painted a 9.14 x 6.10-m (30 x 20-ft) artwork, as a tribute to Mother Teresa, with his mouth. It was measured on 30 October 2007.

Footprint painting

Made for Coca-Cola i�ecek by 580 Turkish students, the largest spray-painted image measured 760.28 m2 (8,183.58 ft2). It was completed at Hezarfen Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, on 16 August 2004.

On 29 May 2011, in an event organized by Creative Campus in Ealing, London, UK, 200 participants created a 1 , 489.45-m2 (16,000-ft2) painting using their feet.

Spray-painted picture

largest model of a huma n organ Pfizer Japan Inc. created a 5.02 x 5.78-m (16-ft 5-in x 18-ft 11-in) model of a human lung at Ario Sapporo, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, on 2 October 2010. One side displayed a healthy lung; the other showed a smoker's lung. Underwater painting Alexander Belozor (Ukraine) created a 0.8-m2 (8.61-ft2) submarine painting at diving site El M i na in the Red Sea, off the coast of H urghada, Egypt, on 18 December 2010.

MOST EXPE NSIVE ART Art is big business. And business is getting bigger all the time ... The most expensive book illustration sold at auction is a Beatrix Potter ( UK) watercolour titled The Rabbits' Christmas Party. Created in the 1890s, it was bought on 17 July 2008 by a British collector for £289,250 ($579,232).

Cartoon strip {team) The longest cartoon strip made by a team measured 1,012 m (3,320 ft). It was created by students of Ecole Emile Cohl, ECAM and Centrale Lyon (all France) in an event staged by Lyon BD Organisation in Lyon, France, on 28 May 2011.

Graffiti scroll Almeersegraffiti (Netherlands) organized 300 participants in the creation of a gigantic graffiti scroll measuring 1,576.3 m (5,171 ft 6 in) - longer than 22 747 j umbo jets - in Almere, Netherlands, on 2 July 2011.

Painting A 6-km-long (19,690-ft) artwork on the theme of government transparency was painted by 3,000 students from local schools (all Mexico) at an event held at Parque Tangamanga in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on 28 May 2010.

The longest painting by an individual measured 2,008 m (6,587 ft) and was created by Thommes Nentwig (Germany). It was completed, presented and measured in Vechta, Germany, on 10 July 2008. The longest anamorphic painting - that is, a distorted artwork that when viewed from the correct angle looks three-dimensional measures 128.7 m (422 ft 3 in) and was created by Qi Xinghua (China). Entitled Macao's One Impression, it was unveiled at the One Central Macao shopping centre in China on 6 December 2011. (See below for an example of anamorphic pavement art.)

The most expensive photograph 1s an 1mage of the Rhine taken -by the German artist Andreas Gursky ( b. 1955). It fetched $4,338,500 (£2,706,490), including buyer's premium, at Christie's i n New York City, USA, on 8 November 2011. (See p.149)

Painting by numbers Entitled Birds and Wetlands, the longest painting by numbers measures 959.35 m (3,147 ft 5 in). It was created by 2,041 participants in an event organized by the Hong Kong Wetland Park at their premises i n Hong Kong, China, on 17 October 2009.

Danseuse au repos (c. 1879), a pastel of a ballet dancer by French artist Edgar Degas, sold for £17,601,500 ($27,854,400) at Sotheby's, London, UK, on 28 June 1999, making it the most expensive work of art on paper.

The most expensive drawing by an Old Master is the Head of a Muse by Raphael ( Italy), which sold for £29,200,000 ($47,788,400) on 9 December 2009 at Christie's, London, UK.

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The most expensive sculpture sold at auction is Alberto Giacometti's {Switzerland) bronze sculpture entitled L'Homme qui marche I (The Walking Man /, 1960), which sold to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby's, London, UK, for a record £65,000,000 ($103,676,000) on 3 February 2010. Damien Hirst ( UK) made £111 million ($200.8 million) during - an auction on 15 and 16 September 2008, the most money made at auction by an artist. Of the 167 works that went on sale at Sotheby's in London, UK, only three were not sold.

A group of 80 students from De Eindhovense School (Netherlands) made a woodblock print 151.5 m (497 ft) long that was exhibited at their school in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on 30 January 2009. Entitled Holland and Nicaragua, it was created to raise awareness of Chinandega - Eindhoven's twin city in Nicaragua.

The most expensive painting in private sale is French artist Paul Cezanne's The Card Players. One of a _ series of five, it was sold to the royal family of Qatar for more than $250 million (£158.3 million) in 2011. Vanity Fair magazine bro e news of the sale in Februa 2 -z

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haw young some CiWR record

holders are! Here's a selection of remarkably young achievers, Listed by ascending age.

No.1 box-office star Film star Shirley Temple (USA. b. 23 April l 928) was seven years old when she became No.1 at the box office in 1935, retaining the title until l938. Temple's great popularity saw her become the youngest millionairess (non-inherited).

She had earned more than $1 million (£204,498) before she reached the age of 10. The youngest millionaire (non-inherited) was the American child film actor Jackie Coogan (1914-84), who was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. In 1923-24, he was earning $22,000 (£11,936) per week and retained approximately 60% of his films' profits. By the age of 13. Coogan had become a millionaire in his own right.

Club Dl Jack H i ll (UK, b. 20 May 2000) played at CK's Bar and Club in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, UK, on 26 August 2007 aged 7 years 98 days.

Film director The youngest d i rector of a professionally made featu re length film is Kishan Shrikanth (India, b. 6 January 1996), who directed C/o Footpath (India, 2006) - about an orphaned boy who wants to go to school when he was nine years old.

Graduate Michael Kearney (USA) obtained his BA in anthropology from the University of South Alabama, USA. in June 1994, at the age of 10 years 4 months. He went on to gain his Master of Science degree in biochemistry o n 9 August 1998, aged just 14 years 8 months.

Author of a best selling book series Born on 17 November 1983, Christopher Paolini (USA) is the author of the Inheritance Cycle series. It had sold in excess of 20 million copies as of May 2011 and remains a firm favourite of fantasy fans the world over.

Chess grandmaster Child prodigy Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine, b. 12 January 1990) ·qualified as an international chess grandmaster on 12 August 2002, at the age of 12 years 212 days. The title has been in existence since 1950.

Doctorate On 13 Apri l l814, Carl Witte of Loch au, Austria. was made a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Giessen, Germany, at the age of 12.

Olympic gold medallist The youngest female Olympic champion was Kim Yun-mi (South Korea, b. 1 December 1980), aged 13 years 85 days, in the 1994 women's 3,000 m short-track speed skating relay event.

Composer of a musical Adam Lorincz (Hungary, b. 1 June 1988) was aged 14 years 76 days when his 92-minute musical Star of the King was performed on 16 August 2002 in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.

FIFA World Cup finals goalscorer Pele (b. Edson Arantes do Nascimento) was 17 years 239 days old when he scored for Brazil against Wales at Gothenburg, Sweden, on 19 June 1958.

N BA player Jermaine O'Neal (USA, b. 13 October 1978) made his debut for the Portland Trail Blazers against the Denver Nuggets on 5 December 1996 at the age of 1 8 years 53 days.

Hollywood producer Steven Paul (USA) was 20 when he produced and directed Falling in Love Again (USA, 1980), starring Elliott Gould and Susannah York, which saw the film debut of actress Michelle Pfeiffer. He has produced a further 28 films and directed the 1993 NYPD Blue TV series.

Super Bowl player At 21 years 155 days, Jamal Lewis (USA, b. 26 August 1979) of the Baltimore Ravens is the youngest player to ever appear in the Super Bowl. Lewis ran for 102 yards and a touchdown in a 34-7 romp over the New York Giants at Super Bowl XXXV on 28 January 2001.

Oscar winner (Best Actress) On 30 March 1 987, aged 21 years 218 days, Marlee Matlin (USA, b. 24 August 1965) won the Best Actress award for playing Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God (USA, 1986) The youngest winner of an Oscar for Best Actor is Adrien Brody (USA, b. 14 April 1974). He picked up the award on 23 March 2003 for his performance as Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist

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(France/Germany/UK/Poland, 2002), aged 29 years 343 days.

Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel (Germany, b. 3 July 1987) won his first Formula One World Championship aged 23 years 134 days. He took the title on 14 November 2010, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates. Vette! is also the youngest driver to win a Formula One World Championship race. He was 21 years 72 days old when he won the Italian Grand Prix on 14 September 2008, driving for Tore Rosso.

The youngest female astronaut was Valentina Tereshkova (USSR, b. 6 March 1937), who was 26 years 102 days old when she became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963 in Vostok 6.

on skis across the frozen continent, Ola was pulling a sled that weighed approximately120 kg (260 lb) when fully laden, yet still managed to finish 10 days earlier than he had expected.

Antarctic solo trekker

Chief Scout

On 20 December 1998, 26-year-old Swede Ola Skinnarmo arrived on his own, unaided, at the Scott Base in Antarctica after a 47-day, 1,200-km (750-mile) trek

Prime minister William Pitt (1759-1806) was 24 years 205 days old when he assumed office on 19 December 1783. He had previously declined the premiership at the age of 23 years 275 days. (In fact, the term "prime minister" wasn't officially used to describe the role until 1905.)

1 Hong Kong

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3 Bosnia

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4 Hungary

1.3

Japan

1.3

Malta

1.3

Poland

1.3

Romania S i ngapore

1.3

The youngest Chief Scout is Edward " Bear" Grylls (UK). He was 34 years old when he received the appointmeht from The Council of the Scout Movement in London, in 2009.

1.3

Slovakia

1.3

South Korea

1.3

YOUNG PLANET Figures from the US Census Bureau for 2010 revealed that there were more than 2.4 billion people under 19 years old on Earth:

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Astronaut Major (later Lieutenant-General) Gherman Stepanovich Titov (USSR, b. 11 September 1935) was aged 25 years 329 days when he launched in Vostok 2 on 6 August 1961 .

Games gold meda l list

female to win a gold medal at the X Games in any discipline when she won the Skateboard Vert competition aged 14 years 321 days at X Games 10, Los Angeles, California, USA, on 7 August 2004.

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most World G rauy W restling Championships The most prolific winner of the World Gravy Wrestling Championships, held annually at the Rose 'n' Bowl pub in Stacksteads, Lancashire, UK, is Joel Hicks (UK). Out of the four competitive tournaments held to date, he has won the title twice, in 2009 and 2011.

World Conker Championships (men) The most World Conker Championships won in the men's category is three, by P Midlane (UK), who took the title in 1969, 1973 and 1985, and J Marsh (UK), who won in 1974, 1975 and 1994. The annual contest started in Ashton, Northamptonshire, UK, in 1965.

Gurning World Championships (women) Between 1977 and 2010, Anne Woods (UK) won 27 Women's Gurning World Championships at the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria, UK. Tommy Mattinson (UK) has recorded the most wins of the Men's Gurning World Championships, with 12. His flexible face took top prize at the annual Gurning World

Championships at Egremont Crab Fair, UK, in 1986-87 and 10 times between 1999 and 2010.

Horseshoe Pitching World Championships (women) Vicki Chappelle Winston (USA) won 10 Women's Horseshoe Pitching World Championships. She took the first of her titles in 1956. and the last in 1981.

Log Rolling World Championships (men) Between 1956 and 1969, Jubiel Wickheim (Canada) triumphed in 10 Log Rolling World Championships.

has picked up the most Women's World Pea Shooting Championships, producing three wins consecutively in 2005-07.

Sauna World Championships

Tiddlywinks World Championships (pairs) Larry Kahn (USA) has won the greatest number of pairs titles at the Tiddlywinks World Championships. He secured 16 victories between 1978 and 2011.

Timo Kaukonen (Finland) has won the Sauna World Championships in Heinola five times, in 2003, 200507 and 2009.

Contestants must push an opponent's foot to the other side of a ring called a "toe rack" using only their toes. Karen Davies (UK) won four times consecutively in the women's category, between 1999 and 2002 - the most Women's Toe Wrestling World Championships.

Most Wife Carrying World Championships (male) Margo Uusorg (Estonia) won the World Championships five times, in 2000-01, 2003 and 2005-06. The most Wife Carrying World Championships won by a female is two. The record is shared by four Estonians: Annela Ojaste (1998-99), Birgit Ullrich (2000-01), Egle Soll (2003 and 2005) and lnga Klauso (2004 and 2007).

World Pea Shooting Championships (men) Mike Fordham (UK) won an unprecedented seven Championships, in 1977-78, 1981, 1983-85 and 1992.

ost Tiddlywinks World Championships "Winker" extraordinaire Larry Kahn (USA) won 21 World Championships singles titles from 1 983 to 2011. He discovered the game in 1971 as a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Toe Wrestling World Championships (men)

Wok Racing World Championships (team)

Alan Nash (UK) has won six World Championships, in 1994, 1996-97, 2000, 2002 and 2009. Nash, nicknamed "Nasty", has also had the honour of being knighted by His Majesty King Leo 1st of Redonda in the West Indies. The contest is held annually at Ye Olde Royal Oak in Welton, Staffordshire. UK.

Two teams have won the Wok Racing World Championships twice each: ProSieben (Germany) in 2004-05 and TV Total (Germany) in 2009-10. F I N D MORE CONVENTIONAL SPORTS ON P.230

World Conker Championships (women) Two women have won the World Conker Championships twice: Sheila Doubleday (UK) won the inaugural women's event in 1988 and took the title again in 1993, in a competition organized by Ashton Conker Club. Tina Stone (UK) won the event in 1994 and 2007.

THE COTSWOLD OLI M PICKS The modern Olympic Games was the brainchild of France's Baron de Coubertin at the end of the 19th century. But 284 years prior to the Games' revival, the Cotswold Olimpicks in Gloucestershire, UK, were first staged. Once described as a "unique blend of history, eccentricity, amateurism and enthusiasm bordering on the obsessive", this competition involves a range of rather curious disciplines:

World Unicycle Hockey titles U N ICON, the world championships of unicycling, has been held every two years since 1984. U nicycle hockey was added to the programme of events in 1994, since when nine tournaments have been contested. The Swiss Power Team (Switzerland) has won the title a record three times, in 2004, 2006 and 2010.

DANCING The medieval Morris-dancing equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing

Men's World Bog Snorkelling Championships Andrew Holmes (UK) completed the course in 1 min 24.22 sec at Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, UK, on 28 August 2011.

Men's World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships Graham Robinson (UK) won the men's World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships in 51 min 37 sec at the 2010 games in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, UK.

World Roof Bolting Championships This vocational "sport" tests competitors' accuracy and skill with a roof-bolting d rill machine. Brian McArdle and Les Bentlin (both Australia) secured the 1998 World •

Championships by finishing the required tasks in 1 min 50.85 sec at Fingal Valley, Tasmania.

Wife Carrying Championships On 1 July 2006, Margo Uusorg and Sandra Kullas (both Estonia) completed the 253.5-m (831-ft 8-in) obstacle course at the World Wife Carrying Championships in 56.9 seconds. This is the fastest time since a minimum "wife weight" was introduced in 2002.

Woolsack race (male) Pete Roberts (UK) achieved the fastest men's individual

time of 45.94 seconds in the 2007 World Woolsack Championships. The event is held annually at Tetbury in Gloucestershire, UK, and involves competitors racing up and down the Hn-4 Gumstool Hill while carrying a 27.21-kg (60-lb) bag of wool on their shoulders. The fastest woolsack race by a woman in the event is 1 min 6.3 sec in 2009, by Zoe Dixon (UK). Women competitors carry a 13.6-kg (30-lb) bag of wool on their shoulders.

CHESS It's not all physical - this is a mental match of minds

COCKFIGHTING Pitting one angry, aggressive rooster against another to the death

lUMPING IN SACKS Jumping. In sacks

PIKE DRILL Wielding a long spear with grace and aplomb

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SHIN KICKING Kicking your opponent to the ground by stamping on their shins

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SPURNING THE BARRE M i ddle England's version of Scotland's Highland Games caber toss

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HAY BALE RACING Shifting a bundle of hay using a wheelbarrow at high speed

most arrows caught blindfolded (two minutes) Joe Alexander (Germany) caught four arrows blindfolded in two minutes at the gym of Joe Alexander Entertainment Group in Hamburg, Germany, on 16 November 2011 . He was 8 m (26 ft 3 in) from the archer, Peter Dubberstein (Germany). Joe also holds the record for the most arrows caught (two minutes) - 43 in all - set on 17 November 201 0.

most kicks to the head in one minute (self) The greatest number of self administered kicks to the head in one minute is 115, by Joshua William Reed (USA) on the set of Guinness World Records Gone Wild at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 28 September 201 1 .

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longest duration full-body burn (without oxygen) UNDER RISK UNDERWATER If a record doesn't feel quite demanding enough, why not try it underwater? These people did ... Greatest depth cycled underwater

• 66.5 m (218ft 2 in) • Vittorio lnnocente (Italy) · Santa Margherita Ligure, Liguria, Italy • 21 July 2008 Farthest distance cycled underwater

• 3.04 km (1.87 miles) · Ash rita Furman (USA) • Complexo Olimpico de Piscinasde Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal • 22 September 2011 Farthest distance on a pogo stick underwater

• 512.06 m (1,680 ft) • Ashrita Furman (USA) · Nassau County Aquatic Center, East Meadow, New York, USA • 1 August 2007 Fastest escape from a straitjacket underwater

• 15.41 seconds · Matthew Cassiere aka "Matt the Knife" (USA) • Zheng Da Zong Yi - Guinness World Records Special, CCTV Studios, Beijing, China • 13 September 2007 Fastest escape from handcuffs underwater

• 4 seconds • Zdenek Bradac (Czech • Jablonec nad Nisou sw1 111 ng pool, Jablonec nad Nis u • Czech Republic • 15 February 2011 Longest submergence underwater in a controlled environment

• 4 days 4 hours (100 hours total) • Ronny Frlmann (Norway) • Central Station, Oslo, Norway • 14-18 June 2007 Longest time breath held undirwater voluntarily

·2 33 sec • Pe et Colat (Switzerland) • Eblkon, Switzerland • 17 September 2011

CO NTENTS

To the Limits: How Deep Can We Go? 114 Circumnavigation 116 Polar Journeys 118 Mountai neers 120 Epic Journeys Sea Journeys

122 124

longest JOu rney by quad bike •

Quad Squad Expedition team members Valerio De Simoni, Kristopher Davant and James Kenyon (all Australia) started out from Istanbul, Turkey, on 10 August 2010, and went on to set a new record for the longest journey on a quad bike (ATV) by covering 56,239 km (34,945 miles). The trip ended in Sydney, Australia, with a 500-strong motorcycle escort, on 22 October 2011 after 437 days 19 hr 9 min. The team had traversed 37 countries.

W hat's the g reatest depth we can reach? With his Virgin Oceanic project, Richard Branson (UK) hopes to achieve a solo trip to the deepest points in every ocean. But just how far will he be able to descend in his Deep Flight Challenger submersible? What's the a bsolute limit when it comes to plumbing the depths of our planet?

318.2 m (1,044 ft) Deepest scuba dive:

Nuno Gomes (South Africa) descended a fifth of a mile in the Red Sea off Dahab, Egypt, on 10 June 2005. 1 km (3,345 ft) Deepest operational combat submarine: No military sub has gone deeper than the Russian K-278.

2 km (1.2 miles) Deepest dive by a mammal: A bull sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) was studied off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean in 1991 .

Deepest half marathon: A competition between 11 racers in the Bochnia salt m i n e in Poland on 4 March 2004.

1.3 k m (4,166 ft) Deepest concert: Agonizer (Finland) played in the Pyhasalmi M ine Oy at Pyhajarvi, Finland, on 4 August 2007.

2.191 km (1 .3 miles) Deepest cave: In September 2007,

Ukranian cavers (speleologists) reached a new record depth at the Krubera Cave in �he Arabika Massif of Georgia.

2.4 km (1 .5 miles) Deepest live TV broadcast by a presenter: Alastai r Fothergill (UK) relayed Abyss Live for the BBC on 29 September 2002 from inside a M i r submersible, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge off the eastern coast of the USA.

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4 km (2.5 miles) Wreck of RMS Titan i c

The pride of the White Star Line (UK) was sunk on 15 April 1912 off Newfoundland, Canada, with the loss of 1,517 lives. The youngest person to dive to the Titanic is Sebastian Harris (UK), who was 13 years old when he visited the site in the Mir 2 submersible on 2 August 2005.

Deepest land-dwelling creature

The 0.5-mm-long (0.02-in) nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto - aka the "worm from hell" - was found in a South African goldmine in 2011.

Deepest mine: The TauTon a gold m i n e near Carletonville, South Africa, began operation in 1962 and, by 2008, had reached 3.9 km (2.4 m i les) deep. The lift journey can take one hour.

Deepest submersible in service

Built in 1990, the Shinkai 6500 is a Japanese three-man research submarine with a 7.35-cm-thick (2.9-in) hull. It made its 1,000th dive In 2007.

5.8 km (3.6 miles) Deepest shipwreck: World War I I German blockade runner SS Rio Grande , discovered in 1996 at the bottom of the South Atlantic Ocean, on 30 November 1996.

On land: Even at 12.2 km ( 7.6 mi les} , the deepest bore hole (see below) is barely a scratch on the Earth's surface. The planet's outer crust comprises 35 km (21.5 m i les) of solid rock. Assuming we could stop water seeping into our hole - a constant problem in m i nes - we'd a lso have to contend with temperatures that rise the deeper we go; at the bottom of the 3,900-m-deep (2.4-mile) TauTona m i neshaft (a bove} , our current depth limit on land, the heat rises to 55°( ( 131° F ) . On breaking throug h the crust, we'd then face the challenge of the mantle: 3,000 km (1 , 864 m i les) of super-heated rock at 400-900°( ( 752-1 ,652°F ) - depending on depth. Temperatures here are far beyond the operational limits of a ny known heatproof suit. Still want to keep diggi ng?

Deepest descent by a manned vessel

Jacques Piccard (Switzerland) and Donald Walsh (USA) piloted the bathyscaphe Trieste to the "Challenger Deep" section of the Mariana Trench (see below) on 23 January 1960. On 25 March 2012, James Cameron (USA) made the same journey alone - the deepest solo descent - in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER

Deepest oil well: The Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible drilling rig operated to this depth in the Tiber oil field i n the Gulf of Mexico.

Deepest penetration into Earth's crust: A geological exploratory borehole near Zapolyarny on the Kola peninsula of Arctic Russia. It was begun on 24 May 1970 and had reached this record depth by 1 9 83, when work stopped because of a lack of funds.

In the ocean: H uman beings evolved to live on land. Under the water, we soon discover the limits this places on us. We can't breathe, our senses become du lled , and the pressure exerted by the water as we travel deeper becomes i ncreasingly da ngerous. Here, we are little more than well equi pped cavemen, using technology to plunge our Stone Age bodies i nto the a byss. However, by shielding our fragile bodies from the effects of pressure, n itrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity, we can voyage to the deepest, darkest crevices of our ocea ns. As hu mans have already travelled to the deepest known point in the ocean , this is one record that has a lready reached its a bsolute limit. The Virgin team now faces the added challenge of making the first solo dives to the deepest points i n the oceans. Good luck!

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Ever circumnavigation History's first circumnavigation of the world was accomplished on 8 September 1 522, when

the Spanish vessel Vittoria, under the command of the Spanish navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano, reached Seville in Spain. The ship had set out from Sanlt.icar de Barrameda, Andalucfa, Spain, on 20 September 1519, along with four others as par� of an expedition led by the· Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. They rounded Cape Horn, crossed the Pacific via the Philippines, and returned to Europe after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Vittoria was the only ship to survi �e the voyage.

By walking The first person reputed to have walked round the world is George Matthew Schilling (USA), from 1897 to 1904. The first verified achievement was by David Kunst (USA), who walked 23,250 km (14,450 miles) through four continents from 20 June 1970 to 5 October 1974.

By aircraft without refuelling Richard G "Dick" Rutan and Jeana Yeager (both USA) circumnavigated the world westwards from Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA, in nine days from 14 to 23 December 1986 without refuelling.

Via both Poles by aircraft Captain Elgen M Long (USA) achieved the first circum polar flight in a twi n-engined Piper PA-31 Navajo from 5 November to 3 December 1971. He covered 62,597 km (38,896 miles) d u ring the course of 215 flying hours.

Fastest circumnauigation by yacht On their arrival at Ushant, France, on 6 January 2012, LoYck Peyron ( France) and the 13-man crew of Banque Populoire V became record holders. They had sailed their yacht around the world in a time of 45 days 13 hr 42 min 53 sec - more than two days faster than the previous record, set by Franck Cam mas ( France) . The feat saw the team take the Jules Verne Trophy - a competition for the fastest circumnavigation by yacht - which Peyron's brother Bruno has won three times.

Via both Poles by helicopter Jennifer M urray and Colin Bod ill (both UK) flew around the world, taking in both Poles, from 5 December 2006 to 23 May 2007, in a Bell 407 helicopter. The journey started and finished in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

expedition t o reuh t h e South Pole. This accolade goes to

Roald Amundsen (Norway) and his team, who reached the Pole on 14 December the previous year.

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First circu mnauigation .by solar-powered boat B y balloon solo Sailing solo Francis Joyon (France) sailed the world non-stop in 57 days 13 hr 34 min 6 sec, from 23 November 2007 to 20 January 2008, in the 29.5-m (97-ft) maxi-trimaran /DEC II. The 21,600-nautical mile (38,900-km; 24,170-mile) trip began and ended in Brest, France. The fastest solo sailed circumnavigation by a woman was achieved by Ellen MacArthur (UK). She sailed non-stop around the world in 71 days 14 hr 18 min 33 sec from 28 November 2004 to 7 February 2005 in the trimaran B&Q.

Steve Fossett (USA) flew around the world alone in 13 days 8 hr 33 min in Bud Light Spirit of Freedom from 19 June to 2 July 2002. He took off from Northam, Western Australia, and landed at Eromanga in Queensland, Australia.

By helicopter Edward Kasprowicz (USA) and his crewman Stephen Sheik flew around the world

Going g lobal

MS TORANOR PlanetSolar (Switzerland) circumnavigated the world in a westward direction from Monaco in 1 year 7 months 7 days from 27 September 2010 to 4 May 2012. The catamaran's upper surface is covered in 537 m2 (5,780 ft2) of solar panels. allowing it to be powered by solar energy alone. in an easterly direction in an AgustaWestland Grand helicopter in 11 days 7 hr 5 min, completing their epic trip on 18 August 2008. The journey started and finished in New York, USA, travelling via Greenland, UK, Italy, Russia, USA and Canada.

By car The record for the first and fastest man and woman to have circumnavigated the Earth by car covering six continents under the rules applicable in 1989 and 1991 embracing more than an equator's length of driving (24,901 road miles;

40,075 km), is held by Saloo Choudh u ry and his wife Neena Choudhury (both India). The journey took 69 days 19 hours 5 minutes from 9 September to 17 November 1989. The couple d rove a 1989 Hindustan "Contessa Classic" starting and finishing in Delhi, I ndia.

First circum nauigatien i a hydrogen-powered c

TIMse are the current

By passenger aircraft The fastest flown circumnavigation under the Federation Aeronautique lnternationale (FAI) rules, which permit flights that exceed the length of the Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn (36,787.6 km; 22,858.8 miles), was one of 31 hr 27 min 49 sec. The aircraft was an Air France Concorde, piloted by captains M ichel Dupont and Claude Hetru (both France). The flight lasted from 15 to 16 August 1995; a total of 80 passengers and 18 crew were also on board.

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Solo journey to the South Pole (unsupported and u nassisted) On 13 January 2011, Christian Eide (Norway) completed a solo and unsupported trek to the South Pole in 24 days 1 hr 13 min. He set off on the 1,150-km (715-mile) adventure on 20 December 2010 and covered an average of 47 km (29 miles) per day. Eide smashed the previous record - Todd Carmichael's (USA) 39 days 7 hr 49 min - and has set a benchmark that many polar explorers consider near i mpossible to beat. Ray Zahab, Kevin Vallely and Richard Weber (all Canada) reached the South Pole from the Hercules Inlet, Antarctica, on 7 January 2009 after 33 days 23 hr 30 min, the fastest journey to the South Pole by a team (unsupported and unassisted).

14 April 2010. The team set out on 3 March from 82'58'02"N , 77'23'3"W a n d were picked u p after reaching t h e North Pole, 90'N, on 14 April 2010.

Trek to the North Pole by a female (unsupported) Cecilie Skog (Norway) made an unsupported trek to the North Po� in 48 days 22 h� She left Ward-Hunt Island with teammates, Rolf Bae and Per Henry Borch (both Norway), on 6 March 2006 and reached the North Pole on 24 April 2006. Owing to this trek, Skog is also the fastest female to complete the Three Poles Challenge (conquering both poles and Mount Everest), taking just 1 year 336 days.

has long been a matter of debate. Robert Peary, travelling with Matt Henson (both USA). indicated he had reached the North Pole on 6 April 1909. Frederick Cook (USA) claimed he had done so a year earlier, on 21 April1908. Neither claim has been convincingly proven.

Person to reach the South Pole A Norwegian party of five men led by Captain Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole at 11 a.m. on 14 December 1911 after a 53-day march with dog sledges from the Bay of Whales, Antarctica.

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Person to reach the North Pole

Trek to the North Pole David J P Pierce Jones (UK), Richard Weber, Tessu m Weber (both Canada) and Howard Fairbanks (South Africa) trekked to the North Pole in 41 days 18 hr 52 min, from 3 March to

First female to ski solo across Antarctica Felicity Aston (UK) became the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica when she arrived at the Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf on 23 January 2012 after a 1,744.5-km (1,084-mile) journey lasting 59 days. She made the trip while pulling two sledges and without the assistance of kites or any other propulsion aids.

Surface crossing of Antarctica A party of 12 led by Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs (UK) completed a crossing of Antarctica on 2 March 1958, after a trek of 3,473 km (2,158 miles) lasting 99 days from 24 November 1957. They crossed from Shackleton Base to Scott Base via the Pole.

Person to visit both Poles Dr Albert Paddock Crary (USA) reached the North Pole in a Dakota aircraft on 3 May 1952. On 12 February 1961, he arrived at the South Pole by Sno-Cat on a scientific traverse party from the McM urdo Station.

later, he headed the eight-man "lcewalk" expedition, reaching the North Pole on 14 May 1989.

Person to walk to both Poles solo and unsupported Marek Kaminski (Poland) reached the North Pole from Ward Hunt Island on 23 May 1995, an 880-km (546-mile) trip, in 72 days. He trekked 1 ,400 km (870 miles) to the South Pole from Berkner Island, Antarctica, in 53 days, arriving on 27 December 1995.

Person to walk to both Poles Robert Swan (UK) led the three-man "In the Footsteps of Scott" expe d ition, which arrived at the South Pole on 11 January 1986. Three years

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CQf)QUERif)G THE TH REE POLES GRAn D-SLAm GREAT •

Aircraft flight over th� North Pole

1he first verified flight over

th rth Pole was achieved On 12 May 1926 by the crew of a 106-m (348-ft) airship led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and Umberto Nobile (Italy), the airship's designer and pilot. Ivan Andre Trifonov (Austria) flew a one-man Thunder and Colt Cloudhopper balloon 1 km (0.6 miles) over the geographic North Pole at 18:30 GMT on 20 April 1996, the first hotair balloon flight over the North Pole.

Hot-air balloon flight over the South Pole Ivan Andre Trifonov floated over the geographic South Pole at an altitude of 4,570 m (15,000 ft) with two Spanish crew members on 8 January 2000.

Winter expedition to the North Pole Matvey Shparo and Boris Smolin (both Russia) began the earliest winter expedition

to the North Pole on 22 December 2007, the day of winter solstice, from the Arktichesky Cape, the northern point of the Zevernaya Zemlya Archipelago. They reached the North Pole on 14 March 2008, eight days before the vernal equinox, the official beginning of the polar "day".

Along with husband Thomas, Tina Sjogren (both Sweden) made the journey in 68 days from 22 March to 29 May 2002. The couple received no external support on their trek. Tina is also the first woman to complete an unsupported jou rney to the South Pole. With her husband, she made the journey from the Hercules Inlet in 63 days, from 30 November 2001 to 1 February 2002.

Fastest ouerland journey to the South Pole To mark the 100th anniversary of Amundsen's epic polar trip (see p.118), Jason De Carteret and Kieran Bradley (both U K) travelled to the South Pole in a record time of 1 day 15 hr 54 min. They set off on 18 December 2011 in the Thomson Reuters Polar Vehicle, driving from Patriot Hills at an average speed of 27.9 km/h (17.34 mi/h) - also beating the record for the fastest average speed for a ._:;;:;;;;;��===;i�i:� ;; South Pole JourMV.

Prior to her polar treks, Tina had summitted Mount Everest on 26 May 1999; the mountain is often regarded as a "pole" owing to its inaccessibility. Tina's success at reaching all three landmarks constitutes the first completion by a female of the Three Poles Challenge.

Married couple to reach both Poles M i ke and Fiona Thornewill (UK) skied to the South Pole on 4 January 2000, and the North Pole on 6 May 2001. Both trips were air-supported and on both the duo were accompanied by teammate Catharine Hartley (UK). She and Fiona became the first British women to walk to the North and South Poles.

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Person to complete the Three Poles Challenge Erling Kagge (Norway) became the first person to complete the trio of the North Pole (reached on 8 May l 990), the South Pole (on 7 January 1993) and the peak of Mount Everest (on 8 May l994).

Person to complete the Explorers' Grand Slam Park Young-Seok (South Korea) reached the North Pole on foot on 30 April 2005, becoming the first person to achieve the Explorers' Grand Slam. This involves climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents (the "Seven Summits") and the 14 peaks over 8,000 m (26,246 ft), and reaching the North and South Poles on foot.

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Accord i ng to the Himalayan Database, between 1950 and 2009 the death toll at Annapuma I was 62 from 1,524 attempts (in 169 expeditions), giving the peak a 4.07% mortality rate. (The mean death rate in the Himalayas is 1.55%.) The latest fatalities came i n October 2011, when Young Seck Park, Dong-Min Shin and Gi-Seok Gin (all South Korea) perished during their descent.

First person to climb all 8,000-m peaks Reinhold Messner (Italy) became the first person to clim b the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 m (26,246 ft) when he summitted Lhotse (8,501 m; 27,890 ft), on the border between Nepal and Tibet, on 16 October 1986. His quest started in June 1970. The difficulty of Messner's feat is illustrated by the fact that, by the first half of 2012, only 27 people had achieved it.

achieved all of the 14 ascents without supplementary bottled oxygen, making h i m the first person to climb all i,OOO-m peaks without oxygen - a feat that, to date, has been achieved by only 12 climbers.

Fastest time to climb all 8,000-m peaks Jerzy Kukuczka (Poland) conquered all of the 14 main peaks over 8,000 m in a time of 7 years 11 months 14 days.

First person to climb the "Seven Summits" The Seven Summits - the highest peaks on all seven continents - are categorized in two alternative ways. The Messner list has the highest point in Oceania as Puncak Jaya in Indonesia. The

the first person to complete the Messner list, summitting Puncak Jaya on 5 August 1986.

Oldest female to climb the Seven Summits Caroline (Kay) LeClaire (USA, b. 8 March 1949) completed her last Seven Summits clim b with h e r ascent o f Mount Everest on 23 May 2009, at the age of 60 years 77 days.

First person to climb Annapurna I solo On 28 October 2007, Tomaz Humar (Slovenia) completed his solo climb of Annapurna I . He chose a new route along the right side of the south face in pure "alpine" style - he carried his equipment and food with him. I n "expedition" style, the climber benefits from porters and fixed lines.

Fastest time to climb El Capitan The fastest ascent of the "Nose" of El Capitan in California, USA, was made

First woma n to climb a l l 8,000-m peaks On 17 May 2010, Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar (Spain) became the first woman to clim b all 14 of the peaks over 8,000 m. She began her conquest of the "8,000-ers" by reaching the top of Mount Everest on 23 May 2001 and completed it by summitting Shishapangma in Tibet, the lowest of the 14 peaks.

by Hans Florine (USA) and Yuji Hirayama (Japan) in 2 hr 48 min 50 sec in September 2002. The fastest solo ascent of the "Nose" of El Capitan was achieved by Hans Florine in 11 hr 41 min on 30 July 2005.

First ascent of K2 by a woman Wanda Rutkiewicz (Poland) reached the summit of K2 the world's second highest mountain, at 8,611 m (28,251 ft) - on 23 June 1986.

First ascent of K2 {west face)

Russia's Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich completed the first successful ascent of the notoriously vicious west face of K2. The expedition led by Viktor Kozlov (Russia) - reached the 8,500-m-high

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(28,251-ft) peak on 21 August 2007, after a gruelling 10-week climb. Incredibly, none of the team used oxygen for the climb.

Fastest time to climb Mount Everest and K2 Karl Unterki rcher (Italy) summitted the Himalayan peaks of Mount Everest (8,848 m; 29,029 ft) on 24 May 2004 and K2 on 26 July 2004. In both cases he achieved this without extra oxygen. There was a 63-day gap between his ascents.

First solo summit of Mount Everest Reinhold Messner (Italy) topped Mount Everest, solo, on 20 August 1980. It took Reinhold three days to make the ascent from his base camp at 6,500 m (21,325 ft).

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Rob and Joanne Gambi (UK) achieved the fastest (and first) Seven Summits ascent by a married couple, climbing the highest peak on each continent in 404 days for the Kosciuszko list (which takes Mount Kosciuszko as the highest point in Australasia). The couple later climbed the Carstensz Pyramid, or Puncak Jaya (Australasia's highest point, if Indonesia is included), in 799 days.

His climb was made all the more difficult by the fact that he did not use bottled oxygen.

Oldest person to climb Mount Everest (male) According to the Senior Citizen Mount Everest Expedition, Min Bahadur Sherchan (Nepal, b. 20 June 1931) reached the Everest summit on 25 May 2008 at the age of 76 years 340 days.

First ascent of Mount Everest (female)

Tamae Watanabe (Japan, b. 21 November 1938) became the oldest woman to summit Everest when she reached the peak at 9:55 a.m. on 16 May 2002 aged 63 years 177 days.

Junko Tabei (Japan, b. 22 September 1939)

Most ascents of Mount Everest by a woman Lakpa Sherpa (Nepal) topped Mount Everest for the fifth time on 2 J une 2005. She made the climb with her husband, George Dijmarescu (USA), who was h imself completing his seventh ascent of Everest.

First married couple to reach the summit of Mount Everest Phil and Susan Ershler (USA)

hey made it to the summit n 16 May 2002, the same day that a record 54 people

Apa's 21 ascents

<22 April 1969: Robin Knox-Johnston (UK) arrives at Falmouth as the only competitor left in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, making him the first person to sail around the world

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FA RTH EST FLIGHT BY... Airship The longest non-stop flight by an airship, both in terms of distance and duration, was one of 6,384.5 km (3,967 miles) by Hugo Eckener (Germany), piloting the Graf Zeppelin in November 1928. The 71-hour flight took place between Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA, and Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Autogyro Wing Commander Kenneth H Wallis (UK) holds the straight-

line distance record of 874.32 km (543.27 miles) in a WA-116/F gyrocopter. His non stop flight from Lydd, Kent, UK, to Wick, H ighland, UK, took place on 28 September 1975.

Commercial aircraft From 9 to 10 November 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR World liner was flown 11,664 nautical miles (21,601.7 km; 13,422.7 miles) non-stop and without refuelling from Hong Kong to London, UK. At 22 hr 42 min, it was the longest flight ever by an unmodified commercial aircraft. The 777-200LR is powered by two General Electric GE90-115Bs, the world's most powerful jet engines. The first aircraft were delivered

Paraglider (male) The farthest straight distance achieved by a male paraglider is 502.9 km (3125 miles) by Nevil Hulett (South Africa) at Copperton, South Africa, on 14 December 2008. Kamira Pereira (Brazil) carried out the farthest paraglider flight by a woman, travelling 3245 km (201.63 miles) in a straight line west from Quixada, Brazil, on 14 November 2009. In doing so, she beat her own record of 323 km (200 miles), which she had set six days earlier.

FASTEST TimE TO... Cycle across Canada Arvid Loewen (Canada) cycled across Canada in 13 days 6 hr 13 min between 1 July and 14 July 2011.

Cycle across Europe (North Cape to Tarifa) From 20 June to 29 July 2011, Glen Burmeister (UK) cycled solo across Europe, north to south, in 39 days 11 hr 24 min 24.71 sec.

Cycle across the Sahara desert

Fastest time to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town Robert Knol (Netherlands) cycled from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 70 days 3 hr 50 min from 24 January to 4 April 2011. The trip was unsupported and unaided. Robert's bicycle had to be repaired only once, in Zambia. In Sudan, with temperatures approaching 45'C (113 F), he drank around 15 litres (3.08 gal) of water every day.

Reza Pakravan (Iran) crossed the Sahara desert by bicycle in 13 days 5 hr 50 min 14 sec. He set out on 4 March at 30'00'5" N, 2'57'2" E in Algeria and completed his journey at 17'59'2 " N, 30'59'4" E, i n Sudan, on 17 March 2011.

Fly across the Atlantic Ocean The transatlantic flight record stands at 1 hr 54 min 56.4 sec. USAF Major James V Sulliyan and Major Noel F Widdifield (both USA) flew a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird eastwards

on 1 September 1974. 'The average speed for the New York- London stage of 5,570.80 km (3,461.53 miles) was 2,908.02 km/h (1,806.96 mi/h). The pilots slowed their speed only once, to allow for refuelling from a specially modified tanker aircraft.

Highest altitude on a tandem pa raglider Lifting off from the summit of Everest on 21 May 2011, Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Sherpa ( both Nepal) reached a height of approximately 8,878 m (29,127 ft) , the greatest altitude achieved on a tandem paraglider. The two men then travelled 31 km (19.3 miles) around Mount N u ptse before landing safely at the airport In N a mche Bazaar, Nepal.

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Run from John o'Groats to Land's E nd The fastest run between John o'Groats and Land's End lasted 9 days 2 hr 26 min and was achieved by Andrew Rivett (UK) from 4 to 13 May 2002. The fastest confirmed journey from Land's End to John o'Groats by a woman is 12 days 15 hr 46 min 35 sec, by Marina Anderson (UK), from 16 to 28 July 2008.

LOnGEST jOURnEY... By car Emil and Liliana Schmid (Switzerland) have covered 665,712 km (413,653 miles) in their Toyota Land Cruiser since 16 October 1984. In the course of their travels, they have crossed 172 countries and territories. Although the Schmids have returned to

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by Mohsin Haq (India), who tou r ed all 28 states of India between 2 October and 26 November 2011.

Switzerland for short periods several times during their adventure, they have no permanent home there.

By mouth-controlled motorized wheelchair

By helicopter Robert Ferry (USA) piloted his Hughes YOH-6A helicopter from Culver City, California, USA, to Ormond Beach, Florida, USA, without refuelling, a distance of 3,561.6 km (2,213.1 miles). The flight ended on 6 April 1966.

By motorcycle Emilio Scotto of Buenos Aires, Argentina, completed the longest ever journey by a motorcycle, covering more than 735,000 km (457,000 miles) and 214 countries and territories, from . 17 January 1985 to 2 April 1995. The longest continuous journey by motorcycle one country is 18,301 (11, ?71.69 miles)

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Walking backwards The greatest ever exponent of reverse pedestrianism was Plennie L Wingo (USA), who completed a 12,875-km (8,000-mile) transcontinental walk from Santa Monica, California, USA, to Istanbul, Turkey, from 15 April 1931 to 24 October 1932.

Fastest Eng lish Cha nnel crossing by canoe (kayak)

Most solo ocean crossings I n 2000, Emmanuel Coindre (France) became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean east to west in a pedal boat. He then rowed the Atlantic east to west in ___... 2001, west to east in 2002, and east to west in 2004 before setting a speed record, also i n 2004, b y rowing t h e Atlantic again, west to east, in 62 days 19 hr 48 min. To cap it off, he rowed the Pacific west to east, from Ch6shi in Japan, to Coos Bay in Oregon, USA, in 2005, taking 129 days 17 hr 22 min.

Most ocean rows Simon Chalk (UK) has rowed oceans six times, including one solo crossing of the Indian Ocean in 2003. The remaining crossings were completed as a member of various teams of different sizes. As one half of a duo, he rowed the Atlantic east to west in 1997; as part of

in 2007-08; in an octet, he rowed the Indian Ocean east to west in 2009; in a team of 14, he rowed the Atlantic east to west in 2011; and finally, (n another octet, he rowed the Atlantic east to west in 2012.

First row across an ocean solo (male) 'John Fairfax (UK, 1937-2012) rowed the Atlantic Ocean east to west in Britannia between 20 January and 19 July 1969. In addition, his crossing of the Pacific with Sylvia Cook (UK, see above) made John the first person to row two oceans.

Youngest person to row an ocean solo On 14 March 2010, Katie Spotz (USA, b. 18 April 1987) completed a 70-day row across the Atlantic Ocean east to

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west from Dakar in Senegal to Georgetown in Guyana. She set off on 3 January 2010, aged just 22 years 260 days. The youngest male to row across an ocean solo is Tommy Tippetts (UK, b. 26 March 1989), who was 22 years 301 days old at the start of his row across the Atlantic east to west from San Sebastian in La Gomera, Canary Islands, to Barbados, West Indies, from 21 January to 12 April 2012 in Ked Endeavour. In all, Tippetts spent 82 days 8 hr 40 min at sea, raising money for Mind, the mental health charity.

Oldest person to row an ocean solo Tony Short (UK, b. 28 March 1944) was 67 years 252 days old when he began rowing the Atlantic east to west from La Gomera to Barbados in Spirit of Corinth. The row lasted from 5 December 2011 to 22 January 2012, a total of 48 days 8 hr 3 m i n .

First canoeist to padd le across a n ocean Gabor Rakonczay (Hunga ry) crossed the Atlantic Ocean east to west in his 7.5 -m-long (24-ft 7-in) canoe after 76 days at sea. He set off from Lagos in Portugal on 21 December 2011. After stopping off at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to rest and gather supplies, he continued on 25 January 2012, arriving at the Caribbean island of Antigua i n the Leeward Islands, West Indies, on 2 5 March 2012.

A

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circum nauigation of Australia by catamaran Bruce Arms (New Zealand) sailed his 14-m (45-ft 11 -i n) catamaran a round Australia i n 38 days 21 h r 4 0 min 42 sec, setting the record for the swiftest circumnavigation of Australia. He completed his round trip at Mooloolaba, Queensland, on 1 8 August 2011 at 9:41:06 a . m . AEST.

Longest solo row across an ocean From 10 July 2007 to 17 May 2008, Erden Eru� (Turkey) rowed the Pacific Ocean solo, east to west, from California, USA, to Papua New Guinea on board Around-n-Over in a time of 312 days 2 hr.

Fastest solo row across the Atlantic The fastest solo east to west Atlantic crossing in a classic ocean-rowing boat was by Fyodor Konyukhov (Russia), who made the 4,678-km (2,907-mile) journey between San Sebastian in La Gomera, Canary Islands, and Port St Charles in Barbados in 46 days 4 hr from 16 October to 1 December 2002.

A DV E N T U R E

Andrew Brown (UK) achieved a faster solo row along the same route, in a one-of-a kind ocean-rowing boat with a modified hull - the fastest crossing of the Atlantic east to west in an open-class ocean-rowing boat. Andrew set off from San Sebastian on 5 December 2011 and arrived in Port St Charles on 14 January 2012, having spent 40 days 9 hr 41 min at sea. The fastest solo row across the Atlantic east to west on the "Trade Winds I I " route was by Charles Hedrich (France), who rowed 4,035 km (2,507 miles) between Dakar in Senegal, and Guara Point in Brazil, in 36 days 6 hr 37 min, from 18 December 2006 to 23 January 2007.

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First person to sail and row the Indian Ocean James Kayll (UK) sailed from Thailand to Djibouti, on board Ocean Song, from 8 January to 13 February 2005; he then rowed from Geraldton, Western Australia, to Mauritius, on board Indian Runner 4, from 21 April to 6 July 2011. The trimaran Groupama 3, skippered by Franck Cam mas (France), sailed the Indian Ocean in 8 days 17 hr 40 min from 15 to 23 February 2010, the fastest sailed crossing of the Indian Ocean. The first and youngest person to row the Indian Ocean solo is Sarah Outen

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(UK, b. 26 May 1985), between 1 April and 3 August 2009, starting off at the age of 23 years 310 days.

Fastest time to swim the Persian Gulf Open-water swimming takes place in open oceans, seas, rivers, canals and so on. The first, and therefore fastest, swim along the length of the Persian Gulf is by 34-year-old Mohammad Kobadi (Iran). In 84 days between 19 December 2011 and 12 March 2012, Kobadi swam 1,051 km (653 miles), in stages, from the Strait of Hormuz to Arvandkenar along the coast of southeastern I ran,

averaging 11.7 km (7. 2 miles) per day. The achievement was ratified by Open Water Source.

Fastest time to swim around Manhattan On 28 September 2011 , Oliver Wilkinson (Australia) swam around the island of Manhattan in New York, USA, i n a time of 5 hr 44 min 2 sec, beating the record of 5 hr 44 min 47 sec set earlier that day by Rondi Davies (USA/Australia). The achievement was ratified by NYC Swim, the governing body of the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.

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visitors er of international the greatest numb to the ts ris tou The city that has n eig for out of every 150 llery, is Paris, France: 31 ris's Louvre art ga city. Housed in Pa the in ive nsidered co is e) ov country arr ab , -19 Mona Lisa (c. 1503 from Leonardo da Vinci's len . It was stolen ble object ev er sto lua va st mo Italy in in d ere to be the ov rec s August 1911 but wa ft. the Louvre on 21 arged with its the rugia (Italy) was ch Pe o nz ce 1913. Vin

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You would have to walk 24 km (15 miles) of the 322 galleries of the Winter Palace within the State Hermitag e Museum in St Petersbu rg, Russia. The galleries are home to nearly 3 million works of art and objects of archaeolog ical interest.

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. Bakken, located in Klampen borg, north of Copenh agen, Denmark , opened In 1583 and is the world's oldest operating amuseme nt park. It IS home to five roller coasters including ' the wooden "Rutscheb anen", built in 1932.

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an Mecca, Saudi Arab ia, attracts The Hajj annu al pilgr imag e to other Islam ic any than e mor , year a le aver age of 2 milli on peop tual state calle d ihram, whic h pilgr imag e. Pilg rims ente r a spiri to seam less garm ent (inte nded e whit a for men Inclu des wea ring h). Alla of In the eyes

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The Golden Temp le In . Amritsar, India , the , . world s most .Important Sikh sh nne, has up . . figure to 20,00 0 visitors a day. This rises to ZOO 000 on specia . l festivals such as Guru Pur b (the birthday of one of the 10 Sikh gurus ) and Baisak hi (the day Si' kh'1sm w as esta bl'!Shed). The temple's se ey i o ered in precious stones t kg (88l lb) of gold leaf.

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�t��h(L1l��ru1l-tm6 ng th e Maesa Tou rists visiti ng Eleph ant Cam p in Chia el at marv can nd, Thaila Mai, by uced prod the paintings most The ms. yder pach the Cold expensive - entitled ming Wind, Swirling Mist, Char on milli 1.5 for Lanna 1 - sold 970) to baht (£2 0.660 , $32. ) on Panlt Warl n (Thai land 19 FebNii'Y �

Cam bod ia covers an area of Ang kor Wat (City Temple) in and has an external wall 1 .62 mill ion m' (17. 5 million f\2) was built for the Hind u god It ft). 0 (4,20 m 0 mea surin g 1,28 avar man II in the perio d Vish nu by the Khmer King Sury n of 80,0 00 befo re it was latio popu a ed 1113- 50, and hous aban done d in 1432.

Marin a The Singa pore Flye r, in of a ists cons e, apor Sing Bay, , built wheel -ft) 150- m-wid e (492 inal term rey e-sto thre a over h eight of building, givin g a total ned to ope was It ft). (541 165 m 2008. Mard\ on 1

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OU R WO RLD T

The mina ret of the G reat Hassan II mosque in Casablan ca ' Morocco, measures ZOO m (656 ft). The mosque, built from 1986 to 1993, cost 5 billion dirhams (£360 million, $574 million) and can accommodate 2 5,000 worshipp ers 1n 1ts prayer hall, which has a retractable roof, and a further 80,000 within its environs.

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n, became an island around Madagascar, in the Indian Ocea it split off from the Indian 80-100 million years ago, when (248. 5 miles) off the l<m 400 only now is It nt. subcontine point) and is considered part of coast of Africa (at the shortest such as the diade med slfaka rs, Lemu ent. the African contin

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At 4,884 m (16,023 ft), the wn as Carstensz Pyramid (also kno e, vinc Pro ua Pap in ), Puncak Jaya st Indonesia, is Oceania's talle the two peak. It features on one of below). Seven Summits lists (see rk) Henrik Kristiansen (Denma b the set the fastest time to clim nt tine con h eac on k highest pea s from (Carstensz list), in 136 day 2008. 21 January 2008 to 5 June

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Unveiled on 28 October 1886, th e Statue of liberty weighs 24,635. 5 ton nes (27,156 tons), of which 28 .1 tonn es (31 tons) is copper, 113.4 tonn es (125 tons) is steel and 24,494 tonnes (27,000 tons) makes up the concrete foundation. It was presented tq the USA as a gift from France to commemorate friendship

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~srvisfted fue.Me. rar~ As of 2010, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, USA had been visited by more than 16.9 million visitors, according to a report compiled by Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and Economics Research Associates (ERA). It was followed by Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA, which had 15.9 million guests, and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, which had 14.4 million visitors.

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w~stia.nd err~ The Grand Canyon was created over the course of millions of years by the Colorado river in north-central Arizona, USA. It runs from Marble Gorge to the Grand Wash Cliffs, covering a distance of 446 km (277 miles). The gorge extends to a depth of 1.6 km (1 mile) and its width ranges from 0.5 km to 29 km (0.3-18 miles).

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carnival is usua lly held for Rio de Janei ro's annu al March and attra cts abou t four days in Febr uary or carniv al drew i n each day. In 2004 , the 2 m i llion people 2,60 0 were which o f rs, visito ign a record 400,0 00 fore II ocean Mary the Qu een thoug ht to have been from ing the creat h s mont many d liner. Sa mba scho ols spen they when wear they mes that fabulo us. colourful costu ts. stree through the city's

The world 's loftiest water slide is Kilim anjar o at Aguas Quen tes Coun try Club in Barra do Pirai , Rio de Jane iro, Braz il. Cons truct ed in 2002 , it reach es a verti ginou s 49.9 m (1 63 ft 9 in) - that's talle r than the Statu e of Liber ty - and desc ends at a n angle of 60·. If you'r e brave enou gh to tackl e this skys crapi ng slide , you'l l find your self racin g down ward s at spee ds appr oach ing

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Braz il but Located princ ipally in south �western Boliv ia and with smal l areas withi n neigh bour ing ish Span is h (whic al antan Parag uay too, the P of for "mar shlan d") covers a surfa ce area er than 150,0 00 km' (57,915 miles') - great the total surface area of Engl and!

The San Alfon so de! Mar seawater poet in A!garr obo, Chile , is 1,01 3 m (3,324 ft) tong and has an area of 8 ha (19.77 acres). It was com plete d in Dece mber 2006, after 10 years' work. The poet emp loys advanced tech nology to draw sea water into one end of the pool from the Paci fic Ocea n, filter, treat it and pum p it out at the other end.

To the Lim its: How Rich Can You Get? 142 144 146 148 Auctions The Economy 150 152 Mysterious World

154 156 158 160 162

140 www.g u in n e sswo r ld records . c o m

La rgest school The largest school i n terms of pupils is the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India, which had a record enrolment of 39,437 children on 9 August 2010 for the 2010-11 academic year. The school admits boys and girls between ages two and five, who can then continue their education to degree level. In 2002, it won the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. The City Montessori has come a long way since Jagdish Gandhi and his wife Bharti first opened it in 1959.with a loan ofjust 300 rupees ($63, £22). Then it had a grand total of five pupils!

Endless pu rsuit of wealth There was a time when real wealth was largely inherited. It was tied up in land and the right to farm that land. Over time, the abi lity to exploit the oil, gas, m i nerals and precious metals that lay beneath the surface of the land changed the face of wealth. It also served to feed the demands of emerging industries such as steel and shipping - a nd the powerful men who went on to make fortunes from them.

TOP TEN RICH EST LIVI NG PEOPLE, 2012 The world's wealthiest according to Forbes (and how their wealth compares to the GDP of various countries - yes, these people are personally richer than some countries!)

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WHO: Cornelius Vanderbilt (USA) WEALTH: $170 billion WHY: New York and Harlem Railroad DETAI LS: At the time of his death at 82 in 1 877, the engineering entrepreneur was worth $105 million roughly 1/87th of the GDP of the entire U SA!

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WHO: Basil I I (Byzantine E m pire) WEALTH: $172 billion WHY: Byzantine Emperor (976-1025) DETAILS: Basil, aka the "Bulgarslayer", ruthlessly expanded his empire, taxing the nobility as he went; died aged 67, leaving behind a full treasury.

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142 www.g u i n n e sswo r l d r e c o r d s . c o m

Berkshire Hathaway (holdings: retail, rail, media, utilities)

$44 billion £28.5 billion

4. Bernard Arnault (France)

LVM H (apparels/accessories)


Richer than: North Korea

$37.5 billion £24 billion

5. Amancio Ortega Gaona (Spain) lnditex/Zara (fashion) Richer than: Jordan

Oracle (computing)

$36 billion £23 billion

EBX Group (mining, oil)


H&M (fashion)'

$26 billion £17 billion

Richer than: Senegal

H utchison Whampoa & Cheung Kong Holdings (diverse)

$25.5 billion £16.5 billion

9=. Karl Albrecht (Germany)

Aldi (discount supermarkets)

$25.5 billion £16.5 billion

6. Larry Ellison (USA) Richer than: Honduras

7. Eike Batista (Brazil) Richer than: Afghanistan

8. Stefan Persson (Sweden) Richer than: Senegal

9. Li Ka-shing (China)

Richer than: Senegal

WHO: M a rcus Licinius Crassus ( I taly) WEALTH : $172. 5 billion WHY: Consul of the Roman Republic (115-53 BC) DETAILS: Historian Pliny estimated Crassus' wealth at 200 m i llion sestertii from slavery, mining and real estate.

This filthy-rich line-up of billionaires represents our best estimation of the wealthiest people of all time. It i ncludes rulers, business mag nates and entrepreneurs from across h istory, with their estimated wealth adjusted for i nflation to allow comparison. How do these people - all men - compare? And how do they compare with today's money-makers?

-

Richer than: Luxembourg

3. Warren Buffett (USA)

Richest people in history

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Richer than: Slovenia

Fortu nes a re still made and maintained i n the old industries, but a new sou rce of wealth has emerged based on technologies that ba rely existed 50 years ago. Te lecoms and computing - convergent tech nolog ies that seem to change almost daily - a re the new engi nes of wealth creation, but will today's technology bi llionaires ever reach, or exceed, the heady heig hts of the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts? Is there a limit to just how much money one person can actua lly accrue? $1 billion = £647 million

Microsoft (computing)

2. Bill Gates (USA)

WHO: Henry Ford (USA) WEALTH: $191 billion WHY: Fou nder of the Ford Motor Company DETAILS: Didn't invent the car but the Model-T entrepreneu r was practically responsible for the assembly line.

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WHO: And rew W Mellon (USA) WEALTH : $192 billion WHY: Oil, steel and shipping magnate DETAI LS: Banker, politician, statesman, philanthropist, art collector; wealth peaked at $400 million in 1930.

The World Bank puts the GDP of the world at $63.04 trillion. Yet John D Rockefeller, the richest person in history, managed to acquire just a fraction of that - and at the peak of his wealth he owned 85% of the crude oil known to exist at the time and 95% of the world's oil refineries! So what m ight have stopped h i m going any further and g rabbing the lot? Economic systems require stability if they are to function properly. Any i m balance will inevitably require that the system be rebalanced. This means that while an individual m ig ht in theory be able to �cquire all the money in the world, the tipping point for a chaotic imbalance in the system will have been reached long before they do so, causing the kind of economic crash WHO: Andrew Carnegie that would result in their (UK/USA) money not being worth the WEALTH: $302 billion WHY: Steel magnate paper it was pri nted on. DETAILS: Born in

WHO: Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (Hyderabad) WEALTH : $213 billion WHY: Ruler of Hyderabad (now India) DETAI LS: His Exalted Highness The Nizam of Hyderabad (ruled 1 911-48) enjoyed the royalties from Hyderabad's diamond mining - until the country was forcibly a nnexed by I ndia.

WHO: William Henry Vanderbilt (USA) WEALTH: $235 billion WHY: Son of Cornelius (see no.10, left) DETAI LS: I n h erited c. $100 million from daddy but managed to nearly double it in just n ine years by expanding the family railway business. Famously u n happy with his wealth.

WHO: Nicholas I I (Russia) WEALTH: $257 billion WHY: Last (and worst?) Emperor of Russia DETAI LS: Wealthiest monarch in history, reported to be worth $881 m i llion at the age of 48 in 1916; abdicated the following year, then murdered in 1918

Dunfermline, Scotland, Carnegie emigrated to the USA in 1848, where he founded a steel company that he would eventually sell in 1901 for $480 m i llion; gave most of it away in philanthropic ventures.

WHO: John D Rockefeller (USA) WEALTH: $322 billion WHY: Standard Oil (Esso) DETAI LS: Founded his oil company i n 1870 and became America's first billionaire as the demand for petroleum and gasoline exploded; like Carnegie, gave much of it away - he spent 40 years of his retirement as a philanthropist.

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Dumesney (Australia), had taken Jimpa with him 14 months earlier when he went to work on a farm at Nyabing, Western Australia. During his trek, the dog negotiated the almost waterless Nullarbor Plain.

Largest pet gathering Largest living pet snail A pet snail named Homer measured 26.1 em (10 . 27 in) from shell tip to nose when fully extended, with a shell length of 18 em (7.08 in), on 1 5 December 2011. The African land snail is owned by Joseph Billington (UK) of Whitstable, Kent, UK.

Farthest distance tracked by a lost dog In 1979, Jimpa, a labrador/ boxer cross, arrived at his old home in Pimpinio, Victoria, Australia, after walking 3,220 km (2,000 miles) across Australia. His owner, Warren

A group of 4,616 pets went for a walk with their owners at La Feria de las Flores ("Flower Fair") in Medellin, Colombia, on 7 August 2007.

Longest cat whiskers At 19 em (7.5 in), the longest whiskers on a cat belong to Missi, a Maine coon who lives with her owner, Kaija Kyllonen. The whiskers were measured in lisvesi, Fi nland, on 22 December 2005.

Longest dog tail As of 12 April 2012, the longest dog tail measured 66.04 em (26 in) and belonged to Bentley, a great dane from Colorado, USA. He is owned by Patrick Malcom (USA) and his family.

Most expensive pet wedding I n September 1996, two rare "diamond-eyed" cats, Phet and Ploy, were married at a lavish ceremony at Phoebus House, Thailand's biggest discotheque. The wedding cost Phet's owner, Wichan Jaratarcha, $16,241 (£10,444) on top of an additional dowry of $23,202 (£14,920).

Most prolific cat A tabby named Dusty from Texas, USA, produced 420 kittens during her life. She gave birth to her last litter (a single kitten) on 12 June 1952.

Shortest living domestic cat The shortest cat alive is Fizz Girl, a two-year-old female munchkin cat, who measured 15.24 em (6 in) from the floor to the shoulders on 23 July 2010. The pint-size pet is owned by Tiff ani Kjeldergaard of San Diego, USA.

Wealthiest cat When Ben Rea (UK) died in May 1988, he bequeathed his £?-million ($12.5-million) fortune to Blackie, the last surviving of the 15 cats with whom he shared his mansion. The millionaire antiques dealer and recluse refused to recognize his family in his will. Similarly, the wealthiest dog was a standard poodle named Toby, who was left $15 million (£10.5 million) in the will of Ella Wendel of New York, USA, in 1931.

Tallest domestic cat Savannah Islands Trouble is 48.3 em (1 ft 7 in) tall. He is owned by Debby Maraspini (USA) and was measured at the Silver Cats Cat Show at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, USA, on 30 October 2011 . The longest domestic cat is Mymains Stewart Gilligan at 123 em (48. 5 in) long. He is owned by Robin Hendrickson and Erik Brandsness (both USA) and was measured on 28 August 2010.

TOP DOGS Humanity's fondness for a canine companion shows no sign of abating. GWR presents a list of the most popular dog breeds, based on registrations made at the UK's Kennel Club for 2011.

Cat: A cat named Creme Puff, born on 3 August 1967, lived until 6 August 2005 - an amazing 38 years 3 days! She lived with her owner, Jake Perry, in Austin, Texas, USA. The oldest living cat is Pinky, who was born on 31 October 1989 and lives with her owner, Linda Anno (USA), in Hoyt, Kansas, USA.

OLDEST

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Bearded dragon: Guinness, a lizard owned by Nik Vernon (UK), was born on 26 July 1997 and was 14 years 268 days old as of 20 April 2012. Budgerigar: Charlie, born in Apri l 1 948 and owned by J Dinsey (UK), died on 20 June 1977, aged 29 years 2 months,-

Chinchilla: A chinchilla named Bouncer, born on 1 July 1977 and owned-by Jenny Ann Bowen (UK) of Great Barr in Birmingham, UK, died on 3 October 2005, at the incredible age of 28 years 94 days. Dog: The greatest reliable age recorded for a dog is 29 years 5 months for an Australian cattle-dog named Bluey (d. 1939), who was obtained as a puppy in 1910 by Les Hall of Rochester, Victoria, Australia.

Tallest dog A great dane named Zeus measu red 111.8 em (3 ft 8 in) tall on 4 October 2011 - maki ng him both the tallest living dog and the tallest dog ever. The Olym pian canine is owned by Denise Doorlag (pictured) and her family of Otsego in Michigan, USA. Goldfish: A goldfish named Tish, owned by Hilda and Gordon Hand (UK), lived for 43 years after Hilda's son Peter won the fish at a fairground stall in 1956. Guinea pig : Snowball the guinea pig, who lived in Nottlnghamshire, U K, died on 14 February 1979, aged 14 years 10 months 2 weeks. Guinea pigs have an average lifespan of 4-8 years.

Mouse: A house mouse called Fritzy (b. 11 September 1977), who belonged to Bridget Beard of Edgbaston, West Midlands, UK, d ied at the age of 7 years 7 months on 24 April 1985. Mice usually live for 1.5-2 years. Rat: A common rat called Rodney (b. January 1983), belonging to Rodney Mitchell of Tulsa in Oklahoma, USA, died aged 7 years 4 months on 25 May 1990.

Shortest dogs In terms of length, the shortest dogs are Cupcake (left) - a five-year-old female long-haired teacup chihuahua owned by Angela Bain of Moorestown, New Jersey, USA - and Heaven Sent Brandy (below}, a chihuahua who lives with owner Paulette Keller in Largo, Florida, USA. Both dogs a re just 1 5 . 2 em (6 in) long!

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the UK 16, 1 1 0

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Football memorabilia The most valuable piece of football history is an original FA Cup - one of four produced for the first competition held in 1871 and given to the winning team between 1896 and 1910. An anonymous telephone bidder bought the cup for £420,000 ($773,136) from Christie's, UK, on ,1 19 May 2005.

The following selection of records reflects the highest prices paid for items at auction, presented in ascending order of sale price.

Calendar A wall calendar featuring sketches of costume designs for characters from Alice in Wonderland was sold to an anonymous bidder for £36,000 ($57,848). The sale took place as part of a fund raising auction in aid of the Muir Maxwell Trust and the Fettes Foundation (both UK). It was held at The Mad Hatter's Tea Party on The Queen's Lawn at Fettes College, Edinburgh, U K, on 3 July 2011.

Signed baseball At an auction in Dallas, Texas, USA, on 5 May 2006, a baseball signed in 19'61 by legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio and film star Marilyn Monroe (both USA) DiMaggio's former wife - was sold for $191,200 (£103,766) by Heritage Auction Galleries.

Doll A rare French doll dating from c. 1914, by sculptor Albert Marque, realized $263,000 (£162,181) at a Theriault's auction in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 12 J u ly 2009. The doll, dressed in its period

clothing to honour the Ballets Russes of Paris and first introduced to international acclaim in 1909, was won by a prominent collector from Boston, USA.

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Batman memorabilia A Batmobile used in Joel Schumacher's movie Batman Forever (USA, 1995) sold at the Kruse International collector car auction in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, in September 2006 for $335,000 (£175,770) to John O'Quinn (USA). Handbag Price: $203,150

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Auction: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, USA Details: H ermes Diamond Sirkin

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�. On 20 January 2006, 1 a Swiss businessman paid $1.9 million (£1.1 million) for a silver 1965 Aston Martin DB5 coupe that was used to promote the 007 films Goldfinger (UK, 1964) and Thunderball (UK, 1965). r:;:;;; soldier

Guitar

Clock

A Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by a host of music legends including Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page and Brian May (all UK) fetched $2.7 million (£1.6 million) at a charity auction for Reach Out to Asia at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha, \)alar, on 17 November 2005. The Reach Out to Asia campaign seeks to support worthy causes around the world, with particular emphasis on the Asian continent.

The world record for a clock sold at auction is £1,926,500 ($3,001,294) for a Louis XVI Ormulu-Mounted Ebony Grande Sonnerie Astronomical Perpetual Calendar Regulateur de Parquet. The auction took place at Christie's, London, UK, on 8 July 1999.

I Truffle

Place: The Grand Lisboa Hotel, Macau, China Details: White truffle (Tuber magnatum pica) unearthed i n Pisa, Italy, on 23 November 2007

I f.� rce: s2oo,ooo (£124,309)

Date: 7 August 2003 Auction: Heritage Comics Auctions, Dallas, Texas, USA Details: First handcrafted 1963 Gl Joe prototype

False teeth Price: £1 5,200 ($23,700) Date: 29 J uly 2010

Auction: Keys

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Price: $330,000 (£160,000) Date: 1 December 2007

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Price: $1.8 (£1.1 m illion) Date: 26 J u n e 2011 uction: Julien's Auction, Beverly Hills, USA Details: Black-and red calf-leather jacket with winged shoulders worn by singer M ichael Jackson (USA) i n his 1983 Thriller video

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the coins were melted down shortly after being produced). The rare coin was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York City, USA, on 30 J uly 2002, where it fetched $7,590,020 (£4,856,370) with premium.

most expensiue photog raph Rhein II, a photograph of the River Rhine under grey skies taken by Andreas Gursky (Germany, b. 1955), fetched $4,338,500 (£:2,706,490), i ncluding buyer's premium, at a Christie's auction in New York, USA, on 8 November 2011. The glass-mounted 363.5 x 185.4-cm (143 x 73-in) image, created in 1999, is one of an edition of six works. The buyer is unknown.

Letter (signed) A letter written in 1787 by George Washington to his nephew Bush rod - in which he urges adoption of the country's new constitution - sold for $3,200,000 (£1,932,600) on 5 December 2009 at Christie's, New York City, USA.

M usical instrument

Italy, sold for $3.5 million (£1.8 million) to an anonymous buyer, at Christie's, New York City, USA, on 15 May 2006. It is one of 620 instruments made by Stradivari thought to exist.

1955) raised $4.6 million (£2.8 million) in an auction at The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles, USA, on 18 June 2011.

Dress

The most expensive coin is a 1933 Double Eagle: a $20 gold coin that was minted but never officially circulated (most of

The ivory rayon-acetate dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (USA,

Coin

A "D" colour internally flawless pear-shaped diamond weighing 100.10 carats sold for CHF 19,858,500 ($16,561,171; £10,548,444) at Sotheby's in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17 May 1995. It also holds the record for the most expensive jewel sold at auction .

ODDEST THINGS SOLD ON E BAY eBay i s the world's largest online auction house, with 98.7 million active users as of December 2011 . I n 2010, a total of 24.4 million packages - worth £40 billion ($62 billion) - were shipped via the site. Here is a selection of the stranger items Listed over the years, with sale or final bid prices:

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Broken laser pointer the first item sold on eBay (for $14.83)

Chair An armchair made c. 1917-19 by Irish-born designer Eileen Gray which had belonged to designer Yves Saint Laurent (France) sold at auction for €21.9 million ($28 million; £19.4 million). The buyer, Cheska Vallois (France}, was the same dealer who originally sold the chair to the French designer in the 1970s. The auction took place at Christie's in Paris, France, on 24-26 February 2009.

Gulfstream II jet - the most expensive item ever sold on eBay ($4.9 million)

Chewing gum spat out by (supposedly) Britney Spears ($14,000)

A violin known as the "Hammer", made in 1707 by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Whisky Price: £46,850 ($72,975) Date: 14 December 2011 Auction: Bonhams, Edinburgh, U K Details: Bottle of rare 55-year-old Glenfiddich single-malt whisky. Proceeds of the sale

Teddy bear Price: (:213, 720 ($182,400; £125,617) Date: 14 October 2000 Auction: Christie's, Monaco Details: Steiff " Louis Vuitton" teddy bear made in 2000 and measuring 45 em (17 in) tall

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Date: Apri l 1 993 Auction: Phillips, London, U K Details: German

Oldest known pair of Levi's ($46,532)

Skeleton of a 50,000-year-old mammoth (£61,000)

Piece of toast nibbled on by (supposedly) singer Justin Timberlake ($3,145)

Hat worn by Princess Beatrice (UK) to Prince William and Kate's royal wedding in 2011 (£81,000)

Pearl necklace Price: $11,842,500 (£7,601,630) Date: 14 December 2011 Auction: Christie's, New York City, USA Details: 50.6-carat necklace known as "La Peregrina", dating from the 1 6t h century. It was a present to actress Elizabeth Taylor from her then husband Richard Burton, who bought it in an auction i n 1 969 for $37,000 (£15,400)

Cornflake in the shape of the state of Illinois, USA ($1,350)

most billionaires (city) Largest stock-market flotation (I PO) The stock-market launch or "Initial Public Offering" (I PO) - of the Agricultural Bank of China (aka AgBank) raised a record $22.1 billion (£13.8 billion) on 13 August 2010. Shares were listed on both the Shanghai and the Hong Kong Stock Exchanges. The bank has over customers

employees.

Largest trading volume in a day The largest volume of shares traded at one stock exchange in one day was 5,799,792,281. This incredible figure was achieved on the New York Stock Exchange on 16 August 2007.

Highest share value On 27 March 2000, the share price for one share of Yahoo! Japan stood at 120.4 million yen ($1.12 million; £706,573). Yahoo! Japan is the nation's dominant information portal, and the scarcity of the stock contributed to the dramatic rise in price. As of 2004, Japanese company

Softbank owned 41.93% of the company, with US-based Yahoo! owning 33.49%. Yahoo! Japan's share price had increased 4,700% since December 1998.

Highest closing price on the FTSE 100 T h e FTSE 1 0 0 index lists the share prices of the 100 UK companies with the highest market value. It reached an overall closing high of 6,930.2 on 30 December 1999. The lowest closing price on the FTSE 100 was on 12 July 1984, when it fell to 978.7.

Greatest annual net loss by a company AOL Time Warner (USA) reported an annual net loss of $98.7 billion (£60 billion) on 30 January 2003.

According to Forbes, the Russia n capital Moscow cu rrently boasts an u nprecedented 79 billionaires. Between them, the Moscow billionaires share a total of $375.3 billion (£231.6 billion) . The richest M uscovite - and Russia's richest man - is the steel magnate Vladimir Lisin . The photograph above shows a millionaire's shopping fair in Moscow. The USA is the country with the most billionaires: 412 out of a global total of 1 ,210, as of 2011.

Largest takeover

Largest public company

German conglomerate Mannesmann merged with Vodafone AirTouch (UK) in February 2002. U nder the terms of the £112-billion ($159-billion) deal, Mannesmann shareholders received 49.5% of the merged company, with Vodafone providing 58.96 of its shares for each Mannesmann share.

According to Forbes, banking firm JP Morgan Chase (USA) was the world's largest public company as of 2010/11 - a record for the second year running. Forbes' calculations are based on four categories: sales, profits, assets and overall market value. For 2010/11, J P Morgan Chase registered

THE (LJ ERY) RICH LIST FAST-FOOD PROFIT •

The colour bars here represent the world share of Gross Domestic Product as of 2010, according o a yearly average for 1990 to 2010 calculated by the World Bank. In all, 190 countries are listed, with the top 10 richest nations named. These 10 countries own 66.5% of the world's wealth.

By milrket Villue: According to the Forbes Global 2000 ' list for 2010/11, the oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil had a market value of $407.2 billion (£244.3 billion) as of April 2011. By profits: Swiss food company Nestle made $36.7 billion (£22 billion) profit in 2010/11. With revenues totalling $112 billion (£69.3 billion) for the 12 months up to 11 March 2011, Nestle is also the lilrgest food compilny in terms of annual sales. The company owns business units including Food and Beverage, Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. By Silles: Forbes places Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as the company with the highest sales, with world-beating figures of $421.8 billion (£253 billion). •

•

fig u res o f $11 5.5 billion (£69.3 billion) in sales, $17.4 billion (£10.4 billion) in profits, $2,117.6 billion (£1,270.5 billion) in assets and $182.2 billion (£109.3 billion) in market value.

Largest company By ilssets: Mortgage association Fannie Mae (USA) had assets totalling $3,222 billion (£1,933 billion). according to Forbes' Global 2000 list for 2010/11. •

la rgest financia l rescue plan Between 2008 and 2012, the central banks of the USA, UK, Japan and t h e 17 countries that use the euro issued loans to the value of $8.8 trillion (£5.5 trillion) to ease the effects of the Globi!il Financial Crisis (GFC). This figure i ncludes $2.95 trillion (£1 .86 trillion) from the US Federal Reserve and $3.58 trillion (£2.26 trillion) from the European Central Bank.

•

Largest corporate bankruptcy US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy to the tune of

$613 billion (£341.5 billion) on 1 5 September 2008. The bank succumbed to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, which started the worldwide recession in 2008.

Largest advertising agency (revenues) Omnicom Group Inc., whose headquarters are on Madison Avenue in New York, USA, had revenues of $12.5 billion (£8 billion) for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2010.

10. CANADA $1,577,040 million

9. 1NDIA $1,721,111 million

Richest investor Warren Edward Buffett (USA). chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is the world's richest investor, estimated to be worth $45 billion (£29 billion) as of September 2011.

Richest media tycoon Michael Bloomberg's (USA) media empire Bloomberg L.P., which includes the Bloomberg financial news firm, was worth an estimated $22.5 billion (£14 billion) as of March 2011. ..

..

3. JAPAN

$5,458,837 million

1 . USA

586,736 m i

Oldest skyscraper city

Largest a rcology project An arcology is a city designed to provide an alternative to modern u rban sprawl. First proposed by Italian-American architect Paolo Soleri in the 1960s, an arcology's aim is to be self-sufficient and prevent wasteful consumption of land, energy and time. The largest arcology underway is Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Initiated in 2006, it occupies 6 km' (2.3 miles') and is planned to host around 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses.

Largest city with no major road connection

First city Dating back to around 3200 sc, the world's first city was Uruk, located in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Home to some 50,000 inhabitants, it was the largest settlement of its time, covering 450 ha (1,112 acres) and encircled by a 9.5-km (5.9-mile) city wall. Thriving as a result of trade and agriculture, Uruk also became a great artistic centre, featuring many elaborate mosaics and monuments.

First use of postal codes In 1857, Sir Rowland H i ll (UK) divided London into postal districts based on compass points - "N" for North, "S" for South, etc. The UK's present form of the postcode - a mixture of letters and numbers decoded by machine to allow faster sorting - was first used in Norwich, Norfolk, UK, in October 1959. The similar ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) code came into use in the USA in J uly 1963.

1 52 w w w . g u i n n e s s wo r l d r e c o rd s . c o m

lquitos, founded in the Peruvian rainforest in the 1750s, has a population of around 430,000 and is a major port on the Amazon River. The only road from lquitos stops at the small town of Nauta, about 100 km (62 miles) to the south. This makes the city accessible only by air and river.

Largest slum Neza-Chalco-ltza is one of Mexico City's barrios (slums). Most of its approximately four million inhabitants live there illegally. Mexico City's slums have been growing for more than 100 years, after the railways allowed new industry to begin in the city.

most expensiue city to park in According to a 2011 report by Colliers I nternational, the two most expensive urban zones in which to park a car a re both in London, UK. Median monthly parking rates are E657 ($1 ,083) in the City of London, the financial district, and E615 ($1 ,014) in London's West End, the entertain ment district.

Largest shopping centre The Dubai Mall, located in Downtown Dubai, UAE, consists of four levels with a floor area of 548,127 m2 (5.9 million ft2) and has 1.200 retail outlets and over 160 food and beverage outlets. Construction began in 2004, with the mall opening its doors on 4 November 2008.

Busiest metro network The Moscow Metro in Russia carries 8-9 m illion passengers each day. By comparison, the New York City Subway, USA, carries 4.5 million people each day and the London U nderground, UK, carries just over 3 million.

Oldest metro system The London Underground, �u K, opened its first section - from Paddington station to Farringdon - in 1863.

Metro with most stations New York City Subway has 468 stations (277 of which are underground) in a network covering 370 km (230 miles).

Longest driverless metro network The Dubai Metro (UAE) consists of two driverless lines (Red and Green) that totalled 74.694 km (46.41 miles) when the Green line was officially opened on 9 September 2011.

Oldest bus rapid transit network

Largest u rban tram network

Longest metro escalator The St Petersburg metro in Russia has an escalator with a vertical rise of 50.5 m (195 ft).

Most escalators in a metro system The metro in Washington, DC, USA, has 557 escalators which are maintained by approximately 90 technicians.

Busiest station Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan, has an average of 3.64 million passengers pass through it each day. It has more than 200 exits.

Longest continuous subway The Moscow metro Kaluzhskaya undergro�c�nd railway line from MedvedJ
Parking meters were invented by Carl C Magee (USA) and first installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, in July 1935. They reached New York in 1951 and London in 1958.

From 1897 to the 1960s, Buenos Aires in Argentina boasted a h uge tram network. At its maximum, it had an estimated 857 km (532.5 miles) of lines, including those underground. The trams were replaced by modern buses.

City with most bridges Hamburg, Germany, is located on the River Elbe at the point where it meets the Bi lle and Alster rivers. The canals, rivers and streams within the city are crossed by a total of 2,302 bridges - more than the cities of Venice and Amsterdam combined.

Largest car park The world's largest car park can hold 20,000 vehicles and is situated at the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. There are overflow facilities on an adjoining can park for 10,000 more vehicles.

Curitiba, the capital of the Brazilian state of Parana, is home to around 1.75 million people. I n 1974, it became the first city in the world to implement a bus rapid-transit network. Superior to normal bus routes, it uses dedicated lanes for buses, articulated long buses and more frequent vehicles, allowing its 2.3 million daily users to commute at speeds similar to light rail networks.

LARGEST C ITIES The top 15 largest urban areas ("urban agglomerations"), as defined by the most recent United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report.

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MUMBAI, INDIA

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First scientific treatise on spontaneous human combustion Spontaneous human combustion ( SHC ) is defined as the burning of a living human body without any clear external source of ignition. Approximately 200 cases have been reported worldwide during the past three centuries alone. Author Charles Dickens even incorporated an SHC event into the plot of his novel Bleak House (1852) . The first scientific, non-

Oldest g host investigation into spontaneous human combustion appeared in 1673. Entitled De lncendiis Corporis Human! Spontaneis, it was written by Jonas Dupont (France) and comprised SHe related cases and studies.

First "haunted" battle scene The famous Battle of Marathon between the citizens of Athens and Persian armies took place on the Plain of Marathon in 490 sc, and was won by the Greeks. However, shortly afterwards, observers claimed to have seen a ghostly "action replay" of this battle, and comparable spectral re-enactments have reputedly been witnessed at the site on several occasions since then, up to modern times.

...

Ghost Ranch, in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, has earned its name from the many sightings of a huge ghostly reptile that have been made there over the years. Measuring 6-9 m ( 19 ft 6 in-29 ft 6 in) long, it has been dubbed "Viva ron, the snake-demon" by local inhabitants. In 1947, paleontologist Edwin H Colbert ( USA) unearthed a huge cache of fossil skeletons in this same area, derived from various prehistoric reptiles. These not only included more than a thousand dinosaur specimens but also a 9-m-long ( 29.5-ft) crocodile-like creature known as a phytosaur. Its discovery led to speculation that the paranormal "snake-demon" that had been reported by the locals was the ghost of this phytosaur. If this were true - and bearing in mind that its fossil skeleton is

220 million years old, dating from the Triassic Period - the phytosaur's spectre would be ·the world's oldest ghost!

Longest continuous house construction Winchester House in San Jose, California, USA, was u nder construction for 38 years. Once an eight-room farmhouse on a 65-ha (161-acre) estate, its transformation into a mansion was begun in 1886 by the widowed Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. It is known as the "Winchester Mystery House" because of its many oddities, such as closets opening into blank walls, a window in the floor, and staircases leading nowhere. Some believe that after the death of her husband (son of the inventor of the famous rifle) the widow was told by a medium that endless remodelling would confuse and calm the ghosts

Ta l lest bigfoot Accord ing to researchers who investigate reports of the bigfoot (sasquatch ) , visibly different types of this hairy bipedal mystery p rimate occur in North America. The tallest is the so-called true g iant, which, witnesses say, is 3-6 m (9 ft 10 i n-19 ft 6 in) tall. The most common sightings are in the high mountains of the west and in the northern spruce forests. Pictured is GWR consultant Karl Shuker with a cast of the "Grays Harbor Footprint", taken from tracks discovered in 1982 in Washington state, USA.

of all the people killed by the "gun that won the West". The house has 13 bathrooms, 52 skylights. 47 fireplaces, 10,000 windows, 40 staircases, 2,000 doorways and trapdoors and three elevators.

Most participants in a scientific study of a haunted house Between 26 May and 4 June 2000, psychologist Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, led an experiment in which 1,027 volunteers walked around parts of Hampton Court Palace, reputedly one of the most haunted locations

Members of the XL D-Sign team (all Netherlands) created a 530 x 450-m (1 .739 x 1 , 476-ft) cropfield image of a "moth man" in Zeeland, Netherlands, over the course of one night in August 2009. It covered around 24 ha (59 acres) and was dubbed "Project Atlas". XL D-Sign has been producing huge, elaborate cropfield-sited images for more than 10 years.

STRANGEST FALLS

@

ELECTRIC RAIN 1 November 1844 Paris, France

Witnessed by Dr Morel-Deville, rain sparked and crackled as it hit the ground and buildings, and gave off a phosphorus smell.

(i)

B I RD BLOOD 1S May 1890 Messignadi, Calabria, Italy

Rain of blood formally identified as birds' blood fell, but no bird carcasses were found.

in the UK. The volunteers documented any unusual experiences or sensations and the results were collected for psychological analysis.

Largest flock of birds to invade a house On the evening of 4 May 1998, the Fire Department in Pasadena, California, USA, was called to investigate a strange happening in an empty house. Firefighters discovered that more than 1,000 swifts (family Apidae) had flown down the chimney, spreading soot everywhere. Some of the swifts were dead, having apparently flown headlong into the walls in panic. It took at least two hours for the firefighters, led by Fire Dept Battalion Chief Joe Nestor (USA), to shoo the rest of the huge flock out of the house, through windows and doors. It is unclear why the swifts flew down the chimney en masse.

Deadliest lake The lake responsible for the most deaths not brought about by d rowning is Lake Nyos in Cameroon, west Africa, where

GREEN RAIN June 2002 - India

toxic gases have claimed nearly 2,000 lives in recent decades. On one night in August 1986, about 1,700 people and countless animals were killed by a large natural release of carbon dioxide gas.

NAILS 12 October 1888 Texas, USA

Largest area of glowing sea

Cascade of nails rained from the sky on to the wife of Point Isabel's lighthouse keeper.

In 1995, scientists at the US Naval Research Laboratory discovered an area of luminous sea in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia using satellite images. The patch of water measured more than 250 km (155 miles) long and had an area of around 14,000 km2 (5.400 miles2). Bioluminescent bacteria are believed to have been responsible for the water's striking appearance.

Largest pink lake Re!ba Lake, better known as Lac Rose ("Pink Lake"), is the world's largest pink body of water, measuring around 1.5 x 5 km (0.9 x 3 miles) at low water. A shallow lagoon, located 30 km (18 miles) north of Dakar, Senegal (famous as the last leg in the Paris-Dakar Rally), the lake's intense colour is the result of micro organisms and a stro�g concentration of minerals.

Fell for two days; shown to be pollen-containing droppings of a huge swarm of honeybees.

BLUE RAIN 8 April 19S4 - USA

Blue rain fell over several USA towns; when examined, found to be radioactive. HAILSTONE-ENCASED TORTOISE 11 May 1894 - Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA

During a hailstorm, a gopher tortoise entirely encased in a giant hailstone and measuring 15.2 x 20.3 em (6 x 8 in) fell from the sky.

The term "stigmatic" refers to a person who seems to have wounds mirroring those suffered by Jesus Christ d u ring his crucifixion. Depicted here is Francis of Assisi (1181/2-1226, canonized 1228), who was reportedly visited by an a ngel in 1224 while praying. Francis later found that he bore a series of wounds corresponding to those of Jesus. Stigmatics continue to make claims to the present day (inset photo).

FROGS 28 Aug 1977 Canet-Plage, France

Thousands of tiny frogs the size of peas seen falling to the ground from the sky just before a heavy rain shower began. PWDRE SER (STAR ROT) 21 January 1803 Silesia, Germany

The day after a meteor fell to Earth, an unexplained jelly-like mass (pwdre ser) was found on the ground. SILVER COINS 30 September 19S6 Meshehera, Russia

Shower of silver coins fell all over the district during a storm. ANGEL HAIR 20 September 1892 Florida, USA

8

Great white sheets of spiderweb-like gossamer (known as angel hair) floated down with rain, some measuring 45 m (150 ft) or more in length. Seen and collected by Gainesville's postmaster.

Fewest smokers Accord ing to the latest available figures from Nation master.com, only 17% of Canadians smoke at least one ciga rette daily.

Largest emigrant population Acco rd ing to the latest World Bank report, 11.9 m i llion Mexican citizens were livi ng abroad as of 2010.

Lowest marriage rate Colombia has a n average of just 1.7 m a rriages per 1,000 population, according to The Economist.

Highest murder rate The U n ited Nations recorded 60.87 m u rders per 1 00,000 citizens i n Honduras i n 2008.

1 56 www.g u in n e s s wo r ld r e c o r d s . c o m

Largest producer of 0 coffee Brazil produced more than 2.36 million tonnes (2.6 m i llion tons) of coffee i n 2009-10.

Happiest country As of 2009, Costa Rica ranked first on the Happy Planet I ndex, with a 76.1% rating.

JUST HOW LONG CAN WE LIVE FOR? F I N D OUT ON P.66

THE I nCORRUPTIBLE"S InDEPEnDEnCE DAY EXPAnDinG POPULATIOn •

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Lea uing a big footp rint LIFE EXPECTANCY

some 500,000,

With a population of

The average life expectancy in the world is 66.57 years: 64.52 for males and 68.76 fo r females.

Luxembourg is one of

2009, however, it had

the t i n i est nations. As of

largest ecological footprint of any nation. the

The e q u i valent of 20. 2 ha

(25.2 acres) of land would be needed to meet each Luxembourger's needs a n d absorb t h e i r carbon

Most popular tourism destination Accord ing to the U n ited Nations, France attracted 76.8 m i llion tourists i n 2010.

Highest alcohol consumption M oldovans d ra n k the equivalent of 1 9 . 2 litres (4.1 gal) of pure alcohol per person i n 2005, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

,

Greatest gender difference in life expectancy Russian males have a life expectancy of 59.33 years, compared with 73.14 years for females - a d i fference of 13 .81 years.

Highest ratio of foreign aid Sweden g ives 1 .03% of its GDP to offi cial development aid. Intelligence Unit report rates Norway as the most democratic cou ntry, with a score of 9.8 out of 10.

=::::::

WORLD 66.57

Most official languages The Republic of South Africa has 11 offi cial Languages. They are: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana, Seped i , Xitsonga, siSwati, i s i N debele and Tsh ivenda .

Source: CIA Factbook

Highest birth rate Based on figures for 2005 -1 0, there are 49.5 bi rths per 1,000 population in N iger.

Corruptions Perception I n dex .

Simultaneous head of state of most countries Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (U K) is head of state of 16 countries, as of March 2012. The Queen's role is nominal and ceremonial (she has no political power), yet more than 128 m illion people in 1 5 Commonwealth states (plus

the UK and its 14 Overseas Territories) recognize her as their monarch. She is also the oldest British monarch ever. Her coronation was on 2 June 1953 and, in 2012, she remains on the throne at the age of 85.

First female president Maria Estela Martfnez de Per6n (known as Isabel, or lsabelita), the widow of General Juan Per6n (both Argentina), was the first female president. She was sworn in as interim leader of Argentina on 29 June 1974, as delegated by her husband, the president, who died on 1 July. She was deposed in a military coup on 24 March 1976.

You ngest current head of state Kim Jong-un of North Korea ascended to the leadership position on 17 December 2011, following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. Kim Jon g-un's exact age has never been confirmed: it has been speculated that he was 27 upon succeeding his father, though his date of birth has also been listed as 8 January 1982, or the same date i n 1983 or 1984. T h e younger Kim also holds t h e title o f Supreme Commander o f the Korean People's Army and carries the rank of Daejang, the equ ivalent of a general.

Richest monarch According to Forbes, as of July 2011 the wealthiest monarch is Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty. Although his wealth declined by some $5 billion (£3 billion) in the year following the global financial crisis of 2008, he is still managing to get by, with an estimated fortune exceeding $30 billion (£18.2 billion),

much of which stems from investment in Thai businesses.

Oldest president Joaquin Balaguer (1907-2002) was president of the Dominican Republic in 1960-62, 1966-78 and 1986-96. He left office at the age of 89, having held the presidency for over 23 years. The oldest currently reigning monarch is Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the

largest pa rlia ment (legislatiue body) Chi na's National People's Cong ress, or N PC, has 2,987 members and meets annually i n Beij i ng's G reat Hall of the Peqple. Its formal leader is Wu Bangguo, who holds the title of Chairman and Party Secretary of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

King of Saudi Arabia. He took the record on 11 May 2007, at the age of 82 years 253 days. King Abdullah took to the throne on 1 August 2005. Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (India, 1896-1995) was 81 when he began leading India in March 1977, the oldest age at which a prime min ister has first been appointed.

Youngest current monarch King Oyo - aka Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba lguru Rukidi IV - is the 20-year-old ruler of Toro, a kingdom in Uganda, East Africa. Born on 16 April 1992, he came to power at the age of three and now reigns over 3% of Uganda's 33-million -strong population.

LONGEST-SERVI NG CURRENT H EADS OF STATE Some heads of state hold onto their position rather longer than others. GWR presents a selection of world leaders who, as of 4 May 2012, are still occupying the top spot. This list excludes disputed countries.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej: Thailand

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First fascist d ictator

The youngest monarchs ever were a king of France and a king of Spain, who were sovereigns from the moment of their birth. Jean (John) I of France was the posthumous son of Louis X and succeeded at birth on 14 November 1316, but died five days later. Alfonso XIII of Spain was the posthumous son of Alfonso X I I a n d succeeded at birth o n 17 May 1886.

Tallest world leader Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper is the tallest current world leader, at 188 em (6 ft 2 in). Harper edges out US president Barack Obama, whose height is 185 em (6 ft 1 in), and British prime minister David Cameron, who stands at 184 em (6 ft 0.5 in). The world's shortest national leader was Benito Juarez (1806-72), five-term

president of Mexico, who served from 1858 until 1872. He stood a mere 137 em (4 ft 6 in) tall. Juarez led Mexico during the period known as La Reforma. He fought the French occupation of Mexico and made early efforts to liberalize and modernize the country.

Shortest presidency The shortest presidency was that of Pedro Lascurain, who governed Mexico on 18 February 1913 for one hour. Lascurain was the legal successor to President Madero, who was murdered on 13 February 1913. The vice-president of Mexico was disqualified as he was under arrest at the time and thus Lascurain was sworn in, immediately appointed General Victoria no Huerta as his successor and then resigned.

Benito Mussolini became Italy's youngest prime minister on 31 October 1922, having led the country's right-wing, fascist political movement since 1919. He made it clear that he would govern authoritatively and soon obtained full dictatorial powers, securing his position in a fraudulent election in 1924. He became the first of the fascist dictators, siding with Adolf H itler's Germany in World War II. He was caught by Italian partisans and killed on 28 Apri l 1 945 while trying to flee to Switzerland.

Longest time for an embalmed leader to be on public d isplay The body of Vladi m i r llyich Lenin (1870-1924), the first leader of the Soviet Union, has been on public

0 display in the Mavzoley Lenina (Lenin's Tomb) in Red Square, Moscow, Russia, since six days after his death on 21 January 1924. Lenin's features are moisturized every day and preservatives injected beneath his clothes. The body was removed for safety during World War I I .

King Juan Carlos: Spain

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prime minister Si rimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka, 1916-2000) was the first and longest-serving female prime minister in modern times. She held the post three ti mes: 21 J u ly 196027 March 1965, 29 May 1 97023 July 1977 (Ceylon re-named itself as Sri Lanka in 1972) and 14 November 199410 August 2000.

Deadliest conflict since World War I I The conflict that began i n Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of the Congo - in August 1998, and officially ended in July 2003, is known as the Second Congo War or the G reat African War. It involved Zaire, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Chad, Namibia and Sudan. About 5.4 million people died - most owing to disease and starvation - and many millions were displaced. World War II remains the deadliest conflict ever, with around 56 million fatalities.

Country least at peace According to the Global Peace Index 2011, the country least at peace is Somalia. The index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, ranks 153 nations and takes into account issues such as domestic and international conflict, safety and security i n society, and militarization. The country most at peace in the index is Iceland.

Country with most hostage-taking The Centre for Strategic and International Studies reports that Pakistan had 5,333 incidents of hostage-taking in the period 2007-10.

Leading host country for refugees According to the U N HCR's Global Trends 2010 report, Pakistan has 1 . 9 million

First woman to com ma nd a fighting warship

la rgest armed force (relatiue to population)

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, aka North Korea) boasts 1 .19 m i llion active personnel i n its regular a rmed forces. This i s the largest active a rmed force relative to population - almost 49 military personnel for every 1 ,000 head of population. It is also the world's fourth largest army (see ''Armed forces" feature far right). When combined with the reserve and paramilitary servi ces, and the Peasant Red Guard, the nu mber of m i litary personnel rises to 7.68 m illion . refugees. Developing countries host around 80% of the world's refugee population - more than half of whom are children. The report puts the global total at 43.7 million, consisting of refugees, people d isplaced within their country by conflict and natural disasters, and asylum seekers.

Youngest state leader to control nuclear weapons The leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea) , Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father Kim Jong-il as leader of the country on 24 December 2011.

. is, according to official reports, only 29 years old (although other sources put his age at 26 or 27).

and Chevalier de la Legion d' Honneur; and the US Medal of Freedom. She died on 7 August 2011, aged 98.

Most highly decorated servicewoman of World War I I

Most military personnel rescued at sea

Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Nancy Grace Augusta Wake worked with the French Resistance during World War II as a British agent with the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) . The German Gestapo called her the "White Mouse" owing to her ability to evade capture. Her awards include: the British George Medal; the

O n 8 May 1942, 2.735 people from the US aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2 ) were rescued after it had been sunk by the Japanese between Australia and New Caledonia in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Shortest war On 27 August 1896, Britain and Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania ) officially went to

EUACUATIOnS A n D lnUASIOnS HOSTAGE-TA KinG •

LA RGEST

•••

Tank battle On 12 July 1943 during World War II, the Battle of Kursk part of Germany's Operation Zitadelle - saw a total ofl,500 German and Russian tanks amass for close-range fighting in the Prokhorovka region of Russia. Both sides lost over 300 tanks each in one day.

Air and sea battle During World War ll's Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, 218 Allied warships battled 64 Japanese warships from 22 to 27 October 1944. 1n the skies above, 1,280 US and 716 Japanese aircraft were engaged in combat. In the end, 26 Japanese and six US vessels were sunk and the Allies secured a base on the island of Leyte.

M I LITARY M IGHT AT A G LANCE

Armed forces The chart below identifies the top 1 0 largest armed forces based o n the number of personnel as of 2010.

Other Air Force - Navy - Army �-----==--'1. 5 -1112.0 ------

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largest nATO operation NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a n intergovernmental mutual-defence a lliance based on the N orth Atlantic Treaty signed on 4 April 1949. As of 6 June 2011, NATO's I nternational Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) in Afghanistan totalled 132,457 personnel from 49 cou ntries. ISAF was set up by the U N i n 2001 and came under N ATO control in 2003 - its aims are to defeat the Taliban insurgency, provide economic aid, and tra i n the police and army.

Naval battle The greatest sea battle involving only ships and submarines was the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, in which 151 British Royal Navy warships squared up against 101 German 'l\larships. The Royal Navy lo st 14 ships and 6,097 men, fnd the German fleet 11 ship and 2,545 men.

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Evacuation of m ilitary personnel From 26 May to 4 June 1940, as France fell to Nazi Germany, 1,200 Allied naval and civil craft - including fishing boats, pleasure cruisers and Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats - evacuated 338,226 British and French troops from the beachhead at Dunkerque (Dunkirk) , France.

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Landlocked navy The landlocked country with the largest naval force is Bolivia. As of 2007, it had 4,800 personnel, of which marines comprised 1,700 (including 1,000 Naval M i litary Police) . These forces patrol Lake Titicaca as well as the country's river systems, preventing smuggling and drug trafficking.

Combined military operation On 6 June 1944, the Allied Forces launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied mainland Europe. Three million men were assembled in the UK under General Eisenhower's command. In the first wa,ve of landings on five beaches in Normandy, France, some 5,300 ships carried 155,000 men, supported by 1,500 tanks and 12,000 aircraft.

3. Russia

$71 .9 bn*

4. U K

$62.7 b n

5 . France

$62.5 bn

6 . Japan

$54 . 5 bn

7. Saudi Arabia

$48.2 b n

8. 1 ndia

$46. 8 b n

9. Germany

10. 1taly

$46.7 bn* $37 bn*

* estimates

Sources: The Economist, I nternational i nstitute for Strategic Studies, Stockholm I nternational Peace Research I n stitute.

Farthest vertical ski fall survived In April 1997, while she was competing in the 1997 World Extreme Skiing Championships in Valdez, Alaska, Bridget Mead (New Zealand) fell a vertical distance of nearly 400 m (1,312 ft). Remarkably, she suffered no broken bones, just bruises and severe concussion. Doctors credit her survival to her excellent physical condition and to the fact that she was wearing a helmet.

Longest time adrift at sea Captain Oguri J u kichi and one of his sailors, named Otokichi (both Japan}, survived approximately 484 days after their ship was damaged in a storm off the Japanese coast in October 1813. They drifted in the Pacific before being rescued by a US ship off the Californian coast on 24 March 1815.

Greatest rescue without loss of life The US vessel Susan B Anthony was sunk off Normandy, France, on 7 June 1944. All 2,689 passengers on board survived.

Most lightning strikes survived

Farthest car accident flight survived

The only man in the world to be struck by lightning seven times was ex-park ranger Roy C Sullivan, the "human lightning conductor" of Virginia, USA. A single lightning strike is made up of several 100-m illion volts (with peak current in the order of 20,000 amps}.

Paramedic Matt McKnight (USA) was helping at an accident scene on 26 October 2001 when he was struck by a car travelling at 112 km/h (70 mi/h). He was thrown a distance of 35.9 m (118 ft) along Route 376, Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA. Matt dislocated both his shoulders (fracturing one}, suffered a collapsed lung, had a thigh ripped open to the bone, and fractured his pelvis and legs. He made a full recovery and returned to work a year later.

Longest time trapped in a lift Kively Papajohn of Limassol, Cyprus, was trapped in her apartment block lift for six days from 28 December 1987 to 2 January 1988. She was 76 years old at the time. Kively survived the cold and beat dehydration by rationing the fruit, vegetables and bread that she had in her shopping bag.

Farthest distance survived in a tornado Matt Suter (USA) was caught in a tornado and carried 398 m (1,307 ft) in Missouri, USA, on 12 March 2006.

First person to suruiue two nuclear attacks Tsutomu Yamaguchi (Japan, 1916-2010) was in H i roshima on 6 August 1945, when the US Army Air Forces d ropped the " Little Boy" atomic bomb on the city. Suffering burns to his upper body, Tsutomu returned to his home town of Nagasaki on 8 August. The next day, US forces dropped " Fat Man", a 20-22-kiloton bomb, on the city. Miraculously Tsutomu again survived with only minor inju ries - although his left eardrum was irreperably damaged and in later life he was to suffer from i llness related to his exposure to radiation. I n both cities he was within 3 km (1 . 8 miles) of g round zero.

Youngest person to survive a car crash On 25 February 1999, Virg inia Rivero from M isiones, Argentina, went into labour at her home and walked to a nearby road in order to hitchhike to hospital. Offered a lift by two men, she then gave birth to a baby girl in the back seat of their car. When she told them she was about to have a second baby, the driver

overtook a car in front, only to collide with a third vehicle. Virginia and her newborn daughter were ejected through the back door of the car, suffering minor i njuries, but Virginia was able to flag down another car, which took them to the hospital. Once there, she gave birth to a baby boy.

Highest speed suruiued in a motorcycle crash M EDICAL MARVELS GWR pays tribute to those individuals who have undergone major surgery and survived ...

Highest percentage of burns to the body survived Two people have survived burns to 90% of their bodies. David Chapman (UK) was burned after a petrol canister exploded and drenched him with burning fuel on 2 July 1996. Following the accident,

surgeons spent 36 hours removing his dead skin. Tony Yarijanian (USA) underwent 25 surgeries, including multiple skin grafts, after suffering similar injuries from a n explosion at his wife's beauty spa in California, USA, on 15 February 2004.

LONGEST SURVIVING ARTIFICIAL H EART TRANSPLANT PATIENT

Longest time to survive without food Doctors have estimated that a well-nourished individual ca/1' survive without medical consequences on a diet of sugar and water for 30 days or more. The longest period for which anyone has lasted without solid food is 382 days in the case of Angus

Barbieri (UK) of Tayport, Fife, who lived on tea, coffee, water, soda water and vitamins in Maryfield Hospital, Dundee, UK, from J une 1965 to July 1966. During that period, his weight declined from 214 kg (33 st 10 lb) to 80.74 kg (12 st 10 lb).

Peter Houghton (UK, 1938-2007) Date of operation: Survived: 7 years

20 June 2000

5 months 5 days

LONGEST SURVIVING SINGLE LUNG TRANSPLANT PATIENT

Wolfgang Muller (Canada, 1934-2008) Date of operation:

15 Septemberl987 20 years 11 months 21 days Survived:

LONGEST SURVIVING HEART TRANSPLANT PATIENT Tony Huesman (USA, 1957-2009) Date of operation: 30 August 1978 Survived:

30 years 1 1 months 10 days

LONGEST SURVIVAL WITH HEART OUTSIDE BODY

Christopher Wall (USA, b. 19 August 1975) 36 years 5 months 29 days, as of 17 February 2012 Survived:

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CONG<ST SURVIVING DOUBLE-KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PATIENT

Brian K Bourgraf (USA)

Date of operation:

23 March 1968

Survived: 43 years 1 0

Longest time to suruiue tra pped u nderg rou nd "The 3 3 of San Jose" (32 Chileans and one Bolivian) were trapped 688 m (2,257 ft) underground for 69 days after the collapse of the San Jose copper-gold mine, near Copiap6, Chile, on 5 August 2010. All the miners made it back to the surface in a rescue capsule. The last man was lifted to safety from the capsule at 21:55 CLDT on 13 October 2010.

months 25 days, as of 17 February 2012

LONGEST SURVIVING KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PATIENT Johanna Leanora Rempel

(nee Nightingale, Canada, b. 24 March 1948) Date of operation:

28 December 1960 Survived:

51 years 1 month 20 days, as of 17 February 2012

most uiewed uideo online

Highest price paid for a social network developer Justin Bieber's (Canada) video for "Baby", d i rected by Ray Kay (Norway), is not only the top music video on YouTu be but the most viewed video online of any kind. As of 18 May 2012, it had 738,166,041 views on the video-sharing web?ite. However, it is also the most "disliked" video online - as of 18 May 2012, it had 2,563,872 "dislikes". " Friday", a 2011 single by US pop star Rebecca Black, was previously the most d isliked video, but it was removed temporarily from YouTube for copyright reasons.

First satirical social network game

Largest online music playlist The social entertainment site Myspace.com (launched January 2004) has a published playlist of more than 200 million

Actor Charlie Sheen (USA) racked up 1 million followers on Twitter in just 25 hours 17 minutes on 1 and 2 March 2011. Sheen was big news at the time, having had his contract terminated on his CBS hit sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Biggest social games company Despite having only existed since July 2007, US firm Zynga is the most popular social games developer. It attracted 252,274,991 monthly active users on Facebook as of 18 May 2012. Its most popular game. CityVille, in which players create their own city, claimed a staggering 26 million players within 12 days of its launch in 2010, making it the filstest growing sociill network gil me. As of 18 May 2012, CityVille had 36,900,000

Largest video sharing website YouTube dominates video on the internet. As of April 2012, it had more than 4 billion views a day, and more than 60 hours of video were being added every mi nute - the equivalent of more than 250,000 full-length movies per week. In 2010, over 13 million hours of video were uploaded and, in 2011, it attracted 490 million unique users a month.

164 w w w . g u i n n e ss w orld reco rds . c o m

The games developer Playdom, which initially made its reputation creating games for Myspace, was sold to the Walt Disney Company for a record $563 million (£350 million) in July 2010.

During a television screening of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky (Japan, 2009) in Japan on 9 December 2011, Twitter went crazy, reaching 25,088 tweets per second. In the ani me film, a spell of destruction is cast with the word "balse" to bring down the city of Laputa. The moment this happened, the film's fans hopped on Twitter to tweet the word "balse" too.

Cow Clicker involves clicking on a picture of a cow every six hours and is designed to satirize other social network games, such as FarmVille. Its designer, I an Bogost (USA), describes it as "a Facebook game about Face book games". It drew an all-time monthly high of 54,245 users, and has spawned a puzzle game, an iPhone game and an alternate reality game, making it the most successful satirical social game to date. It also sells new cow pictures to click on - the most expensive, the "Roboclicker", had an asking price of 5,000 "mooney" or $340 (£208).

In April 2009, actor Ashton Kutcher (USA) became the first person to a mass over 1 million Twitter followers. Kutcher is now no longer king of the celebrity tweeters, being only the 17th most-followed, with 10,668,643 followers as of 18 May 2012. That's well behind first-placed Lady Gaga (see p.l65).

A RA BIC W AS THE FASTEST-GROW inG LAnGUAGE on TWITTER I n

2011

First arcade game to integ rate Twitter

Most "liked" video online With 908,668 thumbs up on YouTube as of 18 May 2012, "Charlie bit my finger - again!" is the favourite online video. It shows Harry Davies-Carr having his finger bitten by his baby brother Charlie (both UK) with a little more force than he was expecting.

Sega's Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is the first arcade game to allow players to link together their Virtua Fighter and Twitter accounts. This means players can follow each other's fortunes while they punch and kick their way through bouts. Cool combat moves are posted automatically on Twitter.

I N l UST O N E DAY... o f data a r e consumed per average household

most social networking •

Most comments on a Facebook item i n 24 hours:

80,030, achieved by Green peace on 14 April 2011 . Green peace were trying to get Face book itself to use green energy rather than electricity from burning coal. Most comments on a single Facebook item in total: 1 ,001,552, in response to a post made on •

30 October 2011 by Tracey Hodgson (UK) on the Facebook page FFG Pioneers. Tracey's post was on the Zynga game Frontierville, now called The Pioneer Trail. Most "likes" on a Facebook page: 88,051 ,895, on Face book for Every Phone, as of 1 8 May 2012. •

all in 140 chai'Ktfts or Ius: • Twitter has donated access to all its tweets to the Library of Congress for research.

The name Twitter was used as its definitions - "chirps from birds" and "a short burst of inconsequential information" - fitted perfectly. •

• Traffic usually peaks at 9 p.m. GMT (4 p.m. on the East Coast of the USA and 1 p.m. on the West Coast of the USA).

text messages are sent

•

Lady Gaga (USA, b. Stefani Germanotta) had more than 24,285,376 Twitter followers of her @ladygaga Twitter feed as of 18 May 2012. She was also the first tweep to attain 10 million followers, on 15 May 2011.

most pictures downloaded from a website in 24- hours Erik Kessels (Netherlands) downloaded 950,000 pictures from the Flickr website for his What 's Next' exhibition held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 2011. He printed 350,000 of the images to create "a sea of i mages you can d rown in" and left them heaped on the floor. Kessels said he wanted to show "how pub.lk private photos have become" and to unnerve visito r s by making them "walk over personal memories".

Most "likes" on a Face book item in 24 hours:

588,243, in response to a post on 15 February 2011 by rapper Lil Wayne (USA, b. Dwayne Carter, J r) . He was competing with cookie company Oreo for the record.

Most content uploaded to an online video service An average of 70.49 hours per minute is uploaded to Ustream.tv, a website that broadcasts live events. This figure, based on the 37.05 million hours of content u ploaded to the site from June 2010 to May 2011, beats YouTube's 60 hours

Most talked-about topics on Facebook Since 2009, Facebook has been tracking the phrases most used in status updates. In 2009, "Face book applications" was the favourite topic. In 2010, it was "HMU" (hit me up), with "World Cup" (soccer) coming in second. In 2011, it was "Death of Osama bin Laden".

8 yea rs

of footage is added to YouTube: the equivalent of 60 hours of video every minute!

3 billion

YouTube clips are viewed; in 2010, 700 billion playbacks were logged

400 m i llion

people log into Facebook

300 m i llion

photos are added to Facebook

SO million

people log into Twitter

230 million

tweets are sent - equal to 2,662 messages tweeted every second!

460 ? 000

new Twi ter accounts are

•• new images are uploaded to Flickr, enough to fill 540,000 pages of a photo album!

1 68 170 Skyscrapers 172 Airports Trains & Railways 174 Manufactu ring 176 178 Weapons

Fighting Vehicles Helicopters 182

Wacky Vehicles Roads Epic Engineering

166 www. g u i n n e s s w o r l d r e c o rd s . c o m

184 186 188

La rgest truck body The WE STECH Flow Control Body, designed and man ufactured in Wyoming, USA, is the largest mining truck body by volume. Specially made for the Liebherr T 282 C truck, it was measured on 14 June 2011 at North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming carrying 470.4 m3 (16,612 ft3) of coal. That's about the same capacity as 5,875 bathtubs, or 600 pickup truckloads. To move such a g reat weight, the T 282 C has a 20-cylinder engine and 5,350-litre (1.171 -gal) fuel tank. It costs about 5 million (£3.2 million).

The driver needs to climb 21 steps to get to his cab ...

and the wheels are 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) high.

The engine weighs 10,480 kg (23,104 lb) ...

and generates a top speed of 64 km/h (39.7 mi/h).

Born in the USA, the skyscraper has latterly been taken to spectacular new heights in the M iddle East and Asia. Our timeline ( right) shows the history of the 100 tallest buildings constructed - and their distribution across the world - since 1930.

- Europe - Oceania

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sway 1 m (3 ft) in high winds. Typically, a tall building is desig ned to sway by no more than 1/500th of its height. Large obj ects called "mass dampers" help to shift a building's weight, to balance the pressure of the wind. Pictured left is the 660-tonne {728-ton) mass damper, housed - in full public view - nea r the to,p of the 508-m-tall {1 ,667-ft) skyscraper Taipei 101 in Chinese Tapei .

Concrete: A super-high pressure pump was used to raise the concrete upwards during construction ofthe Bur] Khalifa.

Office rental: The cost of office

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space is inexorably on the rise, with rates in the most expensive office location - Hong Kong, China - at an eye-watering $2,299.41 (£1 ,435.27) per m2 ($213.70, or £133.39, per ft2) per annum as of June 201 1 . One way to combat these hefty costs is to build upwards, rather than taking up more space on the ground.

Logistics: The higher you build, the greater the mechanical infrastructure needed to support the building.

Sewage: Tall buildings must be

located wher� there is sufficient municipal sewage systems - otherwise there is the,risk of congestion. Until recently, Dubai had a n i ns u fficient sewage system , s o a constant stream of trucks had to ferry the contents of septic tanks between its tall buildings a nd the city's only sewage treatment plant.

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Economics: Super-tall build ings are often begun at the end of a boom era, when money i s available and confidence is high. But the long construction times involved may dissuade financiers.

Lifts: Moving large numbers of people to a g reat height - a nd promptly - is a challenge. The h ig her you bui ld , the more Lifts you need, but every extra bank of Lifts reduces the available floor space to rent. Express Lifts also have a speed Limit, beyond which passengers begi n to feel queasy - the upper Limit is a round 64 km/h (40 m i/ h).

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Height: The Burj Khalifa was an impressive 60% taller than the previous h ighest building, Taipei 101. But the Kingdom Tower would be another 20% taller than the Burj Khalifa!

Fire and smoke can be Lethal in a tall building, as was the case in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001 (above).

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Financial climate: When recessions kick in, the construction of showcase tall buildings is often put on hold. The Burj Dubai was finished (and renamed the Khalifa) only when the bankrupt emirate of Dubai was bailed out by the president of neighbouring Abu Dhabi. Ultimately, the revenue generated per square metre must be greater than the building costs per squa re metre.

of the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which extend 120 m (394 ft) into the bedrock.

168

Maintenance: The size of super-tall buildings makes them highly vulnerable to the elements. The building's fa\ade will deteriorate over time and will require re-cladding. Adequate surface drainage is also vital . To avoid corrosion in a building's metal structures and components, an electrical current i s sometimes passed through them, a treatment known as "cathodic protection".

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In theory, a b uilding's height is limited only by a n a rchitect's imagination. But a skyscraper is a complex creation, i nvolving engineering , arch itecture, economics and even politics, with each having its own set of limitations. Location matters, too: tall buildings may topple i n earthquake-prone reg ions and existi ng building materials can only withstand a certai n a mount of structural pressure and movement. All these factors may explain why the Kingdom Tower is the only building with a projected height of around 1 ,000 m (3,280 ft) to have been g iven the go-ahead.

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1. Red Pyramid, Egypt

The top Qf the drilling rig bf the Ursa tension leg platform, a floating oil production facility operated by Shell in the Gulf of Mexico, is 1,306 m (4,285 ft) above the ocean floor. The platform is connected to the sea-floor by oil pipelines and four massive steel tethers at each corner. with a total weight of approximately 1 6 ,000 tonnes (35 million lb).

Tallest chimney The coal power-plant No. 2 stack at Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan, completed in 1987, is 420 m (1,378 ft) tall. The diameter tapers from 44 m (144 ft) at the base up to 14.2 m (46 ft 7 in) at the top, and it weighs 60,000 tonnes (132 million lb).

ll'lli! mmtess-s:teel Gateway Arch In St Louis, Missouri, USA, was completed on 28 October 1965 to commemorate the westward expansion after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It is a sweeping arch rising to 192 m (630 ft).

2. Great Pyramid. Egypt 3. Lincoln Cathedral, U K 4. St Mary's Church, Germany 5. St Nikolai. Germany 6. Cologne Cathedral, Germany

7. Washington Monument, USA 8. Chrysler Building, USA 9. Eiffel Tower, France 10. Empire State Building, USA 11. Ostankino Tower. Russia 12. CN Tower, Canada 13. Burj Khalifa. UAE

Tallest obelisk An obelisk is a tapered four sided column, usually with a pointed top. The Washington Monument in Washington, DC, USA, is an obelisk that stands 169 m (555 ft) tall. Completed in 1884, it was built - without any steel enforcement - to honour George Washington, the first president of the USA, making it the world's tallest unreinforced masonry structure.

STATUE O F LIBERTY You can compare the height of all the build i ngs on these pages against the Statue of Liberty, which, from the bottom of the pedestal to the tip of the torch, is 92.99 m (305 ft 1 i n) tall. TALLEST HOSPITAL The Li Shu Pui block of the Hong Kong Sanatoriu m and Hospital in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, is 148.5 m (487 ft} tall. The 38-floor hospital was designed by Wong & Ouyang ( H K) Ltd and completed in 2008.

TALLEST PYRAM I D The G reat Pyramid o f G i z a , Egypt (also known as the pyramid of Khufu), was 146 m (481 ft) h i g h when completed around 4,500 years ago, but erosion and vandalism have reduced it to 137.5 m (451.4 ft) today.

170 www.g u i n n es sworld records . c o m

TALLEST U N S U PPORTED FLAGPOLE The Dushanbe Flagpole, u nveiled on 24 May 2011 in the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe, measures 1 6 5 m (541 ft 4 in). It flies a 60 m (196 ft 10 in} x 30 m (98 ft 5 in} Taj ikistan flag.

TALLEST OBSERVATION WHEEL The Singapore Flyer comprises a 150-m (492-ft) diameter wheel b u i lt over a three-storey terminal b u i lding, giving it a total height of 1 6 5 m (541 ft}. It is located in M a rina Bay, Singapore, and was opened to the public on 1 March 2008.

TALLEST U N IVERSITY The MV Lomonosov Moscow State U n iversity on the Lenin H ills, south of Moscow, Russia, stands 240 m (787.5 ft} tall and has 32 storeys and 40,000 rooms. It was constructed between 1949 and 1953.

TALLEST ATRI U M T h e atrium o f t h e Burj A l Arab hotel in Dubai, UAE, is 180 m (590 ft) high. It forms a vast central cavity, around which the hotel is bu ilt.

TALLEST HOTEL The 120-storey Makkah Royal Clock Tower H otel - a ka the Abraj Al-Bait Hotel Tower - in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, stands 601 m (1,972 ft) high. The hotel is part of a seven-building complex that has a record floor space of 1 ,500,000 m' (16.15 m illion ft2). The tallest all-hotel building (as opposed to a mixed-use build ing) is the 333-m (1,093-ft) Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in Dubai.

TALLEST RESI DENTIAL B U I LD I N G Completed in 201 2 , Princess Tower in Duba i , U nited Arab Emirates, is 413.4 m (1,356 ft) high and has 101 storeys, dedicated to residential use.

TALLEST TWIN TOWERS The 451.9-m-tall (1,482-ft 7-i n) Petronas Towers i n Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are the tallest matching pair of buildi ngs. The 88-storey office buildings opened in March 1 996. The towers are joined at level 41 and leve l 42 by a double-decker " Skybridge".

TALLEST BUI LDING At 828 m (2,716 ft 6 in) tall, the Burj Khalifa (Khalifa Tower) in Dubai, UAE, became the tallest building in the world when it was officially opened on 4 January 2010. Part of a 2-km' (490-acre) development called Downtown Dubai, the B u rj has residential, office and hotel use.

TALL BUILDI NGS Guinness World Records uses the definition of tall and supertall buildings as specified by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

Tall v Supertall

The CTBUH defines "supertall" as taller than 300 m (984ft). By the end of 2011 there were only 59 completed structures worldwide.

Tall

Supertall

How do you measure a tall building'? GWR only recognizes buildings measured to their "architectural top", which is defined by the CTBUH as the height "including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functional-technical equipment".

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1. Burj Khalifa, UAE: 828 m 2. Taipei 101, Chinese Taipei: 508 m 3. Zifeng Tower, China: 450 m* 4. Willis Tower, USA: 442 mt

*381 m to roof but spire considered part of structure

t527 m to top of antennae (not considered part of the structural height of the building)

Buildings v Towers

GWR defines a "tower" as a building in which usable floor space occupies less than 50% of its height (usable floor space shown in blue).

2

1. Oriental Pearl Tower, China 2. Jin Mao Tower, China

Longest ice runway

park has indoor a n d outdoor sections, measures 2,000 m2 (21,528 ft2) and features projected butterflies and the sounds of bicycle bells and children. People can recharge their mobile phones in the park by pedalling static bicycles.

1 ,000 flights per year. It Is the only beach airport to handle scheduled airline services.

Highest airport At 4,334 m (14,219 ft) above sea level, Qamdo Bangda Airport (BPX) in Tibet is

the highest airport operating a scheduled service. Because planes have extended stopping distances at high altitude (due to reduced atmospheric resistance), the airport requires an extra-long runway at 4,204 m (13,794 ft).

Largest airport library Schiphol is also home to the largest airport library in terms of area, covering 90 m2 (967 ft2). It opened in July 2010.

Largest airport golf course Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) in Bangkok, Thailand, is home to an 18-hole golf course. It fills much of the gap between the two runways, which are 3,700 m (12,139 ft) and 3,500 m (11,482 ft) long.

Largest airport

Largest airport park

Busiest beach airport

King Fahd International Airport (DMM), near Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, is the largest airport by area. It occupies 780 km2· (301 miles2) - bigger than the entire country of Bahrain (which has three airports of its own).

A park at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) in the Netherlands opened on 11 May 2011 by the Dutch Princess Irene, is the world's largest (and currently only) park within an airport. The

Despite being submerged daily by the incoming tide, the Barra beach airport (BRR) in the Scottish Western Isles

OP 10 mOST EXTREmE: A IRPORTS

In 2010, the History Channel ranked the most challenging airports for pilots. Tenzing-Hillary tops the list - the Yeti Airlines crash there (right) in 2008 left 18 people dead.

2 . Toncontfn (TGU),

Difficult approach through h i lls,

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

short runway

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Steep approach a n d short a i rstrip

(SBH),

St BarthtHemy, Caribbean

- planes often end up on beach

4. Princess Juliana (SXM),

Short runway - planes fly in just

St Maarten, Caribbean

metres above beach (pictured right)

5. Gibraltar (GIB)

Road runs across runway, high winds, restricted air corridors

6. Kai Tak, Hong Kong

Nearby multi-storey buildings

(HGK, now closed)

means tricky low-altitude approach

7. Courchevel (CVF),

Mountain-top runway is short,

France

sloping and ends with a cliff drop

8. Eagle County (EGE),

Difficult mountainous approach

Gypsum, Colorado, USA

and changeable weather

9. Madeira (FNC),

H i g h winds, mountainous terrain,

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

runway built over ocean

1 0. San Diego (SAN),

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California, USA

close to end of runway

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Largest model airport Knuffingen Airport, located at Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, is a 45.9-m2 (494-ft2) model of Hamburg's Fuhlsbuttel Airport. Built to a scale of 1:87, it took seven years to make at a cost of about $4.8 million (£3 million). A computer can move the planes and cars and, because of wires, the planes can even fly.

EXTREmE A I RPORTS SEA-ICE RUnWAYS DA nGEROUS DESCEnTS •

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Longest airstrip on a purpose-built island Kansai International Airport (KIX). constructed on an artificial island 4.8 km (3 miles) offshore in Osaka Bay, Japan, is home to a 4,000-m-long {13,123-ft) airstrip. The island is connected to the mainland by a road and rail bridge.

Airport with the longest bridge-supported runway extension Extended into the sea to accommodate large aircraft such as Boeing 747s, the runway at Madeira Airport (FNC), Portugal, is 2,781 m {9,124 ft) long with the bridge-supported section measuring 1,020 m {3,346 ft) long and 180 m (591 ft) wide.

Shortest commercially serviceable runway

It's Impossible to give an accurate figure for the actual number of people flying at any one time globally, but estimates range from 100,000 to 2 million passengers. • NATCA claim that your chances of dying on a flight out of the USA to be 1 in 14 million; boffins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have deemed flying to be 22 times safer than driving.

Most northerly airport Svalbard Airport (LYR), which serves a cluster of Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean, is the most northerly public airport, located at 78.2° latitude and 15.4° longitude. Completed in 1975, the 2,319-m (7,608-ft) runway is built on a layer of permafrost.

Closest airports The distance between the airports of Papa Westray (PPW) and Westray (WRY), neighbouring destinations in

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Steepest runway at an international airport Courchevel Airport (CVF) in the French Alps possesses the world's steepest runway. At just 525 m {1,722 ft) long and angled at 18.5°, it is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

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the Scottish Orkney I slands, is a mere 2 . 83 km (1.76 m i les). Flights between the two airports take an average of just 96 seconds (two m i nutes including taxiing time).

Juancho E Yrausquin Airport (SAB), on the Caribbean island of Saba, Netherlands Antilles, has the shortest commercially serviceable runway. At just 396 m {1,300 ft) in length, it is only slightly longer than the runways on most aircraft carriers. At either end of the runway, cliffs drop into the sea.

BUSI EST AI RPORTS The Airports International Council produces annual figures on the world's busiest airports based on three criteria:

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ANC Ted Stephens

Anchorage (USA)

ATL Hartsfield Jackson

Atlanta (USA) DEN Denver (USA) DFW Dallas/Fort Worth (USA) HND Tokyo (Japan) LAX Los Angeles (USA) LHR London Heathrow (UK) ICN

lncheon (South Korea)

M E M Memphis (USA) ORD Chicago O'Hare (USA) PEK Beijing Capital (China) PVG Shanghai Pudong

(China)

Diesel: The former British Rail inaugurated its highspeed train (HST) daily service between London, Bristol and south Wales, UK, on 4 October 1976, using InterCity 125 trains. One of these reached a speed of 238 km/h (148 mi/h) on a test run between Darlington and York, UK, on 1 November 1987. · Steam: The fastest steam locomotive is the London North Eastern Railway "Class A4" No. 4468 Mallard. It achieved a speed of 202.8 km/h (126 mi/h), hauling seven coaches weighing 243 tonnes (535,722 lb), down Stoke Bank, near Essendine, between Grantham and Peterborough, UK, on 3 July 1938. •

Fastest scheduled speed between two rail stops Fastest train speed Average speed: A French SNCF TGV train recorded an average speed of 306.37 km/h (190.37 mi/h) between Calais and Marseille on 26 May 2001. The train, which was unmodified and identical to Eurostar trains, covered the 1,067 km (663 miles) between the cities in 3 hr 29 min, reaching a top speed of 366 km/h (227 mi/h). Maglev: The highest speed by a manned superconducting magnetically levitated (maglev) train is 581 km/h (361 mi/h) by the M LXOl, operated by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway •

Technical Research Institute, on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, on 2 December 2003. · let-powered: The M-497 Black Beetle was a prototype experimental train powered by two General Electric J47-19 jet engines. It was developed and tested in 1966 in the USA and reached speeds of up to 296 km/h (183 mi/h).

Between Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne in France, trains reach an average speed of 279.4 km/h (173.6 mi/h), according to the Railway Gazette International World Speed Survey study.

Fastest train on a national rail system The highest speed recorded by a train on a national rail network (rather than a dedicated test track) is

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Fastest train journey (auerage speed)

On the 114-km-long (70.84-mile) Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Rail line in China, trains run at a maximum operating speed (MOS) of 350 km/h (217.48 mi/h). Tests have demonstrated that the trains have an unmodified capability of 394 km/h (244.82 mi/h), but their speed has been limited for safety reasons.

574.8 k m / h (357.2 mi/h), b y a French SNCF modified version of the TGV on 3 April 2007. The peak speed was achieved between the Meuse and Champagne-Ardenne stations on the LGV Est high-speed rail line in eastern France.

Largest railway system The country with the most extensive railway network is the USA, with 224,792 km (139,679 miles) of railway lines. The country with the shortest railway track is Vatican City, with an 862-m (2,828-ft) spur entering the Holy See from Italy. It is used only for goods and supplies.

Oldest railway station

The West Japan Railway Com pany operates its 500-Series Nozomi bullet trains ("Shinkansen") at an average speed of 261.8 km/h (162.7 mi/h) on the 192-km (119-mile) Line between H iroshima and Kokura on the island of Honshu . Japan has the busiest railway network, with around 23 billion passengers recorded for the year 2010, across all rail companies. Japan Railway, the country's main rail company, recorded approximately 8.9 billion passengers alone in that year. Japanese trains get very full indeed - particularly used to encourage passengers to fill all available space (left).

Fastest train maximum speed

Liverpool Road station in Manchester, UK, was first used on 15 September 1830 and was finally closed on 30 September 1975. Today, part of the station serves as a museum. The oldest independent railway company is the Ffestiniog Railway (UK). which was founded by an act of Parlia me nt on 23 r.tav1832. It ls stiU operattng today, running tourist trains along the 597.,m (23.5-in) narrow..gauge

tracks between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales - a distance of 21.6 km (13 . 5 miles). The oldest locomotive roundhouse is the Derby Roundhouse, which was built in 1839 by the North Midland Railway (UK). The restored structure now forms part of the Derby College campus.

First public electric railway The earliest public electric railway was opened on 12 May 1881 at Lichterfelde near Berlin, Germany. It was 2.5 km (1. 5 m iles) long, ran on 100 V current and carried 26 passengers at a speed of 48 km/h (30 mi/h).

Longest train journey without changing trains The longest run without a change of train stretches 10,214 km (6,346 miles), from Moscow in Russia to Pyongyang in North �rea. One t ra in 11 week makes the journey, which incorporates sect1ons of the famous Trans Siberian line. The joUrney is scheduled to tal::e 7 days 20 hr 25 m i n In total.

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First preserued railway The 11.6-km (7. 25-mile) Talyllyn Railway i n Gwynedd, U K, dates from 1865 and was built to carry slate from local quarries. Over the years, the railway fell into a state of disrepair until it was eventually taken over by enthusiasts and volunteers, who formed the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society and re-opened the line as a tourist attraction. The first trips on the revived ra ilway took place on 14 May 1951 .

Longest train

Longest passenger train

A 7.35-km-long (4.57-mile) train consisting of 682 ore cars pushed by eight diesel-electric locomotives was assembled by BHP I ron Ore (Australia). The train travelled 275 km (171 miles) from the company's Newman and Yandi mines to Port Hedland in Western Australia on 21 June 2001.

Comprising 70 coaches and one electric locomotive, a train created by the National Belgian Railway Company - in aid of a cancer charity - measured 1 ,732.9 m (5,685 ft 4 in) on 27 April 1991 . It travelled 62.5 km (38.9 miles) from Longest runaway train Ghent to Ostend (both On 26 March 1884, a wind Belgium). of great force set eight coal cars on the move at Akron in Colorado, USA. The chance event resulted in the longest journey by a runaway train: a distance of 160 km (100 miles) down the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad east of Denver, Colorado.

Longest railway platform The platform at Kharagpur station in West Bengal, India, is 1,072 m (3,517 ft) long. India is also home to the longest 2-ft-gauge passenger raHway Une, which runs for 199.8 k m (124.14 miles) between Gwalior and Sheopur Kalan.

Longest pleasure-pier railway

llle pleasure-pier railway

at Sout�Sea, Essex, UK. measures 1.889.8 m (6,200 ft 1 in) in length.

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Most northerly tramway terminus The northernmost tramway terminus is St Olav's Gate station in Trondheim on the Grakallbanen, or Trondheim Tramway line, i n Norway. The city is located at 63° 36'N latitude, 10° 23'E longitude.

POPU LATION PER KM OF TRACK The top 10 countries ordered by the number of citizens for every kilometre of railway track: 1.

Canada: 468

2. Australia: 572

Longest continuous publication of a model railway magazine An issue of Model Railroader has been produced every month since issue No. 1 appeared in January 1934. As of April 2012 the magazlne, which i$ published bv Kalmbach Publishing (USA) had produced 940 monthly Issues specifically relaaed to model railroading i n a variety of scales and gauges.

3. Sweden: 732

4. Romania: 854 s. Namibia: 877 6. Finland: 911 7.

Vatican City: 969

8. Latvia: 978

9. St Kitts and Nevis: 1,040

10. New Zealand: 1,070

Canada has the longest rail network per capita, with each person claiming 2.13 m of track; Australians are second with 1.74 m.

The USA has the Iongo� rail network (meaning the total of all gauges ' track: broad, standard narrow and dual). e'1! are 1,379 people pe kilometre of trac Source: CIA World Fa International Union ' -

First factory to use standardized parts Originally built around 1104, but extended in about 1320, the Venetian Arsenal was a group of shipyards in Venice, Italy. It was the first manufacturing factory in the modern world to use standardized and interchangeable parts to build products. At its height, it employed around 16,000 people and could make almost one ship each day. The new techniques allowed lighter. faster and more cost-effective ships to be built.

First production car factory Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor started as woodworkers, moved into coach building, and, in 1889, built the first factory to make petrol-powered cars. Their first car - using a Daimler engine - rolled out of their

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workshop in 1890. Panhard Levassor produced cars in the 1890s with pedal-operated clutches, chain transmission and, crucially, a front-mounted engine driving rear wheels. This became standard in the motor industry, and is known as "System Panhard".

Strongest commerically available manufacturing robot Kuka Robotics' KR 1000 Titan robot - designed for heavy lifting and placement tasks in the automotive, building and foundry industries - has a load capacity of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). It can move in six independent directions at once and uses nine motors to attain better than +/- 0.1-millimetre precision handling. The robot weighs 4,950 kg (10,912 lb) and has a reach of 3 . 2 m (10 ft 6 in).

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Best-selling car The Toyota Corolla is the world's best-selling car, with more than 35 million sold (to February 2011) over 10 generations since 1966. It was also the first car in the world to eclipse 30 million sales. H owever, the Volkswagen Beetle is the best-selling car of a single design (the core structure and shape of the Beetle remained largely unchanged from 1938 to 2003). The Beetle's tally when production ended was 21,529,464.

Highest production of a ircraft (company) The Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas, USA, has been the most productive aerospace company, with total production of 192,991 aircraft through to the end of 2009. Company founder Clyde Cessna built and flew his first aeroplane in 1911.

Highest production of m ilitary jet aircraft It is estimated that over 11,000 Russian MIG-21 "Fish bed" jet fighters have been produced since the first prQtotype flew in 1955, making it the most common jet-powered military aircraft ever, and the military aircraft produced in the greatest numbers in the post World War II era. The aircraft has been produced in over 30 different variants and has seen service with around 50 air forces around )"� the world.

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In 2010, Lego made 381 million lyres, easily beating all other tyre manufacturers. Lego tyres may not fit an everyday car, but they are remarkably life-like. Even the rubber compound used for the Lego products would be suitable for a domestic car.

Bell foundry

Since 1839, John Taylor & Co. has been casting bells in Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK. It has the largest bell foundry by area, occupying half of a 10,000-m2 (107,600-ft2) site, the rest of which is devoted to the Taylor Museum of bell casting and tuning. John Taylor & Co. is responsible for casting many famous bells, including "Great Paul" in St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK, the largest bell in the UK, weighing 17,002 kg (37,483 lb). The business has been in the hands of the Taylor family since 1784.

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U N ITS PRODUCED IN ONE YEAR ... Lego bricks 36,000,000,000

Manufacturer of artificial limbs The Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), based in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is a non-profit organization that makes 355 different types of artificial limbs and prosthetic aids. In the 2008-09 financial reporting period, the firm made 1,644,232 limbs.

Manufacturer of ball bearings Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF), a Swedish company founded in 1907 with headquarters in Gothenburg, is the biggest ball-bearing firm by turnover. In 2011, SKF, which employs around 40,000 people, had a turnover of 49,285 million Swedish krona (£4,633 million).

of the world's manufactured go9ds, fractionally ahead of the USA at 1 9.4%. This broke the USA's 110-year h istory as the world's leading manufacturer. China has around 100 million manufacturing workers - sign ificantly more than a ny other cou ntry.

Manufacturer of toilets Manufacturer of musical instruments

Manufacturer of snowboards

The Yamaha Corporation, although renowned for its motorbikes and engines, is the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments by revenue. ln 2011, the income from musical instruments was 271.1 billion yen (£2.26 billion), which accounted for 72.5% of the Yamaha group turnover. The company was founded in 1887 by Torakusu Yamaha as the Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Corporation.

With an average annual turnover of about $230 million (£149.5 million) from 2006 to 2010, Burton Snowboards is the largest money-earner of all snowboard manufacturers. The firm, whose flagship store is located in Burlington, Vermont, USA, was started in 1977 by Jake Burton Carpenter. He built the world's first snowboard factory in Burlington, although since March 2010 the boards have been produced in Austria.

Toto Ltd, a Japanese company founded in 1917, sells a range of toilets called Washlets. With an annual sales revenue in 2006 in excess of $4.2 billion (£2.6 billion), the firm is the largest manufacturer of toilets.

Abandoned factory The old Packard car factory in Detroit, USA, at 325,160 m2 (3.5 million ft2), is the largest abandoned factory by size. The factory, which once produced 75% of the world's cars, was closed in 1956 and has stood empty ever since.

on muskets and rifles, which includes a striking device that operates a firing pin to hit and ignite the primer in the gun cartridge. Le Bourgeoys combined and adapted earlier firing mechanisms so that the cock and trigger acted vertically instead of horizontally. His guns also incorporated a half-cocked position, which allowed it to be loaded without firing - providing greater safety for the user.

Machine gun

FI RST... Boomerang The boomerang is usually associated with the Australian Aborigines, but they were also used in ancient Egypt and Europe. The oldest boomerang discovered is about 23,000 years old. It was made from a mammoth tusk and found in a cave in the Oblazowa Rock in south Poland.

Gun It is believed that the earliest guns were constructed both in China and in Northern Africa c. 1250. The invention of the gun certainly dates from before 1326. Gunpowder may have been invented in China, India, Arabia or Europe in the 13th century; the earliest known

example of a gun was found in the ruins of the castle of Monte Varino in Italy, which was destroyed in 1341.

True flintlock mechanism Marin le Bourgeoys (France), a gun-maker at the court of Louis XIII of France, invented the first true flintlock in the early 17th century. The flintlock is the firing mechanism used

I n 1862, Richard Gatling (USA) produced the first workable, hand cranked, multiple-barrel machine gun. Loose cartridges were fed under gravity into the open breacti from a top-mounted hopper. It was this feature, rather than the multiple rotating barrels, that permitted unskilled operators to achieve high rates of fire. It was first used in warfare during the American Civil War of 1861-65. Although capable of continuous fire, it was not a true automatic weapon as it required human power to turn it.

Final 853 weapon to be dismantled Brought into service in 1962 and decommissioned in 1 997, the US B53 nuclear bomb had 9,000 kilotons of explosive power. It was a major weapon in the Cold War, often deployed on the B-52 Stratofortress aircraft. On 25 oqober 2011, it was announced that the last B53 had been di-smantled .. High-explosive material weighing 136 kg (300 lb) was removed from the enriched uranium heart of the bomb.

Automatic weapon Sir Hiram Maxim built his first self-powered, single barrelled machine gun in 1883 in the U K and demonstrated it in 1884. It used the recoil force

newest sea-launched ba l listic missile Following successful testing i n December 2011, the Bulava I ntercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is set to be used by the Russian Navy. The missile can carry several individually targeted warheads and has a range of 8,000 km (5,000 miles). It will be deployed aboard the newest class of Russian sub, the Burei.

1 78 www.g u i n n e s s w o r l d re c o rd s . c o m

of the fired round to extract the fired case and place another in the chamber, cocking the action in the process. By holding the trigger down, the gun fired continuously or until it overheated or jammed. Various designs of the Maxim gun were used in World War I and it also continued in service in various guises throughout World War I I .

Large-scale use of poison gas in war While the earliest documented use of a biological agent in war was in the 6th century sc, the first large-scale use of poison gas was during World War I. The German Army used a form of tear gas unsuccessfully against the Russians at the Battle of Bolimov in Poland on 31 January 1915. They then used chlorine gas during the

TOP 10 COUNTRI ES BY GUN OWN ERS H I P The annual Small Arms Survey estimates the number of firearms and small weapons in circulation around the world. Here are the top 10 countries for civilian gun ownership (main figures in millions).

Second Battle of Ypres in France between 22 April and 25 May 1915, when 171 tonnes (188 tons) of the poisonous gas were released over a 6.4-km (4-mile) front. The British first used poison gas at the Battle of Loos in France on 25 September 1915.

Battlefield ray-gun deployment A battlefield ray gun, or direct energy weapon, was deployed for the first time in Iraq by the Americans in 2008. "Zeus" named after the Greek god of thunder - is designed to allow operators to neutralize targets such as roadside bombs and other unexploded ordnance at a safe distance of 300 m (984 ft) . The conventional way to neutralize bombs is by using explosives, for instance with a rocket-propelled grenade. However, compared with d i rect-energy weapons, this method can be inaccurate and often more expensive.

mOST ADUA nceo ... Weapon for d rones In 2011, the US defence company Raytheon successfully tested the Small Tactical Munition bomb specifically designed to be fired from a drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle ( UAV ) . Using a laser seeker together with GPS, the 60-cm-long (2-ft ) weapon is capable of hitting fixed and moving targets regardless of weather conditions.

Warhead casing material A new material that replaces steel in warhead casings was demonstrated at the US Naval Surface Warfare Center ( NSWC) in Dahlgren, Virginia, USA, on 2 December 2011. Called High-Density Reactive Material ( H DR M ) , it consists of metals and polymers that

combine and explode only on impact with the target. The kinetic force of i mpact and the disintegration of the casing inside the target - with an additional release of chemical energy - creates an explosion up to five times greater than conventional casings. It can be used for new warheads or incorporated into current ones.

most adapta ble electronic ca mouflage BAE Systems' (UK) electronic camouflage system , Adaptiv, consists of a n exterior cover of hexagonal tiles that can be used on tanks, a i rcraft or ships. It can disguise one type of vehicle as another type, as shown rig ht, where a tank appears to be an ord i nary car, and can also "merge" a vehicle with its background so it becomes i nvisi ble to thermal-imaging sensors. It works by a ltering the temperature of the tiles, effectively tu rning the vehicle's exterior into a large thermal i nfra-red "television screen", with each tile representing a pixel.

Largest civilian firearm holdings in millions (bold), with average number of firearms per 100 people (italics) source: Small Arms Survey 2007

Highest rate of tank production

Deadliest unmanned aerial vehicle The Predator C Avenger Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is capable of 740 km/h (460 mi/h) at 18,288 m (60,000 ft) for up to 20 hours. The ability to carry 1 ,360 kg (3,000 lb) of weapons and its stealthy design - there are no sharp angles, reducing its radar signature - make it the world's deadliest drone to date. Its first flight was on 4 April 2009.

Most Spitfires flown Alex Henshaw (UK) flew and tested more than 3,000 Spitfires between April1932 and October 1995, when he flew his last one in a Battle of Britain memorial flight at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.

Designed to be easily produced and maintained, the M -4 Sherman Main Battle Tank was first made in the USA in 1942 during World War II. More than 48,000 of them were turned out over three years.

Longest development of a Main Battle Tank Work on the development of the Arjun Main Battle Tank for the Indian Army started in 1972. In 1996, the Indian government decided to mass produce the tank but tests by the Indian Army highlighted its poor performance and reliability so the first deliveries were not made until 2004 32 years after its conception. By 2011, 124 Arjuns were in service with the Indian Army.

Most expensive single weapon system The USS Ronald Reagan, the CVN 76 class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier launched in 2001, cost about $4.5 billion (£3.1 billion) including crew, armament, 85 aircraft. and defence and communication systems.

Heauiest route clearance uehicle The U S Army's Buffalo weighs 24, 267 kg (53,500 lb) empty and has a load capacity of 10,205 kg (22, 500 lb), giving a total weight of nearly 34.47 ton nes (38 tons). Part of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (M RAP) fam i ly of veh icles, it was _ developed to counter the threat from landmines, improvised explosive devices (I EDs) and ambushes i n I raq and Afghan ista n . Made by Force Protection I nc., the Buffalo has a V-shaped hull to deflect explosions. It can carry up to 13 personnel in addition to d river and co-driver.

FI RST... Armoured car squadron On 3 December1914, three armoured cars were delivered to British Royal Naval Air Service. Each comprised a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost chassis with a Vickers machine gun mounted on a single turret. They were used in World War I for reconnaissance and to rescue downed pilots. In the 1920s, the

Royal Air Force used Rolls Royce armoured cars to protect oil supplies in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).

Combat wing for an u nmanned aerial vehicle On 1 May 2007, the US Air Force (USAF) created the first combat wing of unmanned aerial vehicle - the 432nd Wing of Air Force Special Operations Command. The combat wing

Heauiest armoured uehicle

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fly Predator and Reaper drones from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, USA. They can be armed with missiles and are capable of flying remotely anywhere in the world.

Laser gunship On 4 December 2007 at Kirkland Air Force Base, New Mexico, USA, Boeing completed the installation of a high-energy chemical laser on a Hercules C-130H aircraft. It was part of the development of the US military's Advanced Tactical Laser, which will be able to destroy ground targets more accurately and with less collateral damage than conventional guns or missiles.

Aerial battle involving an unmanned aerial vehicle

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In December 2002, a US Air Force RQ-1 Predator drone conducting surveillance in Iraqi airspace was engaged by an Iraqi MiG-25 fighter jet. The two planes fired air-to-air missiles at each other, with the MiG eventually downing the Predator.

TAN K NU MBERS The Chinese People's Republic has the army with the greatest number of Main Battle Tanks. The most recent estimates give it 7,050 tanks, while the US Army possesses 5,795 (excluding the 447 in the US Marine Corps) and the Russian Army 2,800 (rises to 3,319 when Naval Infantry (Marines), Coastal Defence Forces and Interior Troops are included), if the 18,000 in store are disregarded.

FASTEST ... Armoured four-wheel drive carrier The Kombat T-98, an armoured VIP car built by Kombat Armouring in St Petersburg, Russia, since 2003, can reach 180 km/h (111 mi/h). It has an 8.1-litre V8 engine and can be equipped with gun ports

AI RCRAFT-CARRIER NUM BERS Source: Haze Gray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier List

Combat jet The Russian Mikoyan -......-M iG-25 fighter (NATO code-name " Foxbat") entered service in 1970 and had a reconnaissance version, "Foxbat-B", which was tracked by radar at about Mach 3 . 2 {3,395 km/h; 2,110 mi/h).

Flying-boat

Largest family of personnel carriers The US-made BAE Mll3 i s t he most used tracked armoured personnel carrier still in service worldwide. There are more than 80,000 Mll3s currently deployed, in over 40 variants, and they are used in more than 50 countries. The vehicle is due to retire from service from the US military in 2018.

most produced main Battle Tank

The Martin XP6M-1 Sea Master, the US Navy four-jet-engined minelayer flown in 1955-59, had a top speed of 1,040 km/h (646 mi/h)

Military submarine The Russian Alpha-class nuclear-powered submarines, produced from 1974 to 1981, had a reported maximum speed of more than 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mi/h). In all, seven Alpha-class submarines were made.

Tank A production-standard S 2000 Scorpion Peacekeeper tank, developed by Repaircraft PLC (UK), attained a speed of 82.23 km/h (51.1 mi/h) at the QinetiQ test track in Chertsey, U K, on 26 March 2002.

Warship The US Navy test surface effect ship the SES-100B reached 91.9 knots (170 km/h; 105 mi/h) on 25 January 1980 at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA. Similar to hovercraft, surface-effect ships travel on a cushion of air, but also have two sharp, rigid hulls that remain in the water. Large fans under the ship create air pressure that is trapped between the

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1,130

118

370

Israel

233

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N. Korea

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211

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325

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"Helicopter" design Leonardo da Vinci (Italy, 1452-1519) proposed the idea of a helicopter-type craft for a human passenger in 1493. The so-called "air screw" consisted of a platform with a helical screw designed to allow it to take off and land vertically. Da Vinci's sketch was discovered in the 19th century.

Helicopter flight On 13 November 1907, Paul Cornu (France) flew an experimental helicopter in untethered flight for the first time in Lisieux, Calvados, France. This event is widely credited as the first free flight of a rotary-wing aircraft, though in reality it was probably no more than a hop or series of airborne hops. Another two machines were built, but the control system proved to be ineffective and no further progress was made.

Design for a production helicopter

helicopter. Sikorsky's US Patent 1 ,994,488, filed on 27 June 1931, marked the crucial breakthrough in helicopter technology and led to the Sikorsky R-4. It proved itself in active service for US forces during World War I I and became the world's first mass produced helicopter.

Turbine-powered helicopter The Kaman K-225 helicopter was built in 1949, principally for use as a crop duster. In 1951, the reciprocating engine was replaced with a Boeing 502-2 gas turbine (jet) engine to demonstrate the reduced weight, higher power-to weight ratio - thus allowing greater payloads - and the greater reliability and easier maintenance offered by such engines. On 11 December 1951, the modified K-225 became the first helicopter to fly with turbine-powered transmission. Following development of his K-225, aeronautical engineer

la rgest helicopter euer The Russian M i l Mi-12 was 37 m (121 ft 4.7 in) long, with a maximum take-off weight of 103.3 tonnes (227,737 lb). Powered by four 4, 847-kW (6 , 500-h p) tu rbos haft engines, it had a rotor diameter of 67 m (219 ft 1 0 in). The Mil Mi-12 first flew in 1968, but never went i nto prod uction.

Charles Kaman (USA) introduced the world's first twin-turbine- (jet-) powered helicopter in March 1954.

Igor Sikorsky (Russia, now Ukraine) designed the world's first true production

Remotely piloted helicopter On 30 July 1957, a modified Kaman helicopter, the HTK-1 K, became the first rotorcraft to fly while being remotely controlled. It was developed as part of a US Army/Navy programme and designed for use in difficult and dangerous situations. Earlier that year, on 23 May, it had been flown from the USS Mitscher, while being operated from the ship, with a safety pilot on board.

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Helicopter at the South Pole The first helicopters to land at the South Pole were three Bell U H-1 B turbo-powered Iroquois from Mount Weaver, Antarctica. They arrived on 4 February 1963 after a 2-hr 24-min flight, the aim being to fly back to McMurdo Station via the Pole. Despite arriving successfully, the helicopters were eventually dismantled and flown back to

In June 2010, the Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, together with the Carnegie Mellon U niversity (both USA), demonstrated a navigation and sensor system that enables a full-sized helicopter to fly, unmanned, at low altitude. It can also avoid obstacles and evaluate and select suitable landing sites in unmapped terrain. The sensors - which are mounted in an unmanned Little Bird helicopter testbed - build three-di mensional maps of the ground and identify obstacles in the path of the helicopter. In time, the system will be used to allow unmanned helicopters to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield and other dangerous situations.

Unmanned cargo resupply helicopter On 17 December 2011, the US 2nd Marine Air Wing used a Kaman K-Max to make the first unmanned helicopter cargo delivery to troops on a battlefield . Having successfully demonstrated a remotely controlled, unmanned resupply helicopter to the US Marine Corps in January 2010, some 1,590 kg (3,500 lb) of freight was moved from Camp Dwyer to Combat Outpost Payne in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in around 1.5 hours.

Electric helicopter On 4 August 2011, the first authenticated, manned flight of a helicopter powered by an electric motor took place at Venelles, France. The aircraft was flown by Pascal Chretien

THE FASTEST mODEL H ELICOPTER REACHED A SPEED OF 239.68 Km/H

Sma l lest helicopter In terms of rotor length, the smallest helicopter is the G E N H-4 made by Gen Corporation (Japan) with a rotor length of only 4 m (13 ft), a weight of 70 kg (154 lb 5 oz) and consisting of one seat, one landing gear and one power unit. It has two sets of coaxial contra-rotati ng rotors, removing the need for a traditional tail rotor to act as a balance.

(France) and hovered about 50 em (19 in) above the ground for 2 min 10 sec. The first flight was tethered, but the machine later made its first free flight

In the 4th century sc, children in China tied feathers to small sticks, spun them and watched them rise into the air. But it took nearly 2,000 years before the first plans for a practical 'copter were drawn up. GWR presents highlights from the history of the helicopter:

on 12 August 2011. In July and August 2011, the aircraft flew for a total of 99.5 minutes in 29 flights, some of which extended for 6 minutes.

1493 Leonardo da Vinci (Italy) sketches his idea for a human powered "air screw".

1784 Launoy and Bienvenu (both France) demonstrate a small model helicopter, propelled by a tightly wound cord, for the French Academy of Sciences.

Swarming mini choppers A team from General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, has developed a fleet of mini four bladed helicopters, properly named "quadrotors". About the size of a human hand,

largest helicopter carrier Few classes o f ship cater for helicopters in force. The largest ships i n this role currently i n service, by tonnage and helicopter capacity, are those of the US Wasp Class, such as the USS Boxer ( below) , o� which eight are in use. If not carryi ng fixed-wing aircraft they can carry 42 C H -46 Sea Knight helicopters or 22 MV-22 Osprey aircraft. •

they are designed to carry out autonomous, synchronous flying. Working together as a swarm, they are capable of carrying items through small openings, and it is envisaged that they will operate in environments dangerous to humans such as on oil rigs or in war or disaster zones. At the beginning of 2012, the helicopters were demonstrated operating in "swarms" (multiple formations) of up to 20 aircraft.

1907 Gyro plane No.1 - created by Louis and Jacques Breguet, under the direction of Charles Riche! (all France) becomes the first rotary-wi ng craft to be manned; is unsteerable and reaches up just 60 em (2 ft).

1907 Bicycle manufacturer Paul Cornu (France) makes the first true "free" manned helicopter flight.

4/i•-..o-PV

1931

Igor Sikorsky (Russia) secures a patent for first production helicopter, the Sikorsky R-4.

1959 Bell U H -l lroquois "Huey" military helicopters enter production.

IN SEARCH OF AN AIRPORT? LAN D O N P.l72

First flying car The ultimate off-roader, the Terrafugia Transition is the first "roadable" aircraft - or flying car. Previous "flying cars" have needed extra equipment or wings to be added but this two-seater plane can, at the touch of a button, fold its wings and turn into a car. The Transition took flight for the first time in March 2009

at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York state, USA. It can reach a top speed of 100 knots (185 km/h; 115 mi/h) in the air - although Terrafugia have not said how fast it can go on land. The company is now developing a production version, which they are marketing with the line: "Simply land at the airport. fold your wings up and drive home."

Smal lest uan

Fastest scooter Colin Furze (UK) has supercharged a mobility scooter so that it can reach a top speed of 115.21 km/h (71 . 59 mi/h). It took Colin three months to convert the scooter, which features five gears, a 1 25-cc motorbike engine and twin exhausts.

First submarine car The Swiss company Rinspeed created the world's first true submersible car, called the "sQuba". First shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008, the carsub is powered electrically by three rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. It can drive straight into the sea and then float until a hatch is opened to allow water to flood the body and gradually sink the car. Underwater, it effectively flies at a depth of 10 m {33 ft).

Longest bicycle

The smallest roadworthy van is Wind Up, which measures 104.14 e m (41 i n) high, 66 .04 em (26 i n) wide and 132.08 em (52 in) long . Perry Watkins ( U K) made the car from a Postman Pat coin-in-the-slot child ren's ride i n seven months u p to May 201 1 . The van has insurance, road tax and all the usual features i ncluding lights, indicators, brake lights and windscreen wipers.

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The longest true bicycle (with two wheels and no stabilizers) measures 35.79 m (117 ft 5 in). It was built by the Mijl van Mares Werkploeg (gang of workers) in Maarheeze, Netherlands, and ridden on 5 August 2011. Two people ride the bike: one steers at the front and one pedals at the back.

Tallest unicycle ride

Sem A brahams (USA) rode a 35-m-tall (114-ft 9-in) unicycle for a distance of 8.5 m (28 ft) at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, on 29 January 2004.

Most transformations of a vehicle

Largest tricycle Made by Kanyaboyina Sudhakar (India) and ridden in Hyderabad, India, on 1 July 2005, the largest pedal tricycle is 11.37 m (37ft 4 in) long and has an overall height of 12.67 m (41 ft 7 in).

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An Ellert - a three-wheeled car - was successfully transformed in Denmark into a hotrod, a rocket-powered hydrofoil and, finally, on 8 September 2006, an aircraft. Each of these transformations took two weeks to complete.

. Lowest road worthy car

THE H A I RIEST CAR IS COU ERED In 100 KG (220 LB) OF H U m A n H A I R!

Fastest bathroom TITANIC TYRES Looking for a tyre for your giant mining truck? You need a Titan 63, the new largest production lyre:

for The Gadget Show's 200th episode in Bentwaters Parks, Suffolk, UK, on 9 August 2011. Jason's luge, essentially a liquid-fuel-powered skateboard, had no brakes - so Jason superglued pieces of car tyre to his boots to help him stop.

FASTEST... Car powered by compressed air Toyota's three-wheeled KU:RIN car reached a top speed of 129.2 km/h (80.3 mi/h) at the Japan Automobile Research Institute's lbaraki test track on 9 September 2011. The car has a compressed-air "fuel tank" - as air is released, it generates thrust.

Vehicle powered by powertool Jon Bentley (UK) reached 117 km/h (72.74 mi/h) on a dragster powered by a chain saw for the 200\h episode of The Gadget Show at Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire, UK, on 22 August 2011.

Bicycle powered by electric-ducted fans Ortis Deley (UK) recorded a top speed of 115.87 km/h (72 mi/h) on a bicycle fitted with electric dueled fans - propellers used for model aircraft. The fans, along with about 10 kg

policemen inside had their photos ta�en with the bi�e. When ta�ing his bike for a spin, Wouter finds that most people stop. stare and smile however, a few fellow cyclists get annoyed as the bike tends to block cycle lanes. •

(22 lb) o f batteries, were fixed to the back rack of the bike. Ortis completed his feat for the 200th episode of The Gadget Show at Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire, UK, on 24 August 2011.

Water-jet-powered car Powered street luge Lying down on his jet-powered street luge, Jason Bradbury (UK) attained a speed of 186.41 km/h (115.83 mi/h)

Jason Bradbury ( U K) achieved a top speed of 26.8 km/h (16.65 mi/h) in a water-jet powered car for The Gadget Show at Wattisham Airfield, I pswich, UK, in March 2010.

Heauiest rideable pedal bike Built by Wouter van den Bosch (Netherlands), the Monsterbike weighs 750 kg (1,650 lb) and was ridden for the first time in Arnhem, Netherlands, in May 2010. It is made from steel tubes, bicycle parts, four small tyres at the back and one mammoth M ichelin tractor tyre, measuring 1 .95 m (6 ft 4.7 in) high, at the front. Wouter made the bike for his fine art degree - but he is not sure whether or not it is art.

But that's nothing. The tallest lyre of all - the 24-m Uniroyal Giant in Michigan, USA is nearly six times as big!

Longest ring-road The M25 London Orbital Motorway is 195.5 km (121.8 miles) long. Work on the ring-road began in and was completed in 1986 at an estimated

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has 23 lanes running east-bound through the tolls.

Oldest road surface still in use

Longest continuous road Australia's Highway One circumnavigates the whole country via a network of fully interconnected roads. Its total length is 14,523 km (9,024 miles), making it more than 3,500 km (2,200 miles) longer than its nearest rival, the Trans-Siberian H i ghway.

Longest straight road Built originally as a private road for Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, the road that

the Harad area with Badha in Saudi Arabia is 240 km (149.13 miles) long. It cuts straight through the desert with no bends to the left or right, and no significant rise or fall.

Longest one-way road The M2 Southern Expressway in Adelaide, South Australia, is 21 km (13 miles) long and allows only one direction of traffic flow at a time. The road runs towards Adelaide in the morni ng, swapping to a southbound flow in the

Stretches of the Via Appia (the Appian Way) in Italy date from its original construction in 312 sc. The route formed the main connection between Rome and Brindisi, south-east Italy. On the best-preserved parts, close to Rome itself, people may walk or cycle on the old stone-paved road. In the area of Velletri, it is still possible to drive on the original Roman-paved surface.

towns of Milan and Varese, with a single lane in each direction separated by a crash barrier. Today, it is part of the A8 and A9 motorway network.

First solar powered road The A18 Catania-Siracuse motorway in Sicily incorporates " three tunnels covered with more than 80,000 individual solar panels, which provide power for lighting, tunnel fans, emergency phones and signage. The road is estimated to produce 12 million kWh of power per year across the 2.8-km (1.7-mile) length covered by the tunnels.

Coldest road The Kolyma H ighway (M56) in Russia passes through some of the coldest inhabited places on Earth. The road is 2,031 km · (1,262 miles) long and goes from Nizhny Bestyakh in the west to Magadan in the east. Tem peratures as low as -67.7'( (-89.86'F) have been recorded along this route.

First motorway

Most southerly road

In 1924, the world's first dual-carriage h ig hway built for higher-speed traffic was opened between the Italian

The McMurdo-South Pole Highway is a 1,450-km (900-mile) road constructed in Antarctica from the McMurdo

Station to Amundsen-Scott base at the South Pole. The road is made from flattened and graded ice and snow.

Oldest functional traffic light The oldest working traffic signal was first installed on a junction in Ashville, Ohio, USA, in 1932 and operated until 1982. The signal has four faces, and a rotating red/green lamp inside alternately illuminates each face. Designed by Ashville resident Teddy Boor, it still works today and was only retired from service because colour-blind individuals found it more difficult to read than

H A I RPin BEnDS D A nGER A H EA D! •

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=

300,000 km

TOP 1 0 LONGEST ROAD N ETWORKS

most crooked road Comprising eight tight hairpin turns a s it meanders down a hill in San Francisco, USA, Lombard Street is the world's most crooked road. M a ny roads twist and turn, but only a 400-m-long (0. 25 -m i le) section of Lombard Street, which descends a 27% incline, can claim so many hairpin turns i n such a short distance a total of 1 ,440 degrees twisted and turned.

. . . . . ·384.000 km: D1stance from Earth to the Moon.

9. Australia 818,356 km 8. France 951,200 km 7. Russia 982,000 km 6. Canada 1,042,300 km 5. Japan 1,203,777 km . . . . . . 1.390.000 km: Diameter of the Sun.

4. Brazi1 1 ,751 ,868 km

most com plex junction The J udge Harry Pregerson I nterchange i n Los Angeles, USA, is a multiple-stack motorway i nterchange that connects I nterstate Highway 105 and I nterstate Highway 110 with the Harbor Gateway North area of Los Angeles. A four-level i nterchange, it offers the possibility of driving from a ny d i rection on to a ny other direction of travel on the intersecting roads as well as possessi ng restricted access lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. The topmost lane stands at a height of 36.5 m ( 120 ft) .

First road-traffic death On 31 August 1869, Mary Ward (Ireland) fell out of her cousin's experimental steam car and was run over, breaking her neck. The speed of the vehicle was estimated to be 5 . 6-6.4 km/h (3 5-4 mi/h).

Most complex roundabout The "Magic Roundabout" in Swindon, UK, comprises five smaller roundabouts around the circumference of a larger roundabout. It is possible to travel \C::, in both directions around the larger _ · roundabout i::

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. . . . . . c. 3.000.000 km: Distance travelled by light in 10 seconds.

3. India 3,320,410 km

to exit via the driver's chosen road. Each of the smaller roundabouts has three entry �and three exit lanes.

Deepest road tunnel The Eiksund road tunnel in Norway connects the Norwegian mainland with Hareidlandet island and lies 287 m (942 ft) below sea level. It is 7,765 m (25,476 ft) long and was opened in 2008.

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China 3,860,800 km

: 4,667,097 km: DIStance : clacked up as of December

: 2010 by a 7966 P·1800S ; Volvo O·tmed by lrvm : Gordon (USA). equivalent

: to 2.9 million mtles. the

; highut which� mileage

. . . . . : for a smgle car. · · · · · •

4.830.086 km: DIStance driven by professional truck dr1ver William Coe. Jr (USA) between 1986 and 2009.

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5,565,600 km: Total distance covered annually by dnvers for every kilometre of rood 1n Hnng Kong. the natton 1Ytlh rne

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1. USA 6,506,204 km

Source: The Economist

AT SEA

The Nurek Dam, on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan is 300 m (984 ft) high and was completed in 1980.

Longest bridge spanning open sea

Longest dam

on LAnD Longest bridge The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge on the Jiangsu high speed railway (from Beijing to Shanghai) is 164 km (102 miles) long. This line, opened in June 2011, also crosses the 114-km (70.8-mile) Langfang-Qingxian viaduct, the second longest bridge in the world.

Longest bridge over continuous water The Second Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, completed in 1969, joins Mandeville and Metairie, Louisiana, USA and is 38.42 k m (23.87 miles) long.

Longest footbridge

Longest canal

The 2.06-km (1.28-mile) Poughkeepsie Bridge (also known as the "Walkway Over the Hudson State H istoric Park") in New York, USA, was re-opened to the public on 3 October 2009 as the world's longest pedestrian bridge.

The Belomorsko-Baltiysky Kanal, or the White Sea-Baltic Canal, from Belomorsk to Povenets in Russia, is 227 km (141 miles) long and has 19 locks. It was built using forced labour between 1930 and 1933.

Longest road bridge

The Suez Canal in Egypt, linking the Red and Mediterranean Seas, is 162.2 km (100.8 miles) long from Port Said lighthouse to the town of Suez. Opened on 17 November 1869, it took 10 years to build, with a workforce of 1 . 5 million, of whom 120,000 died during the

The six-lane elevated Bang Na Expressway (also known as the Burapha Wit hi Expressway) runs for 54 km (33 .5 miles) through Bangkok, Thailand, and was constructed using 1.8 million m3 (63. 5 million ft3) of concrete. It was opened on 7 February 2000 at a cost of itfion). $1 billion (then £77

Longest big-ship canal

Highest cable-stayed

A cable-stayed

bridge has cables supportin g the bridge deck from o e or more columns (often called towers or pylons). The deck of the 1 ,124-m-long (3,688-ft) cable-stayed Baluarte Bicentenn i a Bridge in Mexico is, a t i t s h i g hest point, 402.57 m (1,321 ft) above the average water level of the Baluarte River. The bridge is supported by 12 concrete towers, the tallest of which measures 153 m (502 ft) from its underground foundations to the road level.

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Completed in 1964, the Kiev Reservoir across the Dnieper River in Ukraine has a crest length of 41 . 2 km (25.6 miles).

Longest rubber dam · The Xiaobudong Rubber Dam, on the Yihe river in Shandong Province, China, measures 1,135 m (3,723 ft) long and consists of 16 sections, each 70 m (229 ft) long. It was completed on 1 July 1997.

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The 36-km-long (22.4-mile) Hangzhou Bay Bridge, linking the cities of Cixi and Zhapu in the Zhejiang Province of China, is the bridge spanning the greatest width of open ocean. Construction on the £860 m illion ($1.4 billion) bridge began in June 2003 and ended in 2007. It was officially opened in 2008.

Strongest dam The Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam on the Yenisey River in Russia, is designed to bear a record load of 18 million tonnes (19,841,600 tons) from a fully filled reservoir of 31,300 million m3 (1,100,000 m i llion ft3) capacity. The dam. which was completed in 1987, is 803

Links: mainland China to Zhoushan Archipelago Built: 2009 3. Great Belt Bridge Length: 1,624 m (5.328 ft) Links: Danish islands of

BRIDGE TYPES

Drawbridge (bascule)

The deck of the Si Du River Bridge in Badong County, H ubei, China, is 472 m (1 , 549 ft) above the bottom of the valley - more than high enough to accommodate the Empire State Building beneath it.

Ship with g reatest lifting capacity The MV Fairplayer and MV Javelin, operated by Jumbo Shipping of Rotterdam, Netherlands, are J-class mega-ships with two Huisman mast cranes each capable of carrying a load of 900 tonnes (992 tons), giving a lifting capacity of 1,800 tonnes (1,984 tons). Each cargo ship has a transport capacity (deadweight tonnage or DWT) of 12,673 tonnes (13,969 tons). Particularly heavy loads are welded to the deck.

Heaviest object lifted at sea

The crane vessel Saipem 7000, the second largest in the world, broke the offshore weigh!lifting record when it transported a 12,150-tonne (13,393-ton) single integrated deck (SID) from a heavy-transport carrier to the Sabratha platform in Libya's

Bahr Essalam gas field in October 2004. The lift took just four hours to complete. The lifting capacity, from two 140-m-long (459-ft) 15,600-hp (11,630-kW) fully revolving Amhoist cranes, is 14,000 tonnes (15,432 tons).

Largest cruise ship At 362 m (1,187 It) long, 66 m (216 It) wide and weighing 225,282 gross tonnage, MS Allure ofthe Seas (USA) is the largest passenger ship. It has 16 passenger decks and can take 6,318 passengers.

Largest container ship With a length of 397 m (1,300 It), a beam of 56 m (183 It) and a depth from deck to keel of 30 m (98 ft), the MV Emma Maersk (Denmark) � the largest container vessel. It could fill a freight train over 70 km (43.5 miles) long.

Largest tunnel boring machine The M i xshield tunnel boring machine built by Herren knecht AG (Germany) measures 1 5 .43 m (50 ft 7.48 i n) in diameter and weighs 2,300 tonnes (5 . 07 million lb) . Two M ixshields were used to create two tun nels under the Yangtze River i n China from Shanghai to C ha n gxing Island. The tun nels, built from 2006 to 2008, are 7.47 km (4.64 m i les) long and 65 m (213 ft) deep.

Has two "leaves" that can be raised to enable ships to pass underneath; the longest drawbridge is the Charles Berry Bridge across the Black River in Lorain, Ohio, USA, at 101.5 m (333 ft).

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Span suspension bridge Deck is suspended by cables attached to vertical supports; the longest suspension bridge for both road and rail traffic - with a main span of 1 , 377 m (4,517 ft), a width of 40 m (131.2 ft) and a length of 2.2 km (1.3 miles) - is the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong (China).

.. � ..

Steel a rch bridge

Deck passes beneath a steel arch and through (often) concrete supports; the longest steel arch bridge is the Chongqing-Chaotianmen Bridge over the Yangtze River in China with a main span of 552 m (1,811 It).

Swing bridge Movable bridge that pivots horizontally (as opposed to upwards like a drawbridge). The El Ferdan Railway Bridge across the Suez Canal near lsmailia, Egypt, has a central span of 340 m (1,115 ft) that rotates 90' in order to allow ships to pass and is the world's longest swing bridge.

J/vvvvvvvv\l Tibetan bridge A narrow walkway between two banks and supported loosely by cables or ropes; the world's longest Tibetan bridge has a span of 374 m (1,227 ft) over the river Po in Turin, Italy.

To the Lim its: What's the Speed Lim it? Science Frontiers AI & Robotics Nu mbers Light Fantastic

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largest particle accelerator The Large H adron Collider - a 27-km-long (17-mile) circular tunnel underground on the Franco Swiss border near Geneva. Switzerland - is history's largest and most complex machine. Its purpose is to smash together two opposing beams of protons at very high energies, to study the results. I n use, the collider's 9,300 magnets are frozen at -271.3·c (-456.3.F). colder than deep space, making the collider the world's largest fridge!

To create t h e neutrinos, a beam of protons is first generated by the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at C E R N . T h e b e a m o f protons h i t s a graphite target that creates subatomic particles known as pions and kaons.

2 . Neutrinos The subatomic particles produced by the SPS enter a 1 -km-long (0.62-mile) tunnel, where they decay into muons and muon neutrinos. They are then focused into a beam and fired· in the d i rection of the detector at Gran Sasso. When these particles encounter solid rock, only the muon neutrinos pass through.

3. Through the Earth The neutrinos travel straight through the Earth - 11.4 km (7 m iles) from the surface at the deepest point - and make the 732-km (454-mile) journey to Italy. GPS is used to monitor even the most subtle shifting of the Earth.

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Albert E instei n's Theory of Special Relativity proposes that the speed of light is the maximum speed at which all energy and matter can travel. The idea that light has a "speed" was first demonstrated by Denmark's Ole Christensen R0mer (1644-1 71 0}, whose studies of the moons of Ju piter led to a better understanding of how light travels. Today, the speed is ratified as a constant by the Conference Generale des Po ids et Mesures - the body that manages the I nternational System of U nits.

The OPERA detector consists of 1 50,000 "bricks" of photographic film separated by Lead sheets. It is Located u n dergrou n d at G ran Sasso, insulating it from other particles and radiation which cannot pass through matter as easily as neutri nos. When a neutrino does interact with the matter making up the bricks, the photographic film records the event, which can then be analysed by developing the film in each brick separately.

At Gran ?asso, the neutrinos arrive and are detected by OPERA after travelling 732 km through Earth's crust in just 0.0024 seconds. They appeared to be arriving 0.000000067 seconds earlier than they should have if they were obeying the speed of Light.

U K's N ational Physical Laboratory, Teddi ngton, London, is part of a g lobal network of h i g h ly accurate atomic clocks p rovid i n g consistent time measurements for the world. As of 26 August 201 1 , t h e C s F 2 clock w a s accu rate t o o n e part i n 4,300 trillion, mea n i n g it wou ld take 138 m i llion years for it to lose or g a i n less than one seco n d .

EVOLUTION OF THE SU PERCOM PUTE R The human brain can perform no more than about five calculations per second, while the fastest computers (see left) can now perform more than 10 quadrillion calculations in the same time. Here we look at the number of calculations (operations) per second by computers over time:

The laser at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, San Francisco, USA, consists of 192 laser beams. In October 2010, it fired a one-megajoule shot on a peppercorn-sized pellet of nuclear fuel. The energy crushed the pellet instantly, releasing about 10 trillion neutrons and signalling the successful fusion of some tritium and deuterium atoms. Ultimately, the objective is to create a fusion reaction that offers u n limited, pollution-free energy.

largest planetary rouer On 2 6 November 201 1 , NASA launched its M ars Science Laboratory mission towards the planet Mars. O n board was the Curiosity rover, which is 3 m (9 ft 10 in) long and weighs 900 kg (1,984 lb), i nclud ing 80 kg (176 lb) of scientific i nstruments. It is designed to travel at up to 0.09 km/h (0.056 mi/h) while it explores the geology of Gale crater on Mars.

5,000 0PS

1.34 TFLOPS

Teraflops: 10" - 1,000,000,

2.38 TFLOPS

000,000 (one trillion)

7.23 TFLOPS

- FLOPS

2002 35.8 TFLOPS

PFLOPS

2008 1.1 PFLOPS

Petaf!ops: 10"- 1,000,

1.76 PFLOPS

000, 000, 000,000 (one quadrillion)

2010 2.5 PFLOPS

- FLOPS

2011

10.51 PFLOPS

brain, consisting of some 10,000 neurons. In 2011, 100 of these virtual neocortical columns were joined together to form a network of a million artificial neurons. This marks the most sophisticated software emulation of a human brain to date.

Most advanced synthetic human brain Researchers at the Blue Brain Project, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, are building an artificial human brain by simulating the operation of individual brain cells, or "neurons", inside a supercomputer. In 2008, scientists on the project

most life-like and roid I n March 2011, a team o f scientists from Osaka U niversity and robotics company Kokoro (both Japan) unveiled an android - a robot with features modelled closely on those of a human - the most life-like yet. Named Geminoid DK, the android has been made in the likeness of technology p rofessor Henrik Scharfe, of Aalborg U n iversity i n Denmark. It cost $200,000 (£123,674) to develop.

Deadliest anti personnel robot In 2010, South Korea recruited some serious robotic firepower in the form of the Super aEgis 2 - a robot sentry gun packing a heavy-duty 12-mm machine gun, 40-m m grenade launcher a n d even su rface-to-air missiles. The weapon uses infrared sensors and a camera to lock on to human targets up to 3 km (1 .8 miles) away in daylight and 2.2 km (1.3 miles) at night. Targets are recognized and tracked in the images using sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms. A laser range-finder enables the computer to adjust its aim, while a gyroscope helps it correct for recoil.

British company Epagogix has developed an artificial intelligence computer program that can accurately predict the box office returns

numerical values to hundreds of variables describing its content. The software then compares these numbers to those of previously released movies - together with their box-office receipts - which

yields a forecast of what a full production of the new script is likely to make. The company claims its software can estimate a movie's box office takings to within +/- $10 million (£6.3 million).

Biggest stock-market crash caused by automated trading

FIRST HUmAn KI LLED BY A ROBOT: ROBERT WI LLIA mS (USA) I n 1979

Hig hest score on a quiz show by a computer RISE O F THE ROBOTS The idea of a machine capable of independent movement dates back to ancient times. Mechanisms for entertainment, such as toy figures, clockwork toys and music boxes, have existed for centuries. But genuinely functional robots, or machines capable of processing calculations, are a far more recent development... MECHANICAL CALCULATOR

First computer to beat a world chess champion (regular time controls) On 11 May 1997, world chess champion Garry Kasparov ( Russia) was beaten by the IBM chess computer Deep Blue - a super-powerful parallel processor capable of evaluating 200 million board positions every second, and holding in its memory details of 700,000 past games played by grandmasters.

First poker bot to beat human professionals in a live tournament In 2008, a program called "Polaris", written by computer scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada, beat a six-strong team of human professionals in a tournament held in Las Vegas, USA. Against each of the pros, it played a 500-hand game of Limit Texas

Holdem ( "Limit" means the bet sizes are fixed ) . Whoever finished each game with the most chips was the winner. Polaris won three games, Lost two and tied one.

Fastest time to solve a Rubik's Cube by a robot

First AI scientist In 2009, researchers at the Creative Machines Lab, part of Cornell University in New York, USA, unveiled a software program called Eureqa. Feed the program some data on pretty much anything and

A robot can now solve a Rubik's Cube faster than a human. On 11 November 2011, CubeStormer II finished a scrambled 3 x 3 cube in 5.27 seconds at Wired magazine's offices in London, UK. It was commissioned by ARM Holdings and built by M i ke Dobson and David G i lday (all U K) from four LEGO Mind storms NXT kits and a Samsung Galaxy 52 mobile phone. The h uman record, held by Feliks Zemdegs (Australia ), stood at 5.66 seconds as of 18 February 2012.

Definition: any automated counting device

it will try to come up with a mathematical Law explaining how the data is related. As a proof of concept, the team fed the program data on the motion of a pendulum - to which it respondeq by "discovering" Newton's second Law of motion and

First example: Antikythera Mechanism, considered the oldest analogue computer early 1st century ac)

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I N DUSTRIAL ROBOT Definition: non-human-like machine used to perform tasks in industrial manufacturing

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Definition: more autonomous robot; anthropomorphic structure: head, arms, trunk, sometimes legs

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First example: WABOT-1 1973

ANDROID (female equivalent: "gynoid")

most aduanced humanoid robot In June 2011, scientists at the U niversity of Zurich, Switzerland, u nveiled a remarkable humanoid robot called Ecci. The robot has the electromechanical equivalent of m uscles, tendons and nerves to move the . bones i n its skeleton . These are controlletJ by a highly advanced synthetic bra i n - a computer that learns from its experiences. This enables Ecci to develop coord i nation skills and ensure that it doesn't repeat its mistakes. Ecci's development involved 25 scientists, working for

Definition: robot with features that convincingly mimic those of humans, and

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First examples: early 2000s, including the Actroid and EveR-1 both 2003) CYBORG Definition: partly mechanical, partly organic being, fitted with integral, advanced technology" First example: British scientist Kevin Warwick, who implanted an electronic chip into his nervous system (2002) • not including humans with artificial aids, such as hearing aids, prosthetic limbs or false eyes

Oldest i rrational nu mber The first irrational number discovered was the square root of 2, by Hippasus of Metapontum (then part of Magna Graecia in southern Italy), in around 500 sc.

Largest named num ber The largest lexicographically accepted named number in the system of successive powers of 10 is the "centillion", first recorded in 1852. It is the hundredth power of a million, or 1 followed by 600 noughts (although only i n the U K and Germany). The words googol (10'00) and googolplex (lOo"""•') have entered the language to describe large numbers but are mostly used informally.

Largest prime num ber

Most precise value of pi

written by Yee to calculate pi to 10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion) decimal places - a computation that took 371 days!

Pi (n:) is a number that is frequently used i n geometry, where it denotes the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It has the value 3.141592, but that is only the value to six decimal places in fact, as it is an "irrational" number, it is impossible to write down its full value. The most digits of pi ever calculated were worked out in 2011 by Shigeru Kondo (Japan) and student Alexander J Yee (USA). Kondo used computer software

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Lowest composite number

2

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T h e ancient Greek philosopher Euclid argued that parallel lines remain parallel forever. Later, however, mathematicians realized that h i s laws only a pply i n flat space. O n the Earth's curved surface. for example, lines of longitude are parallel at the equator but cross at the poles. Mathematicians have also envisaged theoretical curved ..spaces in which lines start as parallel but then diverge; 'Such "hyperbolic" spaces have a kind of saddle shape. Daina Taimina, a Latvian mathematician, has crocheted models of hyperbolic shapes, the largest of which measures 70 x 70 x 50 em (27.5 x 27.5 x 19.6 in) and weighs 6.3 kg (13 lb 14 oz) . It is woven from 7.8 km (4.8 miles) of yarn.

Lowest perfect num ber A number is said to be "perfect" if it is equal to the sum of all its divisors (i.e., all the other numbers that go into that number exactly) other than itself. For example, 28 is perfect: 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 28. The next two perfect numbers are 496 and 8,128. The lowest perfect number is therefore 6, as 1 + 2 + 3 6. =

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A "composite" number is a number higher than 1 that can be divided exactly by numbers other than 1 or itself.

5

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A "prime" number is any positive number divisible only by 1 and itself. The largest prime number found to date was discovered by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search project on 23 August 2008. It is a Mersenne prime, which means it can be written as 2"-1, where "n" is a power; 243112609-1 contains around 12,978,189 digits. The lowest prime number is 2.

: largest hy perbolic crochet

Oldest unsolved num ber problem All the perfect numbers discovered so far are even but could a perfect number ever be odd? This puzzle perplexed the ancient Greeks, back to the time of Nicomachus of Gerasa in the 1st century

and maybe even back as far as Euclid, who lived 500 years earlier. In the centuries since, other mathematicians, including Pierre de Fermat and Rene Descartes, have attempted a solution but none has so far succeeded.

Newest number Most numbers are not invented or discovered; they just "are". But one number had to be invented: zero. It was

Fastest time to com plete an Easy Sudoku puzzle Thomas Snyder ( USA) com pleted a n Easy Sudoku puzzle i n 2 m i n 8.53 sec at Book Expo America, Wash ingto n , D C . USA, o n 20 May 2006. Sudoku is one of the world's m ost popular n u m ber puzzles - pictured inset are some of the 1 .714 students from Fairfield Methodist Primary School i n Singapore who set the record for most people playing Sudoku simultaneously, on 1 August 2008.

introduced by the Babylonians in the 4th century sc to indicate nothing - the absence of any other number. Originally, the Babylonians used a space (and later a placeholder symbol) between numerals to indicate the lack of a digit or value; the actual symbol "0" did not arise until the 8th century in India.

Longest proof Originally proposed In 1971 by Daniel Gorenstein, the "Enormous Theorem" relates to the symmetry of geometric shapes. It took 100 mathematicians and some 1 5,000 pages of workings to prove it, a task that was finally completed in 2004.

PUT YOUR BRAIN TO THE TEST - AND BREAK A RECORD layasimha Ravirala (India) committed to memory a binary number sequence consisting of a record 264 numbers, in just one minute, at the Holy Mary Institute of Technology in Hyderabad, India, on 8 March 2011. (It took him 9 minutes to accurately recall every number!) Can you beat his record? Below is a string of 265 numbers, and if you can memorize them all in just one minute, you'll be a record breaker. Give it a go!

1111011 001011001111110111 00110111111001001010010 0000111001 00100000101 0010011001001111000110 010000110100001000110 1111100010110001100000 1 0111010110111100100100 0000001101111101000110 01110100100000111011101 1 00100110100100000100 0000101010101110000101 00100011100100101000

Cu lture with the fewest numbers The Piraha tribe, who live i n the Amazon region of Brazil, South America, have a very special vocabulary: it has no numbers. As a result, the Piraha are unable to count (though they do have expressions for " more than" and "less than"). Other linguistically innumerate societies (such as Australia's aborigines) borrow nu mber systems from other languages, but the Piraha seem to show no interest in learning to count.

Most popular number Of the numbers 1-9, the most commonly occurring is the number 1. You might expect all numbers to occur with equal likelihood. But studies of data in many forms, from train times to fundamental constants of nature, show that 1 crops up with a probability of 30%, and that higher numbers occur with steadily diminishing frequency.

Longest binary num ber memorized in five minutes The everyday numbers we � use are termed "base-10", meaning there are 10 basic numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) from which all others are constructed. For example, 625 stands for six hundreds, two tens and

Fastest time to type from 1 to 1,000,000

Mathletics

five units. The term "binary" is another name for base-2 numbering. In binary, there are just two basic numbers: 0 and 1 . The number 6 would be written 110 - one 4, one 2 and zero units. In 2008, Ben Pridmore (UK) set the

the most binary digits in five minutes - accurately reciting every digit from a randomly generated sequence 930 digits long. Ben set his i m p ressive record at the 2008 UK Memory Championships in London, UK, and he was also the overall winner of the event. See right for a binary record attempt that you can try yourself.

If mind-blowing maths is more your thing, could you beat the feat of France's Alex Lemaire (below)? On 10 December 2007, in an event organized by the Science Museum, in London, UK, this "mathlete" was able to mentally evaluate the 13th root of a randomly generated 200-digit number (i.e., he found a number which when multiplied by itself 13 times gave the original 200-digit answer). Lemaire completed this feat in just 70.2 seconds, calculating a value for the 13th root of:

83,689,466,882 , 369,569, 398,373,286,622,256,452, 247,267,804,664,938,366, 774,973,575, 581,573,035, 075,704,089,625,288,023, 857,831 ,568,376,802,934, 938,201,056,343,363,855, 595,931, 514,150,415,149, 490,709,419,097,704,449, 305,660,268,402,771,869, 624,155,688,082,648, 640,933

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The Livermore Centennial Light Bulb, at Firestation 6 in Livermore, California, USA, has been burning since it was installed in 1901. The hand-blown bulb has operated at about 4 watts, and has been left on 24 hours a day to provide illumination of the fire engines. In 2011, the city of Livermore threw a street party to celebrate the bulb's llOth birthday.

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White light is comprised of many individual colours, or wavelengths, of light. The visible spectrum is one continuous band of electromagnetic radiation with decreasing wavelength (and increasing frequency) . Yellow - an ancient name with its origins in proto European language. The first written record is believed to be in the ancient epic Beowulf, in which the unknown author uses the Old English word "geolwe" to describe a shield carved from a Yew tree (with yellowish wood)

Largest light bul b Appropriately, the world's largest light bulb is fixed at the top of the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower, a monument dedicated to the inventor of the electric light bulb. It i s 3.96 m (13 ft) tall, weighs 7, 2 57 kg (8 tons) and is i lluminated at night. The 40-m (131 -ft) tower was built i n 1 937, on t h e site of Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New J ersey, USA.

offered in 1968 by American magician and sceptic James Randi, initially as a prize of $100. The money has increased to $1 million (£631,305, as of 5 March 2012). which will be awarded to the first group to scientifically prove the existence of paranormal or supernatural abilities. Between 1997 and 2005, some 360 applications were made. No one has yet been awarded the prize.

Lowest Bacon number

most expensiue conuers1on error •

On 23 September 1999, NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter probe passed b�hind the planet Mars - and disintegrated in the Martian atmosphere. The cause? H u ma n error. The on-board software had been written using metric u nits of thrust. but i m perial units had been used to enter course correction commands from the ground. The mission had cost $327.6 m illion (£200.5 million) .

Fastest cell On 3 December 2011, the American Society for Cell Biology announced the results of their first World Cell Race: some 50 laboratories across the world chose different types of cell to compete in a race along a 0.4-mm (0.01-in) race track. The winner was a line of fetal mesenchymal bone marrow cells from

Singapore. which were clocked at 5.2 microns per minute. or 0.000000312 km/h (0.000000194 mi/h).

Highest prize offered for a scientific proof of paranormal ability The James Randi Educational Foundation M illion Dollar Paranormal Challenge was first

In 1994, a trivia game emerged based on the "small world phenomenon". linking people in the movie industry to US actor Kevin Bacon (below right). A person's Bacon number marks the fewest steps from them to Bacon, based on movie appearances. For example, U K actor S i r Patrick Stewart was in Star Trek Generations (USA. 1994) with Glenn Morshower (USA). who was in X-Men: First Class (USA. 2011) with Bacon . This gives Stewart a Bacon number of 2. Kevin Bacon has the lowest Bacon number: zero.

Lowest Erdos- Bacon num ber An Erdos-Bacon number is the sum of an "Erdos" number (the fewest steps to link academics to the prolific Hungaria'n mathematician Paul Erdos) and a "Bacon" number. Two people share the record for the lowest Erdos-Bacon number. Professor Daniel Kleitman (USA. right) has co-authored multiple research papers with Erdos, giving h i m an Erdos number of 1. Kleitman was also a consultant and extra in the movie Good Will Hunting (USA. 1997) - starring Minnie Driver (UK), who starred .with

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Bacon in Sleepers (USA. 1997). This gives him a Bacon number of 2 and a resulting Erdos-Bacon number of 3. Bruce Reznick (USA) was an extra in Pretty Maids All in a Row (USA, 1972) with Roddy McDowall (UK) - who starred with Bacon in The Big Picture (USA, 1989) giving him a Bacon number of 2. Reznick also has an Erdos number of 1. This gives him an Erdos-Bacon number of 3.

IG NOBEL PRIZE A satirical version o f the Nobel Prizes, the lg Nobels have been awarded annually by the Annals of Improbable Research since 1991. Ten are awarded each year for research that "first makes people laugh and then makes them think". Recent awards include:

BIOLOGY, 2011 For discovering that a certain kind of beetle mates with a certain kind of Australian beer bottle.

First complete robotic digestive system Ecobot Ill was created in 2010 by scientists at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (University of the West of England and University of Bristol), UK. It is a robot powered by organic matter, which, along with water, it can collect itself from its environment. The organic matter, which can include human waste, is digested by an array of 48 on-board microbial fuel cells in order to generate electricity. The organic waste products from this process are then excreted by the robot.

First sensory deprivation tank In 1954, US scientist John Lilly built a soundproofed and darkened tank filled with warm salty water, at body temperature, designed to isolate the human brain from external stimuli. Lilly - who, with a colleague, was the first person to try the tank - reported that he entered dream-like, euphoric states within its environment. Sensory deprivation tanks are now commonly used for meditation . and in alternative therapies.

First graphene distillery Discovered by scientists at the University of Manchester, UK, and the Institute for Microelectronics Technology, Russia, in 2004, graphene is the thinnest material known to science. It forms a sheet made from a single layer of carbon atoms and its discoverers earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. In January 2012, researchers at the U n iversity of Manchester announced they had used a membrane of g raphene oxide to seal a bottle of vodka "just for a laugh", and discovered that the spirit became stronger over time as water molecules escaped through the membrane.

Longest man-made lightning �

Niko la Tesla (Croatia) created . the longest man-made bolt of lightning - 40 m (130 ft) - in 1899, at his laboratory in Colorado, USA. The accompanying thunderclap was reported to have been heard 35 km (22 miles) away.

Largest single dose of LSD administered On 3 August 1963, Tusko, '\. 14-year-old Indian elephant residing at Oklahoma City Zoo, USA, was injected

First electronic dialogue between neruous systems I n March 2002, U K scientist Kevin Warwick h a d a tiny 100-electrode array (seen above, on a UK S p coin) set into the median nerve fibres of his left arm. A second implant was surgically added to Kevin's wife, Irena. The implants communicated over the internet. allowing Kevin to feel signals from I rena's i m plant. Via a radio transmitter/receiver connected to the implant. Kevin also interacted with objects without touching them. His arm movements are making his wife's necklace glow i n the photograph above. with 297 milligrams of the hallucinogenic drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). The experiment was carried out by Louis Jolyon West, Chester M Pierce (both of University of Oklahoma School of Medicine) and Warren Thomas (Director of the zoo) to test if the drug could trigger a mental state known as "musth", a mad, often violent, hormonal surge during which bull elephants produce temporin (a sticky fluid) from glands between the ears and eyes. Tusko trumpeted once, ran around his enclosure, suffered a crippling seizure and died after 80 minutes.

PEACE, 2011 Awarded to the Mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armoured tank.

MEDICINE, 2011 For demonstrating that people make better decisions about some kinds of things - but worse decisions about other kinds of things when they have a strong urge to urinate.

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First heat-ray gun T h e Active Denial System projects an invisible heat energy microwave beam within a range of 500 m (1,640 ft). Typically, the gun is mounted on a Humvee vehicle, and while a human target would feel a burning sensation, the weapon is non-lethal. It was first publically demonstrated at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, USA, on 24 January 2007.

ENGINEERING, 2011 For perfecting a method to collect whale snot using a remote· controlled helicopter.

2010, PHYSICS For demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.

MANAGEMENT, 2010 For demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.

its Sun-like star in around 290 days. The luminosity of its star, coupled with the orbital distance, means Kepler-22b is believed to reside within its star's habitable zone. If the planet has an Earth-like greenhouse effect then its surface temperature could be a comfortable 22oc (neF).

First planet found to orbit two stars

First prehistoric extinct cloning project Sci-fi: I n Jurassic Park, extinct dinosaurs a re brought back to life using DNA manipulation. Science: Some intact specimens of woolly mammoths have been found in Siberian permafrost. In January 2011, Japanese researchers announced plans to insert woolly mammoth DNA into African elephant cells to create an elephant-mammoth hybrid. It will take around two years before an embryo is ready to be implanted into an elephant.

First Earth-like extrasolar planet Sci-fi: The forested planet of Pandora in Avatar is located in the Alpha Centauri system. Science: To date, more than 700 planets have been found that orbit other stars, but the

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first potentially Earth-like example is Kepler-22b - so its discovery, announced on 5 December 2011, caused excitement among astronomers. The planet is about 2.4 times the size of Earth and orbits

Sci-fi: Lu ke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine from Star Wars is i n a binary (two-sun) system. Science: Kepler-16b was discovered by NASA's Kepler mission and unveiled on 15 September 2011. The planet is similar in mass to Saturn and it orbits the binary star Kepler-16 every 229 days in a stable, roughly circular orbit.

Largest tractor-beam study Sci·fi: A technology familiar to fans of Star Trek and Star Wars, tractor beams can pull large objects from a distance. Science: In October 2011, NASA awarded a $100,000 (£62,000) grant to scientists at its Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,

USA, to study three potential methods for manipulating and transporting particles using laser light. NASA hopes to use future tractor-beam technology for tasks including extraterrestrial sampling and the cleaning up of space debris.

FACT v FICTION

The International Space Station ( ISS) is the largest space station ever built, while the Space Shuttle is, to date, the largest reusable space craft. But how do these real-world examples compare with their sci-fi counterparts? Below are some classic fictional craft - how many can you identify? (Answers on p.283.)

Largest tricorder competition Sci-fi: The medical tricorder in Star Trek is a hand-held device used by doctors for on the-spot medical diagnosis. Science: On 10 January 2012, the X-Prize Foundation and the Qualcomm Foundation announced a $10-million (£6.4-million) incentive for the first working version of a medical tricorder. The prize will be awarded to the research group that develops a mobile platform able to best diagnose a set of 15 diseases in 30 people in three days.

Oldest automated nuclear weapons control system Sci-fi: In the Terminator movies, Skynet is a computer controlled "Global Digital Defense Network" that

First documented use of pharyngeal jaws to catch prey Sci-fi: The Xenomorphs in t h e Alien movies have a

second - and very vicious - set of protruding jaws. Science: Known as pharyngeal jaws, these exist

with i n the throats of a round 30,000 species of fish. While most species with these extra jaws use them to help swallow food, moray eels project theirs forward into their mouths to help capture prey.

maliciously launches the US nuclear arsenal towards Russia, resulting in a global nuclear war that kills half of humanity.

Science: When US President Ronald Reagan announced his Strategic Defense I nitiative in 1983, the Soviet Union saw it as a sign that the USA may be preparing for a nuclear "first strike" against them. In response, they developed "Perimeter", a doomsday weapon that would automatically retaliate. Perimeter became active in 1985 and was designed to seismically detect

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Most powerful radio signal deliberately beamed into space Sci-fi: in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and countless other sci-fi fables, humans make contact with an alien race. Science: In 1974, scientists at the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico transmitted basic data on humanity, in the form of a 2,380-MHz binary radio signal, to the Ml3 globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules. The 169-second message will arrive in around 25,000 years - though it will take another 25,000 years for us to receive any answer ...

Shuttle:

ISS:

37.2 m long

105.8 m wide

suggested it originated far off the west coast of southern South America, giving a range of around 5,000 km (3,100 miles). Nicknamed "The Bloop", this sound was picked up several times that summer and has never been detected since. Its origin remains unknown, although some scientists have speculated it was caused by ice calving in Antarctica or even an unknown giant marine species.

Pau l H u n n (UK, above right, with GWR's Craig Glenday), blasted out a burp at 109.9 decibels (dB). Decibels measure soun d intensity, with silence equal to 0 dB, a normal conversation registering at 60 dB and a large orchestra at 98 dB. H u n n claimed his record for the loudest male burp at Butlins in Bog nor Regis, UK, on 2 3 August 2009.

Deepest note in the universe The lowest note in the universe is caused by acoustic waves generated by a supermassive black hole in the centre of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, 250 million light years away. The sound, which propagates through the extremely thin gas surrounding the black hole, is that of a B-flat note, 57 octaves below middle C. The sound waves are estimated to have been consistently produced by the black hole for around 2.5 billion years.

Loudest sound The island-volcano Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, Indonesia, exploded in an eruption on 27 August 1883. The sound was

heard 5,000 km (3,100 miles) away. The noise is estimated to have been heard across 8% of the Earth's surface and to have had 26 times the power of the largest ever H -bomb test.

Loudest unexplained underwater sound In the 1960s, the US Navy began installing arrays of underwater m icrophones in the South Pacific and North Atlantic regions to track the movements of Soviet submarines. In the summer of 1997, a sound was heard that rose in frequency for one minute and was powerful enough to be detected by multiple sensors in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array. Analysis of the signal

Strongest measured sonic boom created by an aircraft In 1967, the US Government performed a series of tests to discover whether or not an aircraft's sonic boom could be used as a weapon. An F-4 Phantom was used to perform extremely low and fast fly-bys over Nevada, one of which resulted in a sonic boom measuring 703 kg-force/m2 (144 lb per ft2). No injury was reported by the researchers who were present, despite them being exposed to a sonic boom produced by a jet fighter travelling at Mach 1 .26 and at an altitude of just 29 m (95 ft) above ground level.

Loudest animal sound Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin whales (B. physalus) emit a low frequency pulse when communicating. These calls reach a n amazing 188 dB on the decibel scale, the loudest sounds by any living source.

First voice recording The oldest recorded human voice is a 10-second fragment of the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune". It was recorded on 9 April 1860 by inventor E douard-Leon Scott de Martinville (France, 1817-79). Discovered in 2008 by researchers in Paris, the clip was created on paper using a phonautograph, a device for recording sounds visually, without being able to play them back. The paper recording

was analysed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA), who used optical imaging as a "virtual stylus", allowing the clip to be played back for the very first time.

Rarest speech sounds The least com mon speech sound is ''f" in Czech technically speaking a "rolled post-alveolar fricative". It occurs in very few languages and is the last sound mastered by Czech children. In the southern Bushman language "!xo", there is a click articulated with both lips which is written "A". This character is usually referred to as a "bull's-eye" and the sound - essentially a kiss - is termed a "vela ric ingressive bilabial stop".

Most common language sound No language lacks the vowel "a" (as in the English word "father").

largest acoustic mirror

ultrasound foetal scans. Their hyperlens consists of 36 brass fins arranged in a fan shape. This arrangement allows physical manipulation of imaging sound waves in order to resolve details one-sixth the size of the sound waves themselves.

Acoustic mirrors were developed by the British a s a n experimental early warning system to detect enemy a i rcraft. The two largest examples were built i n the 1 920s and early 1930s near Dungeness, UK (above), and Maghtab in Malta. Both had the same design: a curved concrete wall 61 m (200 ft) long by 8.2 m (27 ft) high, which focused sound into a "listening trench" i n which microphones were installed . The invention of radar made them obsolete.

First acoustic hyperlens In October 2009, scientists at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced that they had created an acoustic hyperlens - a device to magnify details obtained by sound imaging, including submarine sonar and

The world's quietest place is the Anechoic Test Chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Ultra-sensitive tests in this specially constructed room on 21 January 2004 gave a background noise level of just -9.4 d BA (decibels, A-weighted).

Loudest pipe organ The Vox Maris organ produced a reading of 138.4 d BA when tested in Urspringen, Germany, on 21 October 2011.

A year-long survey by Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at Salford University, U K , found the most repellent sound to the human ear is someone vomiting. It beat such sounds as a baby wailing and a dentist's drill.

SOU N D SPECTRUM GWR explores the extremes of sound. from the faintest rustling of leaves to the eardrum-popp
Very loud Dangerous over 30 minutes

110 Concerts Car horns Sporting events

Loudest insect

100 Snowmobiles

The African cicada (Brevisana brevis) makes a calling song with an average sound pressure level of106.7 dB at a distance of 50 em (1 ft 7.5 in). Its songs play a vital role in communication and reproduction.

MP3 players at full volume 90 Lawnmowers Power tools Blenders Hair-driers Over 85 dB for extended periods can cause permanent hearing loss

Loud 80 Alarm clocks 70 Traffic Vacuum cleaners

Dishwashers 50 Moderate rainfall

40 Quiet library

To the Limits: How Famous Can You Get? Comics At the Movies Box-Office H its Pick of the Pops Rock of Ages

210 212 214 216 218 220 222

Star Wars

Videogamers

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reuenue generated by an entertainment product in 24- hours Within 24 hours of its launch on 8 November 2011, military shooter Call of Duty: Modem Warfare 3 had sold more than 6.5 million copies i n the USA and UK. The record sales generated around $400 million (£250 m illion) according to the game's publisher, Activision Blizzard.

CELEBRITY S n A PSHOT 2011-12

Plotted here are the top 25 celebrities currentl'i making the news (to the year ending 14 March 2012). in terms of hit on Google, news sites and picture sites, as well as Forbes' power ratin imdb star rating and first-name rank (chance of a Google hit from th first name only). •

The ratings given - a d the corresponding celebrities' head sizes have been calculated by assigning a score out f 100 to each of the criteria mentioned above. The larger the head, the more "famous" the face . ..

list of the top 50 celebs. we end up with a 34-year-old male musician from the USA. The top 25 celebrity who fits this profile most closely is rapper/songwriter/ producer Kanye West (who actually a ppears at No.12 o n the list)!

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Lady Gaga

Facebook currently has 845 million active users, and between them the faithful helped to generate revenues in excess of $3.7 billion (£2.4 million) in 2011. T h i s n�tworking s i t e d rives m u c h of the i nte r n et's traffi c , with users t i p p i n g each oth e r off a b � u t n e w u p loads, be t h ey from m u s i c i a n s , actors o r s i m p ly o rd i n a ry p e o p le. For a fleet i n g m o ment, these celebrities attract the fa m e that eluded Julius Caesar merely by walking i nto a d o o r, fa lling off a skateboard or getti n g b i tten by a baby. As access to t h e net g rows, w h i ch it i n evita b ly will, so too will t h e l i m its of fa m e - in June

2011 t h e U n ited N a t i o n s declare d t h a t free access to t h e i nternet was a

fu n d a m e ntal h u m a n rig ht, on a p a r with access to clean water. O n ly w h e n everyone i s o n l i n e will these l i m i t s be rea c h e d , a n d by then perhaps we w i l l all be affo rded o u r

a l lotted 1 5 m i n utes - o r at least 1 5 m e g a bytes - of fame.

An unknown collector paid 012, 500 (£279,875; $461 , 503) for one hand-drawn page from the 1963 Tintin book The Castafiore Emerald on 1 0 May 2009. The selling price was three times that of its catalogue estimate.

First comic

First graphic novel

Most experts agree that Swiss cartoonist Rodolphe Topffer's Histoire de M. Vieux Bois ("The Adventures of Mister Wooden Head"), created in 1827 and first published a decade later, was the earliest comic. The story, published in North America in 1842 as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, consisted of around 30 pages of comic strip. Each page was cut into six panels, with a narrative caption below each drawing.

Graphic novels are book length comics. The term "graphic novel" first appeared in 1976 on the dust jacket of Bloodstar by illustrator Richard Corben and author Robert E Howard (both USA). In the same year, George Metzger's (USA) comic book Beyond Time and Again was subtitled "A Graphic Novel", and Red Tide by Jim Steranka (USA) was labelled both a "visual novel" and a "graphic novel".

First sequential newspaper strip Hogan's Alley, by Richard Felton Outcault (USA), is credited as the first regular newspaper strip. It featured Mickey Dugan, better known as the "Yellow Kid" because of his distinctive long, yellow nightshirt. The sequential strip version of Hogan's Alley appeared in Randolph Hearst's New York Journal from 25 October 1896 and continued for three series.

Best-selling comic (single edition) Created by Chris Claremont (UK) and Jim Lee (USA), X-Men 1, published by Marvel Comics, sold a total of 8.1 million copies. Lee also drew four variant covers for the issue, all of them published simultaneously and which integrated to form one image, bearing the cover date October 1991.

most translated comic

Most expensive Silver Age comic The years 1956 to 1970 mark the "Silver Age" of comics. A copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, first published in 1962, was purchased by an anonymous buyer via the US auction website ComicConnect.com for $1.1 million ( £686,000) , in

Largest comic festiual Japan's Comiket, a three-day comics festival held i n Tokyo i n the su mmer and winter each year, attracted 560,000 visitors during su mmer 2009. The last day - Sunday, 16 August - was the busiest, with around 200,000 visitors attend ing. This record was equalled at the summer 2010 Comiket. The event i s especially known for its dojinshi - self-published manga comics.

Longest-running weekly comic British humour comic The Beano was launched on 30 July 1938, and has been published weekly ever since - except for a period during World War I I , when its frequency was reduced

due to paper shortages. As of 11 February 2012, The Beano has been published for 3,622 issues, making it the longest-running weekly comic to have retained its name and numbering system throughout its history. It is published by DC Thompson & Co. (UK).

Most editions of any comic

First su perhero

The Mexican comic Pepin printed its first edition on 4 March 1936 as a weekly comics anthology. It eventually became a daily, running until 23 October 1956. In all, 7,561 issues were published.

Contrary to popular belief, Superman was not the first comic-strip superhero. That honour falls instead to The Phantom, created in 1 936 by the American cartoonist Lee Falk, two years before Superman . The Phantom newspaper strip featured t h e adventures of Kit Walker, who sported a mask and a figure-hugging purple outfit as "the g host who walks".

Largest publisher of comics Marvel Comics is the biggest publisher of comics, boasting the greatest market share of any comic publisher, claiming an amazing 45.63% of the total market at the end of 2009. The second largest is DC Comics with 35.22%.

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Fastest time to produce a comic book Kapow! Comic Con produced a comic book in 11 hr 19 min 38 sec in London, U K, on 9 April 2011.

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Largest collection of comics in a m useum

Most professional contributors to a g raphic novel In one working day in September 1991, a group of 133 cartoonists gathered at the Gui nness World of Records museum at the Trocadero in London, UK, to create a 76-m-long (250-ft) comic strip entitled The Worm. The strip's story - concerning a cartoonist who journeys through time was conceived by legendary writer Alan Moore (UK). The finished comic was published in 1999 by Slab-0-Concrete Press to help raise money for the Cartoon Art Trust.

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The Serial and Government Publications Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, USA. houses more than 5,000 titles and over 100,000 individual issues. The oldest comic book in the collection is Popular Comics, first published in February 1936.

Most movies from the work of a comic book creator As of March 2012, the comjc book creations of Stan Lee' (USA) have been adapted into Hollywood films 1 5 ti mes.

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Largest auction of comic books On 5 and 6 May 2011. an auction of comic books, art and comic-related memorabilia took place in New York City, USA. Conducted by Heritage Auction Galleries, the auction raised $6,077,355 (£3.712,000).

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mOST... Money lost by a film Costing about $98 million (£63 million) to produce. and with a US domestic gross of just $10,017,322 (£6.411,086). Cutthroat Island (USA, 1995) made a net loss of $104,982,678 (£67,188,914).

Highest-grossing midnight screening Directed by David Slade (U K). The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (USA, 2010). the third film in the Twilight series. opened with midnig ht screenings (including one in Los Angeles. USA, right) on 30 June 2010 in over 4,000 U S cinemas, grossing a n estimated $30 million (£20 mi llion).

H ighest-grossing film series

Longest red carpet at a premiere

As of 19 July 2011, the eight films of the Harry Potter series had grossed $6,853,594,569 (£4.251,047.730) at the international box office. The first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (USA/UK). came out in 2001.

At the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (USA/UK. 2011) in London. UK. on 7 July 2011. Warner Bros. created a red carpet that stretched 455 m (1.492 ft 9 in) from Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square.

Oldest actor to receive an Oscar At the 84th Academy Awards on 26 February 2012. Christopher Plummer (Canada) won the Best Supporting Actor category for his role in Beginners (USA. 2010). At the age of 82 years 65 days, this makes him the oldest ever winner of an acting Oscar.

At the 84th Oscars ceremony in February 2012. Woody Allen (USA) won the best "Original Screenplay" award for Midnight in Paris (Spain/USA, 2011). his third award in the category, following previous wins for his films Hannah and Her Sisters (USA. 1986) and Annie Hall (USA. 1977). He also holds the record for the most "Original Screenplay" nominations. with 15.

" Razzie" nominations · in a year Adam Sandler (USA) holds the dubious honour of having earned 11 separate nominations for the 2012 " Razzie" Awards (also known

as the Golden Raspberries). reflecting his work as actor, producer or screenwriter for such critically reviled 2011 films as Bucky Larson. Just Go with It and his cross-dressing comedy Jack and Jill (all USA).

ZOmBI ES, mummiES AnD BORGS Portrayed character in film

Sequels released in one year

The Devil has been featured in 544 different films as of March 2012. The second most common character is Santa Claus, with 303 portrayals; third is the Grim Reaper, with 290; fourth is Jesus Christ, with 239; and fifth is God, with 231. Count Dracula is the most portrayed literary character on screen, with 155 portrayals, followed by Sherlock Holmes, with 147.

During 2011, Hollywood broke its record for most sequels released in a calendar year. According to Box Office Mojo, 27 films released in 2011 were sequels, beating the 24 released in 2003. That averages about one every other week and roughly one-fifth of total releases.

Successful box-office month

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, directed by Morgan Spurlock (USA) and released on 22 April 2011, had 3,463 product placements. The film is a documentary about advertising and product placement, and, ironically, its finance came from advertising and product placement. The greatest product placement

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11111111111 Most wins b y a film: 1 1 Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

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The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (USA/UK), Captain America, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Cars 2 (all USA, 2011) helped to make July 2011 the highest-earning month at the worldwide box office, with ticket sales totalling $1,395,075,783 (£883,833,103).

THE ACTinG A-LIST

Accordi n g to research published in 2011 by the US media company Forbes, the highest-earning Hollywood actors and actresses are . . . Ac t or/actress

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Leonardo DiCaprio

$77 m i llion (£48.5 million)

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Joh nny Depp

$50 million (£31 . 5 million)

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Adam Sandler

$40 million (£25.1 million)

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Will Smith

$36 m i llion (£22.6 mi llion)

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Tom Hanks

$35 million (£22 million)

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Highest-g rossing limited opening I n its 425-cinema U S opening weekend o n 16-18 December 2011, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (USA/UAE) grossed $13 million (f8.24 million), the h ighest amount for an opening i n fewer than 600 cinemas. The record was previously held by Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (UK/France/ Germany/ I reland/USA, 2004).

Films that have won the "Big Five" (Best Picture/Director/Actor/ Actress/Screenplay): 3

return for a film is held by the James Bond film Die Another Day (UK/USA, 2002) - it earned MGM £45 million ($71 million). In all, 20 companies had their product featured in the film, including Ford, British Airways, Sony and Finlandia Vodka.

• It Happened One Night (1934) Frank Capra/Clark Gable/ Claudette Colbert/Robert Riskin • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Milos Forman/ Jack Nicholson/Louise Fletcher/ Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman

SFX characters portrayed As of 6 May 2011, Bill Blair (USA) has played 202 special effects (SFX) characters in US feature films and TV shows. These include a caveman in Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996), a captured human pet in Masked and Anonymous (2003), a m u m my in Monster Night (2006), zombies in Voodoo Moon (2006) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), and assorted Klingons, Bajorans, Asoths, Cardassians, Vulcans and Borgs in the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-99).

· The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Jonathan Demme/Anthony Hopkins/Jodie Foster/Ted Tally

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Most Best Director: 4

John Ford for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Quiet Man (1952)

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Most Best Leading Actor: 2

Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day Lewis, Sean Penn

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Most Best Leading Actress: 4

Katharine Hepburn for Morning Glory (1934), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981)

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Most Best Cinematography: 4

· Leon Sham roy for The Black Swan (1942), Wilson (1944), Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Cleopatra (1963) • Joseph Ruttenberg for The Great Waltz (1938), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Gigi {1958)

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Winner of both Best Actor/Actress and Best Screenplay: 1 Emma Thompson for Howards End (1992) and Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (USA/ New Zealand, 2003) $1.1 billion (£796.7 million)

THE U LTIMATE BLOCKBUSTER The films on these pages g rossed more than any other movie in their genre. But what elements should the ideal blockbuster include? GWR has created a composite movie that should be box-office gold. The calculations are based on the average box-office grosses for the most successful movies and film-makers since 1995.*

G E N RE: Superhero G ross: $131.7 million

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DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg (USA) Gross: $150.9 million

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PRODUCER: David Heyman (UK) Gross: $192.7 million

LEAD ACTOR: Daniel Radcliffe (UK) Gross: $244.4 million

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LEAD ACTRESS: Emma Watson (UK) Gross: $245.6 million

SCREEN PLAY: George Lucas (USA) G ross: $224.9 million

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PRODUCTION METHOD: Animation/live action Gross: $138.4 million

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DISTRIBUTED BY: DreamWorks SKG Gross: $77.7 million

RATED: PG-13 Cross: $42.3 million

SOURCE: Comic/ graphic novel Gross: $86.5 million

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* Sources: the-numbers.com; boxofficemojo.com. The box-office figure for each category is based on a minimum of 10 movies

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copies in the UK. Biggest-selling U K album artist In one year In 2011, 21 sold 3.772,346 units and 19 sold 1,207.600 units 4.979.946 units in total. Biggest-selling US digital track In one year "Rolling in the Deep". the lead s1ngle from 21, was downloaded 5.81 million times in 2011. Fastest album to reach US digital sales of one million 21 registered 1 million US digital sales on 16 July 2011, just 19 weeks after Its No.1 debut on 12 March 2011.

First solo artist to have three N o.1 US albums before the age of 1 8 J ustin Bieber (Canada, b. 1 March 1994) claimed three chart-topping US albums before reaching his 18th birthday: the singer's My World 2.0 made its debut at No.1 on April 2010 with first-week of 283,000, Never Say . The Remixes made chart-topping entrance on 5 March 2011 with sales of 165,000 and Under the Mistletoe was the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at No.1 on the US albums chart. Under the Mistletoe topped the countdown o n 19 November 2011 after first-week sales of 210,000.

Biggest-sel ling digital album in US and U K Adele (UK, b. Adele Ad kins) raised the bar for digital album sales i n both the U SA and the UK i n 2011 . Withi n five months of its February 2011 release, 21 had eclipsed Eminem's Recovery as the biggest � selling d igital album i n US chart h istory, with sales of 1 .1 mi llion units. By the end of the year, sales were 1 . 8 million. I n the U K, 27's digital sales rose to more than 700,000 in 2011, replacing Lady Gaga's The Fame as the biggest-selling UK d ig ital album.

First artist to win two Mercury M usic Prizes Let England Shake, the eighth studio album by U K alternative rock singer PJ Harvey. claimed the prestigious Mercury Music Prize on 6 September 2011, making her the only artist to win the award twice in its

First female with flue no.l US singles from one album When "Last Friday N ight (T.G . I . F.)" followed "California G urls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework" and " E .T." to the singles chart summit in August 201 1 , it gave singer Katy Perry (USA, b. Katheryn H udson) a fifth US chart-topper from her No.1 album Teenage Dream. The only other artist to achieve five US No.1 singles from one album is M ichael Jackson (USA}, who notched up five No.ls from his 1987 album Bad.

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20-year history. In 2001, Harvey became the first female to take home the prize with her fifth studio effort, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea.

Most simultaneous hits on UK singles chart (solo female)

O n 2 5 February 2012, Whitney Houston (USA) had 12 new entries in the top 75, including three tracks in the top 40: "I Will Always Love You' (No.14}, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (No.20) and "One Moment in Time" (No.40). The record breaking artist was found dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, USA, on 11 February 2012.

YOUTU BE SENSATIONS Here are the top 10 most viewed music videos on YouTube. The total number of views (y axis) are charted over time (x axis) to show how rapidly the songs reached their total viewing figures (accurate to 24 March 2012). The numbers of "likes" and "dislikes" are also listed_ Date

First UK group to debut at No.1 in USA with debut album U K boy band One Direction (Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson) became the first UK group to make a chart topping bow on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with Up All Night's first-week sales of 176,000 on 31 March 2012. The band finished third in the 2010 series of talent show The X Factor (UK, 2004-present).

Most simultaneous tracks on US singles chart by a solo artist Gram my-winning American rapper Lil Wayne (b. Dwayne Carter, Jr, aka Weezy) placed an unprecedented 12 tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 on

17 September 2011. Weezy scored eight new entries to add to his four existing Hot 100 entries in the same week his Tha Carter IV album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200.

Fastest-selling US digital album Lady Gaga's (USA, b. Stefani Germanotta) Born this Way is the fastest-selling digital album in Nielsen SoundScan history (i.e., since March 1991, when accurate sales figures were introduced in the USA), generating 662,000 first-week !ii! l es to debut at No.1 on 11 June 2011. Born this Way - the first album to debut in a social network game (GagaVille) - sold 1.1 million copies in its first week (retailing on Amazon for just 99 cents).

Biggest TU audience for a Super Bowl act A record 114 million people watched Madonna's (USA, b. Madonna Ciccone) half-time show at Super Bowl XLVI, at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, I ndiana, USA, on 5 February 2012. The performance also featured UK rapper M . I.A. (b. Mathangi Arulpragasam) and US h i p-hop star Nicki M inaj (b. Onika M inaj) on Madonna's new sin gle, "Give Me All You r Luvin'".

Fastest-selling rock concerts in UK history On 21 October 2011, The Stone Roses (UK) sold 220,000 tickets in 68 minutes for their three comeback gigs at Heaton Park in Manchester, UK, on 29 June-1 July 2012. A total of 150,000 tickets for in just 14 minutes from a.m.; 70,000 tickets for third date were made ilable at 10 a.m. and sold out in 38 minutes. The event grossed over £12 million ($19.04 million) in ticket sales.

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in the USA was Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John (UK, b. Reginald Dwight}, which hit the top spot on 7 June 1975. The second album to go straight to No.1 was Elton's next album, Rock of the Westies.

ABBA {Sweden), along with Led Zeppelin {U K}, see right, hold the record for the most successive UK No.1 albums, with eight. ABBA first ascended to No.1 with their Greatest Hits collection, above, i n May 1 976 and scored their eighth consecutive chart-topper with The Singles - The First Ten Years in November 1 982.

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The Beatles ( U K) hold the record for the most consecutive weeks at No.1 on the UK albums chart (group, one album), with their chart debut Please Please Me {1963). It topped the charts for 30 weeks from 11 May to 30 November 1963.

Released in November 1982, Thriller by M ichael Jackson {USA, 1958-2009} is the world's biggest-selling album. Sales figures vary, but Thriller has defi nitely exceeded the 65-m illion mark.

cumulative weeks on the US chart (one album) is held by Pink Floyd's { U K} 1 973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. On 28 April 2012, it recorded its 802nd week - more than 1 5 years - on the Billboard 200.

Oasis (UK) claimed the record for the fastest-selling album in UK chart history when their third studio album, Be Here Now, sold 663,389 copies in just three days on 21 -23 August 1 997, including 350,000 copies on the first day. The album sold its m illionth copy 17 days after its release.

spent the most weeks o n the U K albums chart . Between 26 February 1 977 and 28 April 2012 the album racked u p 490 weeks i n the top 75 (the chart was a top 100 from 1981 to 1989).

Released on 21 M a rch 2000, No Strings Attached by * N Sync (USA}, the group that introduced J ustin Timberlake to the world, is the fastest-selling album i n the USA. It shifted a staggering 2 .42 million copies in its first week, more than doubling the 1 .1 3 m illion copies sold by Backstreet Boys' Millennium in 1999.

Led Zeppelin ( U K) share with ABBA (Sweden}, see left, the record for the most successive U K No.1 albums, with e ight. Led Zeppelin's chart-topping run began with Led Zeppelin II, above, in February 1970 and concluded with In Through the Out Door - recorded at ABBA's Polar

longest theatrical run As of 2 3 April 2012, there have been 24,757 continuous performances of The Mousetrap by Dame Agatha Christie (UK). The show opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End on 25 November 1952, transferring to St Martin's Theatre in 1974. The legendary whodunnit will m a rk its diamond a nniversary (60 years) on 25 November 2012.

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AND THE WINNER IS . . .

41st Street to West 54th Street. between 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and 8th Avenue. It 1ncludes 39 professional theatres. • Its nickname, the "Great White Way", alludes to the district's adoption of electric advert;sing signs and lighting in the late 19th century.

"Off Broadway" theatres usually have between 100 and 499 seats. Even smaller professional productions can be seen in "Off Off Broadway" venues seatmg under 100. The smallest •

The UK's Laurence Olivier Awards and the USA's Tony Awards are benchmarks of theatrical excellence. GWR raises the curtain on the most lauded performers and productions.

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Most Tony Awards for a play The Coast of Utopia, by Tom Stoppard (UK) - 7

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Performer with the most Tony Award nominations Julie Harris (USA) - 10

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Most Tony Awards for a n actor Boyd Gaines (USA) - 4

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Most Tony Awards for an actor/actress in performance Julie Harris (USA) and Angela Lansbury (USA, b. UK) - 5 (Julie Harris also has a Lifetime Achievement Tony)

1111111111 11111111111 Most Tony Awards (individual) Harold Prince (USA) - 21

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Most Tony Awards for a composer Stephen Sondheim (USA) - 8

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Most Olivier Awards for a show Matilda the Musical, from the book by Roald Dahl (UK) - 7

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Most Olivier Awards for an actor Sir lan McKellen (UK) - 6

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Most Olivier Awards for an actress Dame Judi Dench (UK) - 7 (including the Special Award for Outstanding Contributions to the British Theatre)

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Most Olivier Awards (individual) Dame Judi Dench and designer William Dudley (both UK) - 7

Highest-g rossing Broad way show By April 2012, Disney's The Lion King had grossed $853.8 million (E537.7 million) since opening on ·Broadway in October 1997. It overtook The Phantom of the Opera, which had grossed $853.1 million (E537.3 million) i n its Broadway run since January 1988.

Usually, GWR considers only world records. London's West End and New York's Broadway are such cornerstones of the theatre, however, that we have also included records specific to those districts.

most expensiue TU series Screened in late 2011, Steven Spielberg's 13-part series Terra Nova (Fox, 2011) carried a $70-million (£45.3-mi llion) price tag, or around $200,000 (£130,000) for each minute of action. Not far behind were the H BO giants Game of Thrones - $60 million (£36 m illion) for its first series - and Boardwalk Empire - $50 m illion (£32 m illion) per series.

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achieved another world record - for the highest reverse bungee: the greatest height a human has been catapulted using a reverse • "The Hoff" was catapulted a height of 70 m ( 229 ft 7 i n) .

The height was verified by a UK Bungee Club official, who supervised the attempt on behalf of U K TV show Red or Black. (See the record for this show on the next page. ) •

· This record took place on 30 June 2011 at Battersea Power Station, London, U K .

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Highest-rated TU series (cu rrent) The Metacritic website assembles ratings for movies, TV shows, music and games releases from several sources and provides an average value for each. As of 9 March 2012, the fourth season of Southland (TNT) - starring Michael Cudlitz and Lucy Liu, pictured - registered the highest ratings for a current show, with a score of 90/100. The highest-rated TV series of all time was season four of Baltimore-based crime show The Wire (H BO), which scored 98/100.

TV'S TOP G E N RES In 2009, we a l l broke records by watching more TV than ever before, a global average of 3 hr 12 min per day! But what were we watching?

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Spielberg has the highest average box-office gross; see p.216.) The 1 5 movies written by George Lucas have grossed $3.33 billion (£2.16 billion) in global box office receipts, the highest box-office gross for a screenwriter.

Highest average box-office g ross for a director The six feature films directed by George Lucas, from THX 7138 (USA. 1971) to Star Wars: Episode /If Revenge of the Sith (USA, 2005), have grossed a total of $1.74 billion (£1.08 billion) at the box office, at an average of $290.6 m illion (£145.4 million) per movie. (Of those film d i rectors who have made 10 movies or more, US director Steven

Highest-grossing space-opera movie Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace (USA, 1999) had grossed $924 m illion (£577 million) worldwide by 3 February 2000.

Largest simultaneous premiere - territories Star Wars: Episode Ill - Revenge of the Sith (USA, 2005) was released simultaneously in 115 territories by 20th Century Fox on 19 May 2005. It went on to secure an international gross of $303 million (£165.9 million).

most Oscar nominations for visual effects. He has been nominated on 13 occasions, the first being in 1982 for Dragons/aver (USA, 1981) and the most recent being in 2006 for War of the Worlds (USA. 2005)

��;;�� Most Oscars won for visual effects Dennis M u ren (USA) won the Academy Award for Visual Effects a total of six times between 1983 and 1994. He has also received two Special

Achievement Awards, in 1981 for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (USA. 1980) and in 1984 for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (USA. 1983). He also received the Technical Achievement Award in 1982 "For the development of a Motion Picture Figure Mover for animation photography". In addition, M u ren holds

Best-selling single of instrumental music A 1977 disco arrangement of John Williams's (USA) music to Star Wars - entitled "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by record producer Meco, aka Domenico Monardo (USA), remains the only instrumental single to have reached platinum status, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). having sold more than 2 million units. The track featured on the album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk (1977), which outsold the original movie soundtrack and was also certified platinum.

most spoofed film series There have been direct references t o t h e Star Wars series i n more than 170 feature films, and i n countless TV shows, comics, adverts and online videos. One episode of the cartoon comedy Family Guy, " Blue Harvest" ( Fox, 2007, left) , was an hour-long parody of the film. A n umber of full-length Star Wars spoofs have been made, of which the best known is Spaceballs (USA, 1 987, below left) . I ndividual Star Wars spoof scenes have been a staple of comedy movies for more than 30 years, from Airplane II: The Sequel (USA, 1982) and Get Crazy (USA, 1983) to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (USA, 1999) and The Simpsons Movie (USA, 2007).

Most successful book series based on a film series Lucas Licensing has recorded more than 100 million sales of Star Wars�

novelizations. original novels, reference books, children's books and role-playing supplements. including 80 New York Times best-sellers. The first original novel based on Star Wars

characters was Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978), written by Alan Dean Foster (USA).

Most prolific videogame series based on a licensed property

Largest film merchandising campaign

As of April 2012, a total of 279 Star Wars videogames had been released across 41 different platforms.

I n May 1996, PepsiCo (owners of Pepsi, Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell and Frito Lay) signed a deal with Lucas film for the right to link their products with Star Wars d u ring the Special Edition re-releases of the original trilogy, leading up to the 1999 release of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. At a reported $2 billion (£1.34 billion), it Is the most extensive single cross promotion deal in history.

Most successful action-figure range As of 2007, the Star Wars toy lines from Kenner/Hasbro had generated more than $9 billion (£4.5 billion) in sates. I n 1978 alone, Kenner's first range of Star Wars figures sold more than 40 m i llion u nits,

most prolific dancing game high scorer Elizabeth " Kitty McScratch" Bolinger (USA) holds more Twin Galaxies high-score records for Dance Central, Just Dance and Just Dance 2 than any other player. She is first on the leaderboard for more than 85 different songs. Her highest score is for Dance Central track "C'mon Ride It (The Train)" by Quad City DJs, for which she scored 432,793 points on 5 December 2010.

GAM I N G MARATHONS Some videogamers just can't stop playing their favourite games, as these endurance marathons demonstrate ... Motionsensor game: (Dance Central 2) Christopher Lawrence Trasmario (Philippines) Dance game: (Dance Dance Revolution) Chris McGivern (UK) Mobile game: (Various) Martin Fornleitner, Hans Peter Glock and Stefan Reichspfarrer (all Austria) and Paul Dahlhoff (Germany)

@

Survival horror game: (Resident Evil series) Tim Turi (USA)

Racing game: (Need for Speed Shift) Sebastian Giessler and Marcus Wiessala (both Germany)

8 30 h r

Fighting game: (Mortal Kombat) Melissa Estuesta, Cristopher Bryant, Paul Chilli no and Jameson Moose (all USA) Japanese RPG: (Final Fantasy series) Philip Kollar (USA)

8 3<1 hr

Football game: (Pro Evolution Soccer 2012) Marco Ramos and Efraim le (both Portugal)

Fastest completion of mario Kart Circuit 1

Speedy Sami \ etin (U K) has been a fixture of the competitive Mario Kart scene for over 10 years, but 201 0 was his golden seaso n . He took t h e cheque red flag for t h e fastest completion of the iconic Circuit 1 on the very first game in the series, Super Mario Kart ( N intendo, 1992). He holds the record on both the PAL and NTSC versions of the game, with times of 58.34 seconds and 56.45 seconds respectively, as of August 2011.

RPG: (Elder Scrolls: Oblivion) Bryan Yore (USA)

8

Stealth game: (Metal Gear Soliq series) Ben Reeves (USA)

Platform game: (LittleBigPlanet) David Dina, Lauren Guiliano and Sean Crowley (all USA)

8

Action-adventure game: (Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood) Tony Desmet, Jesse Rebmann and Jeffrey Gamon (all Belgium)

CONT E N T S

To the Limits: H ow Fast Can We Run? American Football Ball Sports Soccer Rugby Baseball C ricket Ice Hockey Teams Round-Up Basketball Athletics - Men Athletics - Women Marathons Cycling Racing Sports Power Sports Golf Racket Sports Target Sports H igh Flyers Board Skills Water Sports Wheel Skills

232 234 236 238 240 242 244 246 248 250 252 254 256 258 260

266 268 270 272 274 275 276

230

w w w . g u i n n e s s wo r l d r e c o rd s . c o m

most pnze money in an RTP season •

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) served u p a stunningly successful 2011 season on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) circuit, which saw him net a hefty $12.6 million (£8 million) in prize money. By winning 10 titles in all - including the Australian Open, Wim bledon and the US Open - the world No.1 took his career earn ings to $32.9 million (£21 . 2 m i llion}, making him the fourth h ighest-earning tennis player of all time.

How quickly can a human run 100 metres? When Usain Bolt (Jamaica) ran the 100 m in 9.58 seconds, he smashed not only the world record but also the mathematical theories about athletic ability. Scientists did not expect anyone to go that fast until 2060. Can he go faster'? If so, what's the fastest speed that it is physically possible to reach'? Sports scientist John B renkus has written about this very subject in his book The Perfection Point. The perfect athlete would benefit from the u ltimate i n genetics, nutrition and training. But how much faster than Usa in Bolt could this perfect athlete travel at if he were to make a flawless run in ideal conditions? As Brenkus explains, the 100 m is a simple concept - you run from A to B as quickly as possible - but this involves four key stages:

9.95

JIM HINES Mexico City, Mexico

Height: 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)

...................................

14 October 1 968 .

9.93

CALVIN S M ITH Colorado Springs, USA Reaction time: 100 milliseconds

3 J u ly 1 983

9.83

BEN JOH NSON* Rome, Italy ...................................

30 August 1 987

9.93

1. Reading to the gun: Starting pistols are a thing of the

past. Why? The sound takes 0.025 seconds to travel the 11 m (36 ft) from lane 1 to lane 9, giving the fi rst athlete an advantage. Today, the race starts with a beep from a speaker placed behind each runner. The key is to react quickly, but not too quickly. The perfect start is one-tenth of a second (100 milliseconds) after the beep. Moving off the blocks sooner than this will trigger a false start. If Usa i n Bolt had managed to get away in one-tenth of a second for his record-breaking run in 2009, he would have finished i n 9.51 seconds.

CARL LEWIS Rome, Italy

30 August 1987

17 August 1988

;:a m n 0 ;:a 0

...a

0 0

3:

;:a c z

Cit c z 0 m ;:a ...a

9.92

Seoul, South Korea

24 September 1 988

9.90

New York, USA

14 June 1991

9.86

it's good to have strong calf and thigh m uscles to get that explosive start, i f they're too powerful, they'll be too heavy for a record-worthy sprint.

0 ;:a r0

0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cit m n 0 CARL LEWIS z

Zurich, Switzerland

LEROY BURRELL

2. Getting out of the blocks: While

:fE

CARL LEWIS Tokyo, Japan

2 5 August 1991

9.85

LEROY BURRELL Lausanne, Switzerland

6 J u ly 1 994

0 Cit

9.81f

DONOVAN BAILEY Atlanta, USA

27 J u ly 1996 3. Accelerathil to your top speed:

9.79

Air resistance increases as the square of the speed, which means that if you double your speed, the drag i ncreases fourfold. At speeds of 40 km/h (25 mi/h), this is four times the resistance a marathon runner will face. Luckily, tailwinds up to 2 m/sec (4.4 mi/h) are allowed by the Olympic committee. (Bolt broke his record with no tailwind; imagine how much q uicker he would have been with one!) If the track is at a n altitude of 1,000 m (3,280 ft), the air will be thinner and provide less resistance. Any higher, and records don't count.

MAURICE GREENE Athens, Greece

1 6 June 1 999

9.78

TIM MONTGOMERY Paris, France

14 September 2002

9.77

ASAFA POWELL Athens, Greece

14 June 2005

JUSTIN GATLIN* Doha, Qatar

12 May 2006

ASAFA POWELL Gateshead, England

So, taking Usain Bolt's record time of 9.58 seconds and adjusti ng for what we've learned from the four stages, the result is a potential time of 9.01 seconds. challenge is not decelerating too quickly. Air resistance continues to act on runners, but by now their muscles will start to tire too and they won't be able to speed up the rate at which they a re taking individual steps. Instead, they should increase their stride length - so that they can cover as great a distance as possible with each pace.

11 June 2006 Zurich, Switzerland

18 August 2006

But just think. It took h u manity 1 90,000 years of development to run a m i le in under 4 m i nutes. Once this barrier was breached - a barrier more psychological '------ than physical - it took just 46 days for someone else to do it; 10 years later, 336 people had achieved it! So if 9.01 seconds seems an absolute scientific limit, then breaking the 9-second barrier will become the new holy grail of athletics. And as h u mans seem to have an in built desire to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles, it is surely conceivable that the barrier will be broken. Therefore, the real limit is 8.99 seconds.

9.71f ASAFA POWELL Rieti, Italy

9 September 2007

9.72

USAIN BOLT only4% fat

New York, USA

31 M ay 2008

9.69 USAIN BOLT Beijing, China

16 August 2008

9.58

USAIN BOLT

232

-

·

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*These records were latPr rPc;rinrlPrl

most field goals con uerted (50 yards or more)

Longest N FL field goal The NFL record for longest field goal is 63 yards, by Sebastian Janikowski (Poland) of the Oakland Raiders against the Denver Broncos on 12 September 2011. He equalled the record set by Jason Elam (USA) of the Denver Broncos, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, on 25 October 1998, and Tom Dempsey (USA) of the New Orleans Saints, against the Detroit Lions, on 8 November 1970.

Most passes thrown without an interception Quarterback Tom Brady (USA) achieved an NFL regular season record by throwing 358 consecutive passes in a row without one being intercepted while playing for the New England Patriots from 17 October 2010 to 12 September 2011. Brady, who joined the team in 2000, broke

nFL SEASOnS the record of 319 attempts without an interception set by Bernie Kosar (USA) while playing for the Cleveland Browns in 1990 and 1991 .

Most passes completed in a Super Bowl game The N FL record for most completions in a Super Bowl game is 32, by Tom Brady for the New England Patriots in 2004's Super Bowl XXXVI II. His record was equalled by Drew Brees (USA) for the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV in 2009. Both players' teams went on to victory, as the Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 and the Saints won against the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

234 C======� www. g u i n n e s sw o r l d r e c o r d s . c o m

Most receptions by a tight end Tony Gonzalez (USA) made 102 catches for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004, the most by a tight end in a season. He also set the record for most catches made by an NFL tight end during a career, with 1,149, playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons.

Jason Hanson (USA) shares the NFL record for most successful field goals of 50 yards or g reater in a regular season, with eight. He achieved this in 2008, place·-kickin g for the Detroit Lions. � Jason equalled the 1995 record 'set by Morten Andersen (Denmark) with the Atlanta Falcons.

Most penalty yards by a team The Oakland Raiders set an N F L record for most penalty yards in a season with 1.358 in 2011. In the same year, they also set the N F L record for most penalties incurred by a team in a season, with 163.

Most receiving yards by a tight end Rob Gronkowski (USA) racked up 1,327 receiving yards while playing for the New England Patriots

in the 2011 season. Gronkowski also claimed the N FL record for most touchdown catches in a season by a tight end , making 17 for the Patriots i n t h e same year.

Most offensive yards by a team The New Orleans Saints achieved the most offensive yards in a season, with 7,474 in 2011. The Saints also set an N FL record for the most yards passing by a team in a season, with 5,347 in 2011. The most passing yards by both teams in a single game is 971, set when the

A n A U ERAGE OF 111 mi LLIOn U I EW ERS WATCHED THE 2012 SUPERBOWL

Most Super Bowls won

touchdowns 175 Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals)

Most AFC Championships won

162 LaDainian Tomlinson (San Diego Chargers, New York Jets) Largest stadiums (by capacity)

109,901

Michigan Stadium Home of Michigan Wolverines Ann Arbor, Michigan

107,282 Beaver Stadium Home of Penn State Nittany Lions University Park, Pennsylvania

Most NFL Championships won

102,455

n FL CA REERS

Green Bay Packers (469) beat the Detroit Lions (502) 45-41 on 1 January 2012.

Most seasons at the same N FL team The most seasons played with one team is 20, shared by three players: Offensive tackle Jackie Slater (USA) played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1976 to 1995 Cornerback Darrell Green (USA) played for the Washington Redskins between 1983 and 2002 Place-kicker Jason Hanson (USA), currently active, has played for the Detroit Lions since 1992. •

Morten Andersen (Denmark) scored 2,544 points in his career as a place-kicker from 1982 to 2007. Andersen played for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs and M innesota Vikings. Andersen also holds the NFL record for most field goals in career, with 565.

Most kick returns for a touchdown Devin Hester (USA) set the N FL record for the most combined kick-return touchdowns, with 17. Hester had 12 punt return touchdowns and five

•

•

kick off return touchdowns. He also holds the NFL record for most kick-off return touchdowns by an individual in a regular season game, with two against the St Louis Rams on 11 December 2Q06 .

Most fumble return touchdowns

Most receiving yards by a tight end

Jason Taylor (USA) achieved six fumble return touchdowns as a defensive end and linebacker, playing for the M ia m i Dolphins, Washington Redskins and New York Jets between 1997 and 2011.

Tony Gonzalez (USA) racked up 13,338 yards playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons from 1997 through to the 2011 season.

Most punts The NFL record for most career punts is 1,713, by Jeff Feagles (USA) during his 22-year career with the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants from 1988 to 2009. Feagles also holds the record for most career punting yards, with 71,211.

Highest field-goal percentage Nate Kaeding's (USA) career field-goal percentage is 86.5%, playing for the San Diego Chargers since 2004.

.

most field goals in a season David Akers (USA) set the NFL record for most field goals in a season with 44, for the San Francisco 49ers i n 2011. Akers secured his 44 successful goals out of a record 52 attempts - the most field goals attempted in a single season by an individual.

Akers joined the 49ers in J u ly 2011, after a n 11-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles.

GA ELIC FOOTBALL Most All-Ireland Ladies Championship wins

most pass completions in a CFL career Anthony Calvillo {USA) h a s completed 5.444 passes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Las Vegas Posse (USA), the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Montreal Alouettes (both Canada). He set the record from 1 994 to 201 1 . when he also recorded the most touchdown passes in a C FL career, with 418, and the most passing yards in a CFL career, with 713.412.

Kerry won the All-Ireland Ladies Gaelic Football Championship a record 11 times between 1976 and 1993. The first Championships were held in 1974, the year in which the Ladies Gaelic Football Association itself was formed.

Most players in an exhibition match Whitehall Colmcille GAA Club (Ireland) organized a Gaelic football exhibition match with 399 players in Dublin, I reland, on 22 May 2011. The participants ranged in age from the club's under-8 members to its senior players.

Champions and award -w inners Most Grey Cups

(first awarded in 1909)

double on 11 occasions between 1929 and 2009. Instituted in 1925, the Irish National Football League is a competition organized, like the more prestigious All-Ireland Championships, at an inter county level. Kerry have won the League 19 times between 1928 and 2009, the most National I rish Football League wins recorded by a single team. Their most recent triumph came in 2009

15 Toronto Argonauts (Canada) 13 Edmonton Eskimos (Canada) 10 Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Canada)

Grey Cup MVP awards


3 Sonny Wade (USA) Doug Flutle (USA) Damon Allen (USA)

Auule rules Most VFL/AFL premiers

(VFL first held in 1897; superseded by AFL i n 1 990)

Most Sam Maguire Cups

(awarded to All-Ireland Championship winners since 1928) Largest stadiums

(by capacity)

16 Carlton (Australia), last in 1995 Essendon (Australia), last in 2000 15 Collingwood (Australia), last in 2010

f---+-----�--1

Largest attendance A crowd of 90,556 people saw Down beat Offaly at the All- Ireland final at Croke Park, Dublin in 1961.

Largest lesson The largest Gaelic football lesson i nvolved 528 participants at an event organized by St Joseph's Gaelic Athletic Club in Glenavy, Northern Ireland, U K, on 9 May 2010.

Most doubles Kerry has won the All-Ireland Football Championship and the National Football League

236

then with Carlton in 2007. The Michael Tuck Medal is awarded to the player judged to be the best and fairest in the final of the AFL pre-season cup.

Most Leigh Matthews Trophies Gary Ablett, Jr was awarded a record three Leigh Matthews Trophies in consecutive years while playing for Gee long from 2007 to 2009. The trophy is presented each year by the AFL Players Association to the league's most valuable player.

You ngest female football referee

Most pre-season cups won Hawthorn won four pre-season AFL cups, in 1988, 1991-92 and 1999 - a record matched by Essendon with wins in 1990, 1993-94 and 2000. The AFL pre-season cup began in 1988. The 18 AFL clubs play four matches and the two teams with the best record play in the final.

When Daisy Goldsmith (UK) celebrated her 14th birthday she also received her level-nine q ualification from the Football Association, on 10 March 2010, i n Puriton, Somerset, U K . She became the youngest of 2 5 , 502 q ualified referees in the nation at the time of her a ppointment. Only 407 of her colleagues were also female.

Most consecutive matches kicking goals

A USSI E RULES

Peter McKenna kicked at least one goal in each one of 120 consecutive matches playing for Collingwood from 1968 to 1974. He played for the team between 1965 and 1975.

Most consecutive Grand Final wins The Brisbane Lions won the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final three times in a row in 2001-03. The team lost to Port Adelaide at its fourth consecutive Grand Final appearance in 2004.

Most goals kicked in a single Grand Final

�

Two players have managed to kick a record nine goals in an AFL Grand Final. Gordon Coventry set the record playing for Collingwood against Richmond in 1928, and Gary Ablett repeated the feat 61 years later, playing for Gee long against Hawthorn in 1989.

CAn A D I A n FOOTBALL

---

Most yards rushing

M i ke Pringle ( USA ) rushed for a career record of 16,425 yards with the Edmonton Eskimos (Canada) , Sacramento Gold M i ners ( USA) , Baltimore Stallions ( USA) and Montreal Alouettes (Canada) in 1992-2005.

Most kicks blocked

Barron Miles ( USA) blocked 13 kicks in 1998-2009, playing in the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes and then the BC Lions (Canada) .

Most points scored

Most M ichael Tuck Medals won

�--·11:� Nick Stevens has won a

record two Michael Tuck Medals, first while playing for Port Adelaide in 2002 and. .

Lui Passaglia (Canada) scored 3,991 points, a CFL career record. He played 408 games with BC Lions from 1976 to 2000, the most games played in a regular C FL season.

Footbal l freestylers John Farnworth ( U K , left) has the record for the most football touches with the toes i n one minute, with 109. He showed off his fleet feet on the BBC's Match of the Day Kickabout in London, U K , on 16 September 2011. Ash Randall (UK, right) completed the record for the most football touches with the shin in one m inute, with 138, outside the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, U K, on 1 6 February 2012. Ash is part of a collective of urban sports freestylers called SBX Entertainment. For both these records, the ball could not hit the grou nd.

BALL FEATS Longest duration spinning a basketball on a toothbrush Thomas Connors ( U K) kept

a basketball spinning for a d u ration of 13.5 seconds while it was balanced on a toothbrush held in his mouth. Connors set the record in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, UK, on 16 February 2012.

Most basketball circles around the waist in 30 seconds Thaneswar Guragai ( Nepal)

passed a basketball around his own waist 56 times i n 30 seconds, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 4 April 2012. He overtook the previous record-holder by three circles.

Most baseballs held in a baseball glove Ash rita Furman

( USA) managed to

hold 24 baseballs in one standard size baseball glove. Furman grasped

i n New York, New York, USA.

First English Premier League goal

Most UEFA Champions League goals

The very first goal scored in the English Premier League was by striker Brian Deane (England) for Sheffield United, which beat Manchester U nited 2-1 on 15 August 1992.

The most prolific goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League is Raul Gonzalez Blanco (Spain}, who scored 71 times in 144 matches playing for Real Madrid (Spain) and Schalke 04 (Germany) from 1992 to the end of the 2011 season.

Most consecutive hat-tricks Masashi Nakayama (Japan) scored hat-tricks in four consecutive games playing for Jubilo Iwata in the Japanese J League. He netted five goals against Cerezo Osaka at Nagai Stadium on 15 Apri l 1 998, four against Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Jubilo Iwata Stadium on 1 8 April 1998, another four against Avispa Fukuoka at Kumamoto City Stadium on 25 April 1998 and a hat-trick against Consadole Sapporo at Jubilo Iwata Stadium on 29 April l998.

Most own goals in a domestic league football match On 31 October 2002, in a league fixture in Madagascar, Stade Olympique l'E myrne (SOE) lost 149-0 to AS Adema - with every goal an own goal! This unusual tactic was in protest against a refereeing decision that went against SOE in a previous play-off match.

Largest tournament (by players)

most appearances by a foreign player in the Premier League

Copa Telmex 2011 was contested by 181,909 players and a total of 10,799 teams. The competition was held i n Mexico from 2 January to 11 December 2011.

Most goals in the F I FA World Cup (team) Brazil has scored 210 goals at the F I FA World Cup finals. Brazil is the only team to have qualified for all 19 World Cup tournaments since 1930, the most appearances at the FIFA World Cup Finals.

The most appearances i n the English Premier League by a foreig n player is 468, by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (Australia) playing for Middlesbrough and Fulham between 1998 and the end of the 2011-12 season .

Most goals i n a single FIFA World Cup (team) Runners-up Hungary netted 27 goals at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland.

Most goals in a single FIFA World Cup (player)

---�· � � � �;,s;:,�:

Just Fontaine (France, b. Morocco) scored 13 goals in the 1958 World Cup

238 www. g u i n n e s sw o r l d r e c o rd s . c o m

.��t.

Most clean sheets at the FIFA World Cup Two goalkeepers have each kept 10 clean sheets (matches in which they have conceded no goals) in their World Cup finals career. Peter Shilton (England) achieved the feat playing for England

between 1982 and 1990. Fabien Barthez equalled the record between 1998 and 2006 playing for France, with whom he won the 1998 World Cup.

Most own goals in a FIFA World Cup match There were two own goals in a World Cup match between the USA and Portugal in Suwon, South Korea, on 5 June 2002. The first was scored by Jorge Costa (Portugal}, and the second by Jeff Agoos (USA). The USA won the match 3-2.

Most Olympic foolball titles The greatest number of Olympic football titles won is three, by Great Britain in 1900 (unofficial competition), 1908 and 1912, and Hungary in 1952, 1964 and 1968. Women's football was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1996. The most women's Olympic football titles is three, by the USA in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

Most goals in an Olympic match

Champions League)

Most Copa Americas (first held 1916)

A crowd of 174,000 watched the game between Uruguay and Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. on 16 July 1950. Uruguay won 2-1.

Most wins of the FIFA women's World Cup Germany won the women's World Cup in 2003 and again in 2007. This equals the record achieved by the USA, won the inaugural in 1991 and triumphed for second time in 1999.

Most goals scored In the FIFA women's World Cup Birgit Prinz (Germany) has scored �ls In AFA women's World Cup matches.

Most valuable team in sports Manchester United (England) are worth $2.24 billion (£1.45 billion) according to Forbes, making them the most valuable

The greatest number of goals scored in an Olympic football match by both teams is 18, in the game between France and Denmark in London, UK, on 22 October 1908. Denmark won the match 17-1. The most goals scored by an individual male player in an Olympic football tournament is 12, by Ferenc Bene (Hungary) in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Hungary went on to win the title that year, beating Czechoslovakia 2-1. The most goals scored by an individual female

Most European Cups (first held 1956; renamed in 1992 as the

Largest attendance at a World Cup match

player in an Olympic football tournament is five, by Cristiane (Brazil) and Birgit Prinz (Germany) at the 2004 finals i n Athens, Greece.

Her last goal was scored in the final at the Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai, China, on 30 September 2007. The most goals scored by an individual player in a women's World Cup tournament is 10, by M idrelle Akers (USA) in 1991. •

Most times sent off i n the FIFA World Cup Two players have been sent off ce in World Cup matches. T�e record is shared by Rigobert S (Cameroon), w ·n a game against Brazil in 1994 and then against Chile In 1998, and Zinedine Zidane (France}, who first received his marching orders against Saudi Arabia in 1998, and then again in the final against Italy In 2006.

most wins of the Bai lon d'Or O n three occasions, diminutive South American dynamo Lionel Messi (Argentina) has been awarded the trophy for the most outstanding soccer player of the year. Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten (both Netherlands) and M ichel Plati ni (France) have matched this feat. Messi's wins have come in consecutive years, from 2009 to 2011. (The trophy was renamed the FI FA Ballon d'Or in 2010.) Messi also scored the most goals in a UEFA Champions League match, when he notched up five goals in FC Barcelona's 7-1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) on 7 March 2012 .

based on enterprise value (equity plus debt) and revenue for 2010-11. Second is Real Madrid (Spain}, worth $1.88 billion (£1.22 billion}, and in third are baseball's

Australia in Sydney, Australia, on 15 July 2000. Winger Jonah Lomu sealed the win with a try.

Largest paying attendance at a club match A crowd of 83,761 saw Harlequins beat Saracens 24-19 in the English Aviva Premiership, at Wembley Stadium, London, UK, on 31 March 2012.

Highest score In Denmark, Comet beat Lindo by 194-0 on 17 November 1973. The highest British score is 177-3 by Norwich against Eccles and Attleborough in a Norfolk Cup match in 1996.

Most appearances in a Super Rugby career

un1on Biggest win in the World Cup On 25 October 2003, Australia beat Namibia 142-0 in Adelaide, Australia. The Wallabies scored a World Cup record 22 tries, with full-back Chris Latham scoring five and wing Lote Tuqiri and fly-half Matt Giteau each scoring three. Mat Rogers kicked 16 conversions.

Longest d rop goal Gerald Hamilton "Gerry" Brand kicked a drop goal 77.7 m (255 It) for South Africa vs England at Twickenham, UK, on 2 January 1932.

Largest paying attendance for an international A crowd of 109,874 witnessed New Zealand's 39-35 victory over Australia at Stadium

Since his debut in 1999, Nathan Sharpe (Australia) has played 157 times for the Queensland Reds and Western Force, as of 9 May 2012.

most Heineken Cup wins The Heine ken Cup is the premier European club competition, and Toulouse (France) have won it four times (1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010). On the last occasion, they beat Biarritz Olympique, France, 21-19 at the Stade de France in Paris.

Most British and I rish Lions tours as captain

Most points in a Heineken Cup final

Only one player has captained the British and Irish Lions rugby team on two separate tours: Martin Johnson (UK) in 1997 and 2001. I n 1997, the Lions won 2-1 i n South Africa, while in 2001 they lost to Australia 2-1. Johnson also toured with the Lions in 1993.

The most points scored by a player in a Heineken Cup final is 30, by Diego Dominguez (Italy), playing for Stade Fran�ais against Leicester in Paris, France, on 19 May 2001.

You ngest World Cup try-scorer George N orth (UK) was just 1 9 years 1 6 6 days old when he scored for Wales in a Rugby U nion World Cup match against Namibia (right, North pictured second left) at New Plymouth in New Zealand on 26 September 201 1 . North is the third youngest player to play for Wales, making his i nternational debut against South Africa on 13 November 2010 at the M illennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, aged 18 years 214 days.

LEAGUE Fastest hat-trick On 19 May 2002, Chris Thorman (UK) scored a hat-trick of tries just 6 min 54 sec after the start of a match. He was playing for Huddersfield Giants against Doncaster Dragons in the semi final of the Buddies National League Cup at Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK.

Highest score in an international match France defeated Serbia and Montenegro 120-0 during the Mediterranean Cup at Beirut, Lebanon, on 22 October 2003.

Largest attendance A crowd of 107,558 attended the National Rugby League Grand Final at Stadium Australia

in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 26 September 1999, to see Melbourne beat St George lllawarra 20-18.

Largest attendance for a World Cup final On 24 October 1992, a total of 73,631 people attended the World Cup final between Australia and Great Britain at Wembley Stadium i n London, UK.

Longest drop goal On 25 March 1989, Joe Lydon (UK) scored from 56 m (183 It 8 in) for Wigan against Warrington in a Challenge Cup semi-final at Maine Road

Most appearances for the same club The most appearances for one club is 774, by Jim Sullivan (UK) forWigan, UK, from 1921 to 1946. He played a record 928 first-class games in all.

Most Australian premierships South Sydney have won 20 premierships since 1908. The competition was known as the New South Wales Rugby League between 1908 and 1994, th� Australian Rugby League between 1995 and 1997, and the National Rugby League (NRL) from 1998. The Brisbane Broncos have won the most NRL titles, with three (1998, 2000, 2006), in addition to premiership wins in 1992, 1993 and 1997.

Most Australian top-flight appearances Darren Lockyer (Australia) made 355 league appearances for the Brisbane Broncos from 1995 to 2011 in the Australian Rugby League, Super League and National Rugby League.

Most consecutive Super League titles Leeds Rhinos achieved three Super League titles between 2007 and 2009. On each occasion, the Rhinos defeated St Helens in the final.

Most i nternational... Rugby Union

Most points in an international ( individual)

Hazem El Masri of Lebanon scored 48 points (16 goals, 4 tries) against Morocco in a World Cup qualifying match at Avignon, France, on 17 November 1999.

Most siblings to play in an international Four Keinhorst brothers James, Kristian, Markus and Nick - represented Germany against the Czech Republic in the European Rugby League Shield in Prague, Czech Republic, on 4 August 2007.

1-------ta Most teams in a World Cup tournament all, 1 6 teams took part in the 2000 World Cup held at venues

Highest paid player On 13 December 2007, Alex Rodriguez (USA) signed a contract with the New York Yankees worth $275 million (£181 million) over 10 years, the largest in baseball history. According to money mavens Forbes in March 2012, Rodriguez's on- and off-field earnings in 2012 are expected to reach $32 million (£20 million), $5 million (£3 million) more than the next highest M LB earner, Joe Mauer (USA).

Oldest player to hit a home run At 48 years 254 days, Julio Franco (Dominican Republic) became the oldest MLB player to hit a home run when he connected off Randy Johnson (USA) for a two-run home run to help lead the New York Mets to a 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on 4 May 2007.

Largest attendance On 29 March 2008, a crowd of 115,300 turned out for an exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in California, USA. The game was in celebration of the Dodgers' 50th anniversary in Los Angeles - previously the team had been based in Brooklyn, New York.

Largest television audience for a World Series The highest average viewing figures per game for a World Series is 44,278,950 viewers for the 1978 event between the New York Yankees and LA Dodgers on 10-17 October 1978. Broadcast on NBC, the games averaged a 56% share of the TV audience and reached almost 24.5 million homes. The Yankees won the series 4-2.

most g ra nd-slam home runs in a game The New York Yankees hit three grand-slam home runs i n their 22-9 victory over the Oakland Athletics on 25 August 2011. The grand-slam home runs were hit by Robinson Can6 (Dominican Republic), Russell Martin (Canada) and Cu rtis G randerson (USA, above). ' A grand-slam h om e run occurs when the bases are "loaded", each with a player, so the team scores four.

Oldest d ia mond Labatt Park in London, Ontario, Canada, was established in 1877 and is the oldest continually used diamond.

Highest batting average by a catcher

has the most home runs i n the MLB, with 762 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants from 1986 to 2007. Henry Aaron is next on the list with 755 home runs and "Babe" Ruth is third with 714.

• Ty Cobb (USA) has the highest batting average .367 for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics from 1905 to 1928. Rogers Hornsby is next with an average of .358 and Ed Delahanty is third with an average of .350.

242 www. g u i n n es s w o r l d

Joe Mauer's (USA) .365 batting average playing for the Minnesota Twins d u ring the 2009 season was an M LB record for a catcher. It was Mauer's third batting title in four seasons. ...

mosT

At-bats without recording a hit Eugenio Wlez (Dominican Republic) of the Los Angeles Dodgers set a post-1900 M LB record for a non-pitcher by going hitless in 46 consecutive at-bats in 2010 and 2011. Wlez broke the record of 45 straight at-bats by Bill Bergen (USA) of the Brooklyn Superbas i n 1909, Dave Campbell (USA) of the San Diego Padres and St Louis Cardinals in 1973, and Craig Counsell (USA) of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011.

York Yankees, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals since he made his MLB debut at age 19 on 20 June 1991.

Major League Baseball (MLB) records Team Most World

Series titles (first awarded in 1903) Largest current stadiums

(by seating capacity)

27 New York Yankees 11 St Louis Cardinals 9 Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics 56,000 Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, California, USA). home of the Los Angeles Dodgers 50.490 Coors Field (Denver, Colorado, USA), home of the Colorado Rockies 50,291 Yankee Stadium (Bronx, New York, USA). home of the New York Yankees

Oldest clubs

(year founded)

1870 Chicago Cubs 1871 Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves 1882 St Louis Cardinals Cincinnati Reds Pittsburgh Pirates

lndlvidulll Most MVP of the Year awards (first

awarded in 1911)

7 Barry Bonds 3 Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2011 season

Consecutive winless games by a starting pitcher Three M LB starting pitchers have recorded 28 consecutive winless games: Jo-Jo Reyes (USA) for the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays from 2008 to 2011; Matt Keough (USA) for the Oakland Athletics in 1978-79; and Cliff Curtis (USA) for the Boston Braves in 1910-11.

Home runs hit i n a post-season series Nelson Cruz (Dominican Republic) hit six home runs while playing for the Texas Rangers against the Detroit Tigers in the 2011 American League Championship Series. In this series, Cruz also set an MLB record for most runs batted in (RBis) in a post season series, with 13.

H its by a short-stop Derek Jeter (USA) has recorded 3,053 h its for the New York Yankees since 1995. He is the Yankees' all-time leader i n hits.

Games played at short-stop Omar Vizquel (Venezuela) played 2,699 M LB games as a short-stop for the Seattle tv1ariners, Cleveland I ndians, San Fra ncisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox since 1989. Vizquel also has the record for most seasons played at short-stop, with 23.

I

Runs batted in (RBis) in a single post-season David Freese (USA) batted in 21 runs in the 2011 post-season for the St Louis Cardinals.

RBis in an i nn ing Fernando Talis (Domi n ican Republic) batted in eight runs playing for the St Louis Cardinals on 23 April 1999. Talis hit a record two grand slam home runs in the inning, both against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park (South Korea).

Consecutive games Cal Ripken, Jr played 2,632 M LB games for the Baltimore Orioles from 30 May 1982 to 19 September 1998.

Consecutive World Series victories . The New York Yankees won the World Series five times from 1949 to 1953.

Games played at catcher Ivan Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) has played 2,427 MLB games· as a catcher while playing for' the Texas Rangers, Florida M arlins, Detroit Tigers, New

most games pitched with one team Mariano Rivera (Panama) pitched 1 ,042 games for the New Yor k Yankees from 1995 to the end of the 2011 season. Rivera also holds the record for most career saves, with 603. A save is credited when a relief pitcher holds on to a winning lead of three runs or fewer.

most saues for a rookie pitcher Craig Kimbrel (USA) saved 4 6 games for the Atlanta Braves in 2011. his first full season i n the M LB. H e made such a n i mpression that h e was selected by S a n Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy for the 2011 All-Star Game.

Games won by a pitcher Denton True "Cy" Young (USA) won 511 MLB games from 1890 to 1911 for the Cleveland Spiders, St Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Boston Braves.

Cy Young Awards Since 1956, the Cy Young Award has been given annually to the outstanding pitcher in the major leagues. Roger Clemens (USA) has won seven Cy Young Awards, playing for Boston Red Sox in 1986, 1987, 1991; Toronto Blue Jays in 1997-98; New York Yankees in 2001; and Houston Astros in 2004.

1!..!..:::._

Wild pitches thrown in an inning Several pitchers have thrown four wild pitches in an i nning: R A Dickey (USA) is the most recent, playing for the Seattle Mariners on 17 August 2008.

Highest partnership in a Test match Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara scored 624 together for Sri Lanka against South Africa in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 27-29 July 2006. Jayawardene hit 374 - the fourth highest Test innings by an individua l and Sangakkara 287 as Sri Lanka scored 756

H ighest score in a Test innings (team)

for 5 declared. Sri Lanka won the match by an innings and 153 runs.

Sri Lanka scored 952 for 6 against India at Colombo in August 1997. This beat England's score of 903 for 7 against Australia at The Oval, London. UK, in August 1938.

Highest Test batting average Sir Don Bradman (Australia) averaged 99.94 playing for Australia in 52 Tests between 1928 and 1948. He needed just four in his last innings against England at The Oval to attain a career average of 100, but he was out for a duck!

Longest Test match Before World War I I , Test matches were often "timeless" - that is, played until one side won. The longest timeless Test was between England and South Africa at Durban. South Africa, on 3-14 March 1939. The total playing time was 43 h r 1 6 min and a

most Test series whitewashes The country with the most Test series "whitewashes" is 19, by Australia between 1920 and the 4-0 thrashing of India in 2011-12 (above) . This record includes series with a minimum of three matches.

record Test match aggregate of 1,981 runs were scored. I ronically, the match still did not have a positive result - it was abandoned after 10 days, with the eighth day rained off. because the ship taking the England team home was d ue to leave. The shortest Test was the rain-hit England Australia match at Trent Bridge on 12 June 1926, which saw only 50 minutes of play.

�

Runs, wickets and World Cup wins Test cricket

Most runs

15,470 Sachin Tendulkar (lnd, 1989- ) 13,288 Rahul Dravid (lnd, 1996-2012)

1---800�j Muttiah Muralitharan (SL, 1992-2010) 13,200 Ricky Ponting (Aus, 1995- )

Most wickets

708 Shane Warne (Aus, 1992-2007)

.

690 Anil Kumble (lnd, 1990-2008)

One·Day lntenmlonals

18,342 Sachin Tendulkar (lnd, 1989- )

Most runs

13,704 Ricky Ponting (Aus, 1995-2012) 13,430 Sanath Jayasuriya (SL,1989-2011) Most wickets

534 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL, 1993-2011) 502 Wasim Akram (Pak, 1984-2003) 416 Waqar Younis (Pak, 1989-2003)

Most World Cup wins

__,_____

---

� -

4 Australia (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007)

·

2

,___ -·-

·

India (1983, 2011)

West Indies (1975, 1979)

lPakistan (1992) f6_ � Lanka (199_ )

Statistics correct as of 1 Apri/ 2012

_

_ _ _ _

Most consecutive wins in Test cricket Australia recorded a run of 16 successive Test victories when they beat India by 10 wickets at Mumbai. India, in March 2001. Australia were all set to make it 17 against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India, later that month however, although they gained a

first-innings lead of 274 runs and enforced the follow-on, India eventually won the match by 171 runs. This is the greatest margin of victory after following-on. Australia repeated its feat of 16 wins in a row from 26 December 2005 to 2 January 2008.

Lowest team score i n a Test match innings The lowest innings total in Test cricket is 26, by New Zealand versus England at Auckland on 28 March 1955.

Most runs scored in a Test match Graham Gooch (England) scored 456 i n total (333 in the first innings and 123 in the second) against India at Lords, London, England, between 26 and 31 July 1990. The most runs scored by a female player in a Test match was by Pakistan opener Kiran Baluch, who scored

Surrey, at Whitgift in Surrey, U K, on 19 May 2011; and Jesse Ryder (New Zealand) for New Zealand against Australia A at Brisbane, Australia, on 27 November 2011.

Highest partnership in an ODI Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar hit 331 in a OneDay International (ODI) for India against New Zealand in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, on 8 November 1999. Dravid made 153 and Tendulkar ' 186 not out in India's total of 376. India won by 174 runs.

Most ODI appearances (female) Charlotte Edwards has played 155 matches for England i n ODis since 1997. She has scored 4,755 ODI runs with a top score of 173 not out.

Most sixes by a player in a Twenty20 international

264 in total (242 in the first innings and 22 in the second) in the Test against West Indies at Karachi, Pakistan, on 15-18 March 2004.

Most dismissals i n a Test match career Mark Boucher (South Africa) has 555 Test dismissals in Tests (532 catches and 23 stumpings). Boucher also dismissals has

cricket, with 998 (952 catches and 46 stumpings). All figures as of 24 April 2012.

Most sixes by a player in a first-class innings Three batsmen have hit 16 sixes in a first-class innings: Andrew Symonds (Australia) for Gloucestershire against {;lamorgan at Abergavenny, Wales, U K, on 24-25 August 1995; Graham Napier (UK) for Essex against

I n only his second Twenty20 international, Richard Levi hit 13 sixes for South Africa as he destroyed the New Zealand attack in Hamilton, New Zealand, on 19 February 2012. He scored 117 not out, equalling the highest Twenty20 international individual score, in South Africa's winning total of 174 for 2.

victims - h e scored 2 0 o f his 100 centuries against them.

Most expensive IPL player

• Sachin's first international century was scored on 14 August 1990 at Old Trafford, Manchester, against England.

Gautam Gambhir (India) was bought for £1.54 million ($2.4 m i llion) by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 4

· Of his 100 hundreds, Sachin scored 51 in Test cricket and 49 in ODi cricket (the most in both forms of cricket) .

most ducks in Twenty20 internationals The most scores of 0 recorded by a n i nd ividual batsman i n Twenty20 i internation� l matches is six, by Jean-Paul Duminy (South Africa, left), between 2007 a n d 2011. The record for the most ducks in I PL Twenty20 cricket is seven, held by Shane Warne (Australia) playi ng for Rajasthan Royals between 2008 and 201 1 .

He hit his 99th century against South Africa on 12 March 2010, but had to wait 1 year 4 days for his lOOth against Bangladesh. That was the second longest period between any of his centuries - the longest came after his first century. •

Most overtime game winners Joe Sakic (Canada) set the N H L record for t h e most overtime game-wi nning play-off goals, with eight, all scored for the Colorado Avalanche (USA) from 1996 to 2008.

Most Stanley Cup finals refereed Bill McCreary (Canada) has skated as the referee in 44 career Stanley Cup finals games i n the N H L. His 44th outing was Game 5 of the 2010 finals on 6 J une, but it was with his 43rd, Game 3 of the 2010 finals on 3 J une, that he surpassed the previous

Marcus Vinnerborg (Sweden) became the first European-trained referee In iln N H L game, overseeing a 2-1 win for the Dallas Stars over the visiting Anaheim Ducks (both USA) on 16 November 2010. •

Evgeni Nabokov (Russia) became the first goalie to score a powerplay goal, for the San Jose Sharks (USA) with a man advantage over the Vancouver Canucks (Canada), on 10 March 2002. •

It wouldn't be a list of firsts without an appearance from Martin Brodeur (Canada). the first NHL goalie to win 600 career games, hitting the mark when the New Jersey Devils defeated the Atlanta Thrashers (both USA), 3-0, on 6 April 2010. •

record of 42, held by Bill Chadwick (USA). McCreary has refereed more than 1,600 games since making his debut in the 1984-85 season; his first Stanley Cup final series appearance was in 1994.

Fastest ice hockey shot The hardest known ice hockey shot was a 177.5-km/h (110.3-mi/h) slapshot by Denis Kulyash (Russia) of Avangard Omsk, made in the Kontinental Hockey League's All-Star skills competition, held in St Petersburg, Russia, on 5 February 2011. Kulyash's shot has earned him the nickname "Tsar Cannon", after a 1 586 cannon outside the Kremlin. Kulyash's effort beat Zdeno Chclra (Slovakia) of the Boston Bruins (USA), who hit a 170.4-km/h (105.9-mi/h) slapshot during the N H L All-Star SuperSkills competition in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, on 29 January 2011.

Longest ice hockey marathon Brent Saik (Canada) and friends really had to get their skates on when they played hockey for 242 hours at Saiker's Acres in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, from 11 to 21 February 2011. The group of 40was split into two teams called Blue and White. The Whites were the winners, with the final score standing at 2,067-2,005. It was the fourth attempt on the record by Saik and his associates, who were using the match to raise funds for cancer treatment.

Most consecutive professional wins The Cardiff Devils (UK) had a winning streak of 21 in the Elite Ice Hockey League (UK)

Highest goalie saue percentage Tim Thomas (USA) saved 1,699 goals while playing for the Boston Bruins (USA) i n the 2010-11 regular season and set a record N H L save percentage of .938. Fan favourite Thomas also set the record for the highest save percentage by a goaltender i n the N H L Stanley C u p finals, with .967.

from 31 October 2010 to 15 January 2011. The Devils outscored opponents by a combined score of 111-38 during their perfect run.

Fewest wins i n a n N H L season

Oldest winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy

The fewest wins recorded by a team in a single N H L season - playing at least 70 games - is eight, by the Washington Capitals (USA) in 1974-75. The "Caps" notched up the most consecutive losses in N H L history that season, with 17.

Tim Thomas (b. 15 April 1974) of the Boston Bruins was, at 37 years 62 days, the oldest player i n National Hockey League history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup play offs. He received the trophy on 15 June 2011.

seasons scoring over 100 points

Most regular season games played in an N H L career

The Detroit Red Wings (USA) topped 100 points in a record nine straight seasons from 1999-2000 to 2008-09.

246

GOAL TEnDERS

By the end of the regular season on 7 April 2012, Martin Brodeur, goalie for the New Jersey Devils, had played the most career regular season games, with 1,191 since 1993-94.

Brodeur had also racked up the most NHL career regular season minutes, with 70,029. In the 2006-07 season, he had 48 wins, the most matches won by a goaltender in a regular season. Overall, he has 371 losses, the most regular season NHL career losses, yet has managed the most regular season N H L career shutouts by a goalie, with 119.

National H ockey League Most Stanley Cup titles (first

held 1893-94)

Most regular season games Most regular season goals Largest capacity arena

f

24 Montreal Canadiens (Canada) 13 Toronto Maple Leafs (Canada) 1,767 Gordon "Gordie" Howe (Canada) 1,756 Mark Messier (Canada) 894 Wayne Gretzky (Canada) 801 Gordon "Gordie" Howe (Canada)

t--- --......_ --------

21,273 Bell Centre, Montreal (Montreal Canadiens)

20,066 Joe Louis Arena, Detroit (Detroit Red Wings)

Statistics correct as of 5 April 2012

Most N H L shutouts in playoffs Patrick Roy (Canada) recorded 23 shutouts in a career with the Montreal Canadiens (Canada) and Colorado Avalanche from 1985-86 to 2002-03. His shutouts have been equalled by Martin Brodeur in his career with the New Jersey Devils.

Most regular season goals allowed in a career During the 1999-2000 season, Grant Fuhr (Canada) let in his 2,756th goal and - possibly not the most coveted title in the N H L - tied the record for most regular season goals conceded by a goaltender in a career. Fuhr played for the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs (both Canada), Buffalo Sabres,

Los Angeles Kings, St Louis Blues (all USA) and Calgary Flames (Canada) from 1981-82 to 1999-2000. The total was first reached by Gilles Meloche (Canada), who played between 1970-71 and 1987-88.

Youngest to record a shutout At 18 years 65 days, Harry Lumley (Canada, 1926-98) became the youngest N H L netminder t o record a shutout. Lumley was playing for the

Detroit Red Wings when he blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs (C i nada) 3-0 on 14 January 1945. It turned out to be his only shutout of the 1944-45 season. Lumley also holds the record for youngest goalie to play in an NHL game. He was 17 years 42 days old when he first took to the ice as a New York Rangers (USA) rookie in the 1943-44 season.

Most matches won in overtime in a career Roberto Luongo (Canada) of the Vancouver Canucks set the N H L record for most overtime wins by a goaltender over the course of a career, with 49.

most saues by a goaltender in a career The dazzling M a rtin Brodeur just can't help breaking goaltending records. By April 2012, he had set another i n the NHL for the most regular season career sav� by a goaltender, with 27,312. Brodeur, who has played with the New Jersey Devils (USA) for h i s entire career, reached t h e total playing from t h e 1993 -94 season. H e also holds the record for most NHL regular season career wins by a goaltender, with 656 .

247

Netball, water polo and hockey victories Netball Most World Championships

(first awarded in 1963, held
1991, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2011) 4

New Zealand (1967, 1979*, 1987, 2003)

1

Trinidad and Tobago (1979*)

Water polo Most men's Olympic golds


Australia (1963, 1971 , 1 975, 1979*, 1983,

10

9

1 Hungary (1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2008)

4

Italy (1948, 1 960, 1992)

1

Australia (2000)

Most women's Olympic golds (first awarded In 2000)

nETBALL Oldest club The Poly Netball Club was founded in London. UK. in 1907 by a team from the Regent Street Polytechnic, and has been in continuous existence ever since. The club's first recorded match was a 40-4 victory over the Northampton Institute in January1909.

Most points scored at a World Championships Irene van Dyk (New Zealand, b. South Africa) scored 543 points i n the 1995 World Championships, the most for a single tournament. She also holds the record for the most international appearances, with 202 as of 20 April 2012. These comprise 72 caps for South Africa and 130 caps for New Zealand (van Dyk moved to New Zealand in 2000 and became a citizen in 2005).

Great Britain (1900, 1908, 1912, 1920)

3

Italy (2004) Netherlands (2008)

Hockey Most men's World Cups


4

Pakistan (1971, 1978, 1 982, 1994)

3

Netherlands (1973, 1990,

2

Germany (2002, 2006) Australia

Most women's World Cups


6

1998)

(1986, 2010)

Netherlands (1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1990, 2006)

2

Argentina (2002, 2010) Germany (1976, 1981) Australia (1994, 1998)

Most men's Olympics golds


8

India (1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1980)

3

Germany (1972, 1992, 2008) Great Britain

Most women's Olympic golds (first awarded in 1 980)

(1908, 1920, 1988)

3

Australia (1988, 1996. 2000)

2

Netherlands (1984, 2008)

/

Statistics correct as of 3 Aprit 2012

Longest game Netball Alberta organized a match between Team Rockers and Team Rollers that lasted 61 hours at the South Fish Creek recreation complex in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on

16-19 September 2011. Team Rockers won 2,759-1,405.

Most World Series wins New Zealand have won the World Series twice, in 2009 and 2010.

BEACH UOLLEYBALL Highest earnings for a player (female) Misty May-Treanor (USA) has earned $2,078,083 (£1,287,780) in professional beach volleyball earnings up to April 2012. She took $1,062,945 (£658,705) from international matches and $1,015,138 (£629,079) from domestic matches. She also holds the record for the most

career tournament victories with 110 - 69 domestic and 41 international wins.

Oldest person to win a title Aged 44 years 284 days, Karch Kiraly (USA) won the H u ntington Beach Open in California, USA, on 13 August 2005.

You ngest person to win a title At 17 years 99 days, Xue Chen (China) won the China Shanghai Jinshan Open in Shanghai. China, on 28 May 2006.

KORFBALL Most Europa Cup wins Korfball, a mixed-gender sport with teams of four men and four women, is similar to netball and basketball and the Europa Cup has been held since 1967. The most wins of the Europa Cup is six, by PKC (Netherlands) in 1985, 1990, 1999-2000, 2002 and 2006.

most Uolleybal l World G ra nd Champions Cup wins Volleyball's World Grand Champions Cup, inaugurated in 1 993, is held every four years between six teams: the host nation, four continental champions and one wild card. Brazil has won three times in the men's event, in 1 997, 2005 and in 2009, the year they were the first team to defend the Cup. I n the women's event, also held since 1993, Cuba, Russia, China, Brazil and Italy all have one win.

LACROSSE Most men's World Championships USA has won nine of the 11 World Championships, in 1967, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2011. Canada won the two other titles, in 1978 and 2006.

Most women's World Cups

Fastest lacrosse shot Pau l Rabil (USA) recorded a lacrosse shot of 178 km/h (111 mi/h) at the Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game's Fastest Shot competition in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on 8 J u ly 2010, matching a shot he made in 2009. In participant shoots 9 m (10 yards) away

USA has won six World Cups, in 1982, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2009. Canada is the only other winner, in 1978 and 2006.

most water polo World league wins Serbia have won the men's FINA Water Polo League six times, in 2005-08 and 2010-1 1 . In the 2011 competition, they beat Italy 8-7 in a dramatic fi nal in Florence, Italy, on 26 J une. shown right. The most wins of the FIN A Water Polo World League by a women's national team

is also six, by the USA in 2004, 2006-07 and 2009-11. The men's World League has been contested every year since 2002 and the women's event s ince 2004.

Highest score in a Europa. Cup final The highest score recorded by a club team in a Europa Cup final is 33, by Koog Zaandijk (Netherlands) in Budapest, Hungary, on 22 January 2011. Koog Zaandijk beat Royal Scald is SC (Belgium) 33-23 - this match's 56 points also represents the highest total points in a Europa Cup final.

Highest score in international hockey (women) England defeated France 23-0 in Merton, London, U K , on 3 February 1923.

Most men's EuroHockey Nations Championship wins The EuroHockey Nations Championship, held since 1970, is the premier international hockey competition in Europe. Germany (formerly West Germany) won the Championship seven times between 1970 and 2011.

FLOOR BALL Most World Championships Floorball is a type of � indoor hockey and Sweden has won the

__ _

Championships six times, from 1996 to 2006. Finland is the only other winner (in 2008 and 2010). Sweden also holds the record for the most women's World Championships, with five from 1997 to 2011. Finland, in 1999 and 2001, and Switzerland, in 2005, are the only other winners.

H URLinG Most All-Ireland Championships wins Hurling is a 15-a-side sport of Gaelic origin, in which players attempt to score points by hitting a ball with a stick, known as a hurley, into or over their opponent's goal. Kilkenny won 33 All-Ireland Championships between 1904 and 2011. K ilkenny's four Championships

in 2006-09 is a record for the most successive AU-Ireland Championships, equalling the achievement of Cork in 1941-44.

Most All-Ireland Camogie Championship wins as captain Camogie is the women's version of h u rling. The most wins of the Camogie Championship by a team captain is six, by Sophie Brack (Ireland, d. 1996) for Dublin between 1948 and 1955. Dublin has won the most AU-Ireland Senior Camogie Championships with 26 victories between 1932 ' ,., and 1984. -·.,

Largest attendance A crowd of 108,713 watched the NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, USA. on 14 February 2010.

Most three-point field goals in a career

most three-point field goals con uerted by a n n BA team i n a play-off The Seattle SuperSonics converted 20 three point field goals against the H ouston Rockets on 6 May 1996, a feat matched by the Dallas Mavericks agai nst the Los Angeles Lakers on 8 May 2011. The Mavericks' Peja Stojakovic (Serbia) is shown (above right) with the Lakers' Derek Fisher (USA).

nBA Highest percentage shooting three-point field goals in a career Playing for six different teams from 1988-89 to 2002-03, Steve Kerr (USA, b. Lebanon) recorded a three-point field goal percentage of .454. Kerr made 726 of 1 ,599 attempts.

Most championship titles won by a coach Phil Jackson (USA) won 11 N BA championships. He picked up six titles as coach of the Chicago Bulls, i n 1991-93 and 1996-98, and five more

as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2000-02 and 2009-10. Jackson also holds the record for most NBA career play-off games by a coach. His total of 333 was achieved as coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998 and the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2011. During the same period, he set a new record for the most NBA play-off wins by a coach . And h is 229 victories out of 333 play-offs yielded a winning percentage of .688, the highest winning percentage by a coach in NBA play-offs.

Ray Allen (USA) scored a three-point field goal for the 2,561st time in his career during the first quarter of a game playing for the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers on 10 February 2011, surpassing the previous mark of 2,560 held by Reggie M iller (USA) of the Indiana Pacers. Allen, who has also played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle SuperSonics since 1996, had scored a total of 2.718 three-point field goals as of 2 3 April 2012. Allen holds the record for the most career three-point field goals attempted by an individual, with 6,788 as of 23 April 2012. He also scored eight three-point field goals for the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 6 June 2010, the most three-point field goals ever scored by an individual in an NBA Finals game. Finally, Allen scored the most three-point field goals by an individual in an N BA Finals series: 22, against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.

Most wins in a season The Chicago Bulls racked up 72 wins and just 10 losses i n the 1995-96 season.

Most losses in a season The Philadelphia 76ers had the least successful regular season of all time, with 73 losses and

only nine wins in 1972-73. The most consecutive losses by a team stands at 26, made by the Cleveland Cavaliers between 20 December 2010 and 11 February 2011.

You ngest player On 2 November 2005, Andrew Bynum (USA, b. 27 October 1987) was 18 years 6 days old when he played

Monarchs, Charlotte Sting, Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever since 1998.

Most field goals scored in a career Tina Thompson (USA) has scored 2,385 field goals playing for the Houston Comets and Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 until the end of the 2011 season. The prolific Thompson has played 14,561 minutes, the most minutes played in a WNBA career, and also shares the record for the most minutes played per game i n a WNBA career 33.6 - with Katie Smith (USA) Katie Smith has scored the most three-point field goals in a WNBA career. Her 834 t h ree-point field goals have come d u ring her stints with the M i nnesota Lynx, Detroit Shock, Washington Mystics and Seattle Storm from 1999 to the end of the 2011 season.

Highest rebounds per game auerage (W nBR) Tina Charles ( USA, above right) has recorded a n average o f 1 1 . 4 rebounds p e r W N BA game playing for the Connecticut Sun since 2010. Charles also recorded a single-season record 398 rebounds i n 34 games by the end of the 2011 season.

wnaA

for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Denver Nuggets. The youngest winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player award is Derrick Rose (USA) of the Chicago Bulls. Rose was aged just 22 when he received this accolade for h is efforts in the 2010-11 season.

Most games played in a career

Most assists in a career

Tangela Smith (USA) has played in 448 games during her Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) career with the Sacramento

Since 1998, Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal) has made 2,560 assists in 435 games for the Sacramento Monarchs and Los Angeles Sparks. She also has most assists per game: 5.9.

Most double-doubles in a season The greatest number of double-doubles (recording double-figures in points scored and rebounds in the same game) stands at 23, by Tina Charles playing for the Connecticut Sun in 2011.

Fewest points scored in a quarter by a team The WNBA record for fewest points scored in a quarter is one, by the Chicago Sky in the fourth quarter of a 59-49 defeat to the New York Liberty on 4 August 2011.

Most consecutive losses by a team

BA at a g l a nce Formed on 6 June 1946, the NBA is the world's premier basketball league. Its first game, on 1 November 1946, saw the New York K nickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies 68-66. o

o Players must be at least 19 during the year of the draft and one season must have passed since the player's year grad uated high school.

• Two of the three highest-paid athletes in the world are NBA players. In 2011,

The Tulsa Shock started the 2011 season by winning just one of their first 10 games. The coach and his interim successor were both replaced but the team ended the season with a record 20 straight losses. AII WNBA records are until the end of the 2017 season.

F I BA, N BA and W N BA FIBA (lnt.matlonat BasketbMI Federation) Most FIBA World Championships

5 Yugoslavia/Serbia

(first held in 1950) Most FIBA Women's World Championships (first held in 1953) NBA (NIItlonal Basketball AsscKiatJon) Most NBA titles (first held in 1946-47)

17 Boston Celtics 16 6

Most NBA career appearances

1,611

Robert Parish (USA) John Stockton (USA)

38,387

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (USA)

36,928

Karl Malone (USA)

32,292

M ichael Jordan (USA)

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WNBA (Women's National BasketHll Association) Most WNBA titles (first held in 1997)

4 3 2

Houston Comets

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Detroit Shock

Los Angeles Sparks Phoenix Mercury Seatlle Storm

MostWNBA career appearances

Tamika Catchings (USA) who in 2011 was named as one of the top 15 players in WNBA history - has recorded 775 steals for the Indiana Fever in 313 games since 2002.

Chicago Bulls

1,560 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (USA) 1,504

Most NBA career points

Most steals in a career

Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers

448 Tangela Smith (USA) 435

Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal)

b

433 Tina Thompson (USA) Most WNBA career points


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6,751

Tina Thompson (USA)

6,263

Lisa Leslie (USA)

6,015

Katie Smith (USA)

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Oldest athletics medallist Tebbs Lloyd J ohnson (UK, 1900-84) was aged 48 years 115 days when he came third in the 50,000 m walk at the 1948 Olympics in London, UK. The oldest athletics gold medallist is Irish-born Patrick "Babe" McDonald (USA, 1878-1954), who was 42 years 26 days old when he won the 25.4-kg (56-lb) weight throw at Antwerp, Belgium, on 21 August 1920.

Most Olympic gold medals by an athlete Paavo N urmi (Finland) won ni ne golds at the 1,500 m, 3,000 m, 5,000 m, 10,000 m and cross-country events from 1920 to 1928. Carl Lewis (USA) repeated the feat· with nine golds at the 100 m, 200 m, 4 x 100 m relay and long jump from 1984 to 1996.

Most gold medals, 1 ,500 m

OLYmPICS First to feature athletes from all continents The first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, i n 1896 but it was not until the fifth Games in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912 that the Games could finally boast athletes from every continent (excluding Antarctica). I n making its Olympic debut, Japan became the first

252

Asian nation to compete in the Games, represented by marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri and sprinter Yahiko Mishima.

Sebastian Coe (UK) won two medals in the men's 1,500 m event, in 1980 and 1984. H e later led London's b i d for the 2012 Olympics, taking on the role of chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

Fastest

Lf.

x 100 m

The Jamaican team of (from left, a bove) Nesta Carter, M ichael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt ran the 4 x 1 00 m relay in 37.04 seconds at the 2011 World Championships at Daegu , South Korea, on 4 September. They broke the record of 37.10 seconds set by J amaica's 2008 Olympic team , which included Asafa Powell instea d of Blake.

WORLD

CHAmPIOnSHIPS

Most appearances Jesus Angel Garcia {Spain) appeared in walking events at 10 World Championships between 1991 and 2009.

Most gold medals Carl Lewis and M ichael Johnson (both USA) each won eight World Championship golds: Lewis in 1983-91 in the 100 m, 4 x 100 m and long jump; Johnson in 1991-99 in the 200 m , 400 m and 4 x 400 m.

Most 100 m wins Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene (both USA) have each won the World Championship 100 m three times: Lewis in 1983, 1987 and 1991; Greene in 1997, 1999 and 2001.

Most 1 , 500 m wins Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) - winner of the most IAAF World Athlete of the Year trophies (three in 2001-03) - has won the World Championship 1 ,500 m four times, in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003.

Most marathon wins Three athletes have won the World Championship marathon twice: Abel Anton (Spain) in 1997 and 1999, Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) in 2003 and 2005, and Abel Kirui (Kenya) in 2009 and 2011.

Outdoor track events DATE

NAME & NATIONALITY

LOCATION

lOO m

9.58

Usain Bolt (Jamaica)

Berlin, Germany

16 Aug 2009

200 m

19.19

Usain Bolt (Jamaica)

Berlin, Germany

20 Aug 2009

TIME

EVENT

43.18 Michael Johnson (USA)

400 m

Seville, Spain

26 Aug 1999 I 29 Aug 2010

BOO m

1:41.01 David Lekuta Rudisha (Kenya)

Rieti, Italy

l,OOO m

2:11.96 Noah Ngeny (Kenya)

Rieti, Italy

5 Sep 1999

3:26.00 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)

Rome, Italy

14 Jul l998

1 mile


Rome, Italy

7 Jul l999

2,000 m


Berlin, Germany

7 Sep 1999

3,000 m

7:20.67 Daniel Kamen (Kenya)

Rieti, Italy

1 Sep 1996

1,500 m

5,000 m

12:37.35 Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)

Hengelo, Netherlands

31 May 2004

lO,OOO m

26:17.53 Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)

Brussels, Belgium

26 Aug 2005

20,000 m

56:26.00 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)

Ostrava, Czech Republic

26 Jun 2007

25,000 m

1:12:25.4 Moses Cheruiyot Mosop (Kenya)

Eugene, Oregon, USA

3 Jun 2011

30,000 m

1:26:47.4 Moses Cheruiyot Mosop (Kenya)

Eugene, Oregon, USA

3 Jun 2011

Brussels, Belgium

3 Sep 2004

7:53.63 Sa if Saaeed Shaheen (Qatar)

3,000 m steeplechase 110 m hurdles

12.87 Dayron Robles (Cuba)

Ostrava, Czech Republic

12 Jun 2008

400 m hurdles

46.78 Kevin Young (USA)

Barcelona, Spain

6 Aug 1992

4 x 100 m relay

37.04 Jamaica (Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt)

Daegu, South Korea

4 Sep 2011

4 x 200 m relay

1:18.68 Santa Monica Track Club, USA (Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard, Carl Lewis) 2:54.29 USA (Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Harry Reynolds, Michael Johnson)

Walnut, USA

17 Apr l994

Stuttgart, Germany

22 Aug 1993

7:02.43 Kenya (Joseph Mutua, William Yiampoy, lsmael Kombich, Wilfred Bungei)

Brussels, Belgium

25 Aug 2006

14:36.23 Kenya (Geoffrey Rona, Augustine Choge, William Tanui, Gideon Gathimba)

Brussels, Belgium

4 Sep 2009

4 x 400 m relay 4 x 800 m relay 4 x 1,500 m relay

. .

Outdoor field events EVENT

RECORD

NAME & NATIONALITY

LOCATION

DATE

High jump

2.45 m (8 ft 0.45 in)

Javier Sotomayor (Cuba)

Salamanca, Spain

27 lul l993

Pole vault

6.14 m (20ft 1 .73 in)

Sergei Bubka (Ukraine)

Sestriere, Italy

31 Jul 1994

Long jump

8.95 m (29 ft 4.36 in)

Mike Powell (USA)

Tokyo, Japan

30 Aug 1991

Triple jump

18.29 m (60ft 0.78 in)

Jonathan Edwards (UK)

Gothenburg, Sweden

7 Aug 1995

Shot

23.12 m (75 ft 10.23 in)

Randy Barnes (USA)

Los Ange.les, USA

20 May 1990

Discus

74.08 m (243 ft 0.53 in)

Jurgen Schult (Germany)

Neubrandenburg, Germany

6 Jun 1986

Hammer

86.74 m (284ft 7 in)

Yuriy Sedykh (Russia)

Stuttgart, Germany

30 Aug 1986

Javelin

98.48 m (323 ft 1.16 in)

Jan Z elezny (Czech Republic)

Jena, Germany

25 May1996

Decathlon

9,026 points

Ro!P an Sebrle (Czech Republic)

G6tzis, Austria

27 May 2001

Statistics correct as of 30 March 2012

!

most World Championship long jump wins Two athletes have won the men's long j u m p at the World Championships four times - Ivan Pedroso (Cuba) and Dwight Phillips (USA, below). Pedroso won his titles consecutively in 1 995, 1 997, 1999 and 2001; he also won three consecutive Pan American Games golds i n 1995, 1 999 and 2003. Phillips won his World Championship golds in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2011. I n 2011, he was randomly assigned the bib number "1111". After winning, Phillips proudly pointed to the number which reflected his position i n the fou r championships. He commented: "From the moment I saw the bib, I said this championship i s mine."

silver and six bronze in the 1 00 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 m relay. Merlene has also won the most medals at the World Championships, with 14. She won three gold, four silver and seven bronze from 1983 to 1997.

Youngest world record holder Most European Cross Country Cham pionships Paula Radcliffe (UK) i n 1998 and 2003, and Hayley Yelling (UK) in 2004 and 2009, have both won the European Cross Country Championship twice.

Fastest 20 km road walk Vera Sokolova (Russia) completed the 20 km walk in 1 hr 25 min 8 sec at the Russian Winter Walking Championships in Sochi, Russia, on 26 February 2011. The 23-year-old former world junior champion smashed the previous mark of 1 hr 25 min 41 sec, set by her compatriot Olimpiada Ivanova at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Oldest female world record holder in athletics Marina Stepanova (USSR) was aged 36 years 139 days when she set a world record of 52.94 seconds for the 400 m hurdles at Tashkent, USSR, on 17 September 1986.

OLYm PICS Youngest athletics gold medallist Aged just 15 years 123 days, Barbara Pearl Jones (USA) was a member of the winning 4 x 100 m relay team at the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, on 27 July 1952. She also won gold in the 4 x 100 m at the 1960 Rome Games.

Most athletics medals From 1980 to 2000, Merlene Ottey (Jamaica) won nine Olympic medals - three

When Wang Yan (China), at the age of 14 years 334 days, completed a 5,000 m walk in 21 m i n 33.8 sec in Jinan, China, on 9 March 1986, she became the world's youngest individual female athletics record holder.

WORLD

CHAmPIOnSH I PS

Most gold medals

Most javelin wins

Most high jump wins

From 2005 to 2011, Allyson Felix (USA) won eight World Championship golds, in the 200 m at Helsinki, Finland, in 2005; the 200 m , 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m at Osaka, Japan, in 2007; the 200 m and 4 x 400 m in Berlin, Germany, in 2009; 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011.

Trine Hattestad (Norway) in 1993 and 1997, and M irela Manjani (Greece) in 1999 and 2003, have both won the World Championship javelin twice.

Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria) in 1987 and 1995, Hestrie Cloete (South Africa) in 2001 and 2003, and Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) in 2007 and 2009 have both won the World Championship high j u m p event twice.

Most 1,500 m wins Two athletes have won the World Championship 1,500 m twice: Tatyana Tomashova (Russia) in 2003 and 2005, and Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain, born in Ethiopia) in 2007 and 2009.

Fastest 3,000 m steeplechase I n winning the Olympic 3,000 m steeplechase gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Gulnara Samitova-Galkina (Russia) achieved a new world record of 8 m i n 58.81 sec. Silver medallist Eunice Jepkorir (Kenya) finished a massive 8.6 seconds behind her.

41.37 GDR (Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Gohr)

4 x 100 m relay

United States "Blue" (LaTasha Jenkins, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, Marion Jones) Nanceen

Canberra, Australia

6 Oct 1985

Philadelphia, USA

29 Apr 2000

4 x 200 m relay

1:27.46

4 x 400 m relay

3:15.17 USSR (Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Maria Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina)

Seoul, South Korea

1 Oct 1988

4 x 800 m relay

7:50.17 USSR (Nadezhda Olizarenko, Lyubov Gurina, Lyudmila Borisova, Irina Podyalovskaya)

Moscow, Russia

5 Aug 1984

most World Cham pi.o nship long jump· wins Three athletes have won the World Championships twice: Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) i n 1 987 and 1 991; Fiona May (Italy) i n 1 995 and 2001; and Brittney Reese (USA), above, i n 2009 and 201 1 . Reese also has two World Indoor Championship golds, won i n Doha, Qatar, in 201 0 a n d Istanbul, Turkey, i n 2012.

Outdoor field events EVENT

RECORD

NAME & NATIONALITY

LOCATION

DATE

High jump

2.09 m (6 ft 10.28 in)

Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria)

Rome, Italy

30 Aug 1987

Pole vault

5.06 m (16 ft 7.21 in)

Yelena lsinbayeva (Russia)

Zurich, Switzerland

28 Aug 2009

WORLD CUP

Long jump

7.52 m (24 ft 8.06 in)

Galina Chistyakova (USSR)

St Petersburg, Russia

11 Jun 1988

Most points scored

Triple jump

15.50 m (50 ft 10.23 in)

lnessa Kravets (Ukraine)

Gothenburg, Sweden

10 Aug 1995

M a rita Koch (East Germany) was representing Europe when she scored 46 points i n the 200 m and 400 m between 1979 and 1985. In each World Cup, at least eight teams took part - five continental and three national (occasionally the host nation would also compete, making it nine entrants). The event was renamed the Continental Cup in 2010 and limited to four teams: Africa, the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe. The most points scored in a single event is 33, by M a ria Mutola (Mozambique) i n the 8 0 0 m between 1 9 9 2 and 2002. The only person to have scored more is Javier

Shot

22.63 m (74 ft 2.94 in)

Natalya Lisovskaya (USSR)

Moscow, Russia

7 Jun 1 987

Discus

76.80 m (252 ft)

Gabriele Reinsch (GDR)

Neub�andenburg, Germany

9 Jul 1988

Hammer

79.42 m (260 ft 6.76 in)

Betty Heidler (Germany)

Halle, Germany

25 May 2011

Javelin

72.28 m (253 ft 6 in)

Barbera !>potakova (Czech Republic)

Stuttgart, Germany

13 Sep 2008

Heptathlon

7,291 points

Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)

Seoul, South Korea

24 Sep 1988

Decathlon

8,358 points

Austra Skujyteite (uthuania)

Columbia, USA

15 Apr 2005

Statistics correct os of 30 March 2072

Sotomayor (Cuba), with 35 points in the men's high jump between 1985 and 1998.

Most wins by a team The most World Cup wins by a female team stands at four, by the East Germans in consecutive World Cups held in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1989.

Greatest span of appearances The longest time between first and final appearances in World Cup competitions is 15 years, by Tessa Sanderson ( U K), representing Europe in the javelin between 1977 and 1992. Sanderson has the g reatest span for any athlete, beating the men's record of 14 years held by pole-vaulter Okkert Brits (South Africa).

run annual marathon. It was first held on 19 April 1897 over 39 km (24 miles 1,232 yards), rather than today's official distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). Although he had run on a shortened course, the 1897winner, John J McDermott (USA), recorded a time of 2 hr 55 min 1 0 sec, over 50 minutes short of today's world record (see left)!

Most marathons in a calendar year (male)

Fastest marathon (male)

R Laurence Macon (USA) completed 113 marathons from 1 January to 31 December 2011, while Yolanda Holder (USA) has the record for the most marathons run in a calendar year (female), with 106 between 1 January and 31 December 2010. Holder, nicknamed "Walking Diva", estimated her attempt cost $25,000 (£16,000) in travel, accommodation and entry fees.

On 25 September 2011, Patrick Makau (Kenya) ran the 38th Berlin Marathon, Germany, i n 2 h r 3 m i n 38 sec. Previous record-holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) was also in the race, but Makau left him behind shortly after the halfway point before shattering his record by 21 seconds. In doing so, he also ran the fastest 30 km (road) i n 1 h r 27 min 38 sec.

\ \

Most marathons run on consecutive days (male) Akinori Kusuda (Japan) ran 52 marathons on 52 days in Besshonuma Park, Saitama, Japan, from 30 January to 22 March 2009. And when Cristina Berra (Italy) completed 13 marathons between

16-28 February 2010, a l l run in Ruffini Park, Turin, Italy, she achieved the record for the most marathons run on consecutive days (female).

2012 U I RG i n LOnDOn m A RATHO n : n EW WORLD RECORDS

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While marathon running is a serious busi ness for elite athletes, such as those featured above, for others it is a great excuse to have some fu n on the run - and where better to have it than at the world's premier marathon event: the London Marathon? -

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recorded the fastest time of 3 hr 36 min 10 sec in 2007. Cathrine Due (Denmark) is the fastest woman, with a time of 5 hr 37 min 14 sec in 2008.

Lowest marathon The finish of the Dead Sea Marathon, held every April, is located 400 m {1,312 ft) below sea level at Amman, Jordan.

Most consecutive days running an ultramarathon

Most finishers in a marathon

Most northerly marathon

A total of 47,323 runners out of 47,763 starters finished the New York Marathon, New York, USA, on 6 November 2011.

The North Pole Marathon has been held annually since 2003, on a course certified by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. Thomas Maguire (Ireland)

Most money raised by a marathon runner

Enzo Caporaso (Italy) ran seven ultramarathons in seven consecutive days from 13 to 19 June 2010. All the races started in Turin, Italy, and covered 100 km (62.14 miles). Caporaso ran the first in 11 hr 28 min 43 sec, but slowed to 19 hr 23 min 11 sec by his last.

At the London Marathon on 17 April 2011, Steve Chalke (UK) raised £ 2,330,159.38 ($3,795,581 .14) for Oasis U K, a charity that helps vulnerable young people.

Most runners linked to complete a marathon

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The Majors consist of the annual marathons i n London (U K), New York, Boston, Chicago (all USA) and Berlin (Germany) plus the Olympic and the World Championship marathons. G rete Waitz (Norway) won 12 Majors between 1978 and 1 987, com prising n i ne in New York, two in London and one World Championship marathon. Bill Rodgers has the most wins (male), with eight from 1975 to 1980, comprising four in Boston and four i n New York.

Youngest runner to complete 100 marathons (female)

Organized by Robin Gohsman (USA), 62 runners, linked by ropes, finished the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on 2 October 2011.

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Most participants in a Furnace Creek 508 The Furnace Creek 508 race i n California, USA, attracted 217 participants on 8-10 October 2011. Billing itself as "The toughest 48 hours in sport", the race is 817.5 km (508 miles) long, from Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles) to Twentynine Palms via the M ojave Desert, Death Valley and 10 mountain passes.

Most Tour de France wins (Tour first held in

1903; yellow jersey, for overall winner, first formally awarded in 1919)

Most Tour de France green jerseys (best

sprinter, first awarded in 1953)

Fastest 3 km, unpa standing start (female)

Most Velo d'Or awards Awarded annually since 1992 by Velo Magazine (France) to the best rider of the year, the Yelo d'Or (Golden Bicycle) is widely regarded as the most prestigious accolade in cycle racing. Lance Armstrong (USA) won five Yelo d'Or awards in 1999-2001 and 2003-04.

Sarah H ammer (USA) cycled the 3 km u npaced from a standing start in 3 m i n 22. 269 sec at the Pan American Chan; pionships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on 11 May 2010.

Most Tour de France red polka-dot jerseys

(King of the Mountains, first awarded in 1933)

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Greatest distance cycled in 48 hours on a mountain bike

Fastest women's team 3 km, standing start On 5 April 2012, Laura Trott, Danielle King and Joanna Rowsell completed the 3 km team pursuit in 3 min 1 5.720 sec to take gold for G B at t h e World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Fastest men's team 750 m, unpaced standing start Rene Enders, Maximillian Levy and Stefan Nimke (all Germany) cycled the three-lap 750 m track in 42.914 seconds at Cali, Colombia, on 1 December 2011.

Dave Buchanan (UK) cycled 571 km (354.8 miles) on an off-road trail between Cardiff and Caernarfon in Wales, UK, from 13 to 1 5 May 2011.

Fastest time to cycle 10,000 km Guus Moonen (Netherlands) cycled 10,000 km (6,213 miles) in 22 days 15 hr 34 min 9 sec around three circuits of the village of Oisterwijk, Netherlands, from 5 to 28 June 2010.

Fastest 500 m , u npaced flying start (female) Olga Streltsova (Russia) completed the 500 m unpaced flying start in 29.481 seconds

G reatest distance cycled in a year Thomas Godwin (UK) cycled 120,805 km (75,065 miles) in 1939, an average of 330.97 km (205.65 miles) per day. He then went on to clock up a total

of 160,934 km (100,000 m i les) in the 500 days to 14 May 1940. H is feat was completed on a four-gear steel bike weighing in excess of 13.5 kg (30 lb).

Longest static cycling marathon Patrizio Sciroli (Italy) cycled for an epic 224 hr 24 min 24 sec from 6 to 15 May 2011 on a static bike in Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy. I n order to achieve the record, Patrizio had to maintain a speed of at least 20 km/h (12 mi/h).

this race, b u t he returned to cycling in 2009 and finished third in the Tour that year.

TOU R DE FRAnCE

Longest solo escape

Fastest average speed Lance Armstrong (USA) finished first in the 2005 Tour with an average speed of 41.654 km/h (25.882 mi/h). He finished the 3,607-km long (2,241-mile) Tour in 86 hr 15 min 2 sec. Armstrong announced his retirement after

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Breaking away from the peloton (field) is risky, as you have no chance of slipstreaming (or "drafting") other riders. The longest solo escape was 253 km (157.2 miles) by

Fastest women's tea m sprint (500 m)

On 4 April 2012 at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia, Germany's M i riam Welte and Kristina Vogel clocked a time of 32.549 seconds to beat Australians Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch i n the final of th e World Championship women's team sprint. Welte and Vogel had already set a world record earlier in the day of 32.630 seconds i n qualifying against Lithuania. I n the women's team sprint, the two riders race for two laps - one rider leads off while the other follows, centimetres behind, in her slipstream. On the second lap, the second rider sprints to the finish by herself.

Albert Bourlon (France) in 1947 to win the 14th stage between Carcassonne and Luchon.

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Largest victory margin Fausto Coppi (Italy) finished 28 min 27 sec in front of Stan Ockers (Belgium) in 1952.

Youngest winner Henri Cornet (France) was 19 years 350 days when he won the second ever Tour, in 1904. Cornet had actually finished the race in 5th position, but was awarded the victory after the first four riders - Maurice Garin, Lucien Pothier, Cesar Garin, and Hippolyte Aucouturier (all

France) - were disqualified. In this controversial tour, riders were attacked to stop them, and nails were thrown over the road to cause punctures. Riders were also alleged to have used cars for lifts.

Oldest winner Firmin Lambot (Belgium) won the Tou r de France aged 36 years 4 months in 1922.

Longest Tour de France Today, the Tour de France covers around 3,200 km (2,000 miles). but in 1926 the race totalled 5,745 km (3,569.77 m iles) - farther than the distance between Paris and Moscow and back again. The race was won by Lucien Buysse (Belgium).

Most Tours completed Hendrik "Joop" Zoetemelk (Netherlands) finished 16 Tours i n 1970-73 and 1975-86. Over the 16 races, Joop recorded one Tour win, in 1980, and six second-place finishes. In 1985, aged 38, he also won the World Road Championship.

BOBSLEIGH Most Olympic golds Three competitors have won three Olympic bobsleigh golds. Meinhard Nehmer and Bernhard Germeshausen (both GDR, now Germany) won theirs in the 1976 two-man and the 1976 and 1980 four- man races, while Andre Lange, also of Germany, won gold in the 2006 two-man and the 2002 and 2006 four-man races.

SKI I n G Fastest speed Simone Origone (Italy) skied at a speed of 252.40 km/h (156.83 mi/h) at Les Arcs, France, on 20 April 2006. The fastest speed by a female skier is 242.59 km/h (150.73 mi/h), by Sanna Tidstrand (Sweden), also at Les Arcs, on 20 April 2006.

Youngest Alpine skier to win Olympic gold On 16 February 1992, Kjetil Andre Aamodt (Norway) won the first of his four golds in Albertville, France, aged 20 years 167 days. Ktejil is also the oldest Alpine skier to win Olympic gold . He won his fourth gold at the super giant slalom in Turin, Italy, on 18 February 2006, aged 34 years 169 days.

Longest race The Vasa lop pet Nordic ski race is 90 km (56 miles) long and is held annually every March in north-west Dalarna, Sweden. The fastest finish time is 3 h r 38 min 41 sec by Jbrgen Brink (Sweden) i n 2012. By contrast, the first win ner i n 1922, Ernst Alm (Sweden), took 7 hr 32 min 49 sec!

Longest downhill race The annual "Schlag das ASSinger", organized by the municipality of Nassfeld Hermagor (Austria), is 25.6 km (15.91 miles) long. The race starts at Gartenkofel and finishes at Trbpolach.

Longest marathon ski The longest time spent skiing non-stop is 202 hr 1 min by Nick Willey (Australia) at Thredbo, a ski resort in New South Wales, Australia, on 2-10 September 2005.

Oldest Olympic champion Jay O'Brien (USA) was 47 years 357 days old when he won the gold medal with the four-man bobsleigh team during the 1932 Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid in New York, USA.

LUGE Most doubles World Cup wins The luge World Cup has been held annually since 1977 and H ansjbrg Raffl and Norbert Huber (both Italy) have won the doubles at the event eight times, from 1983 to 1993. I n the luge, competitors ride feet-first and face-up on the sled.

Most women's World Cup wins The most overall wins of the women's luge World Cup is five, by Silke Kraushaar Pielach (Germany) between 1998 and 2007.

Largest triathlon race The most participants i n a single triathlon race of international distance was 4,546 at the Nation's Triathlon in Washington, DC, USA, on 1 2 September 2010. I nternational, or Olympic, distance triathlons consist of a 1. 5-km (0.93-mile) swim, 40-km (24.85-mile) bicycle ride, and 10-km (6.21-mile) run. The event raised m?re than $3 million (£1.95 million) for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society.

SKELETOn Fastest speed In the skeleton, the racer rides head-first, face-down on the sled. Alexander Tretyakov (Russia) and Sandra Stielicke (Germany) both hit speeds of 146.4 km/h (90.96 mi/h) in the Winter Olympics at Whistler in British Columbia, Canada, on 19 February 2010. On the same day, the fastest speed for an individual female on a bobsleigh skeleton was recorded by Marion Trott (Germany), who reached 144.5 km/h (89.78 mi/h).

Oldest competitor at the Winter Olympics James Coates (GB) competed in the skeleton at the 1948 Olympics in St Moritz, Switzerland, aged 53 years 328 days. Coates finished seventh in the final, 5.4 seconds behind the winner.

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SPEED SKATinG Fastest short-track 5,000-m relay (men) Jon Eley, Richard Shoebridge, Paul Stanley and Jack Whelbourne (GB) completed the 5,000-m relay in 6 min 37.877 sec at the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Dresden, Germany, on 20 February 2011. The short track event is lll m, compared with the 400-m long track.

Most Olympic golds (men) Two men have won five gold medals at speed skating: Clas Thunberg (Finland) in 1924 and 1928; and Eric Arthur Heiden (USA) at one Games at Lake Placid in New York, USA, in 1980.

STA I R CLi mBinG Most E mpire State Run-Up wins (men) The Empire State Building Run-Up is a foot race up 1,576 steps from ground level to the 86th-floor observation deck. It has been held annually since 1978 and the most wins is seven, by Thomas Dold (Germany), consecutively from 2006 to 2012. Cyclist Paul Crake (Australia) has

picks up the most points from three regattas. Germany has won the Cup 10 times, between 1998 and 2011. Great Britain has won it four times, consecutively from 2007 to 2010. Switzerland won the inaugural competition.

Most Olympic golds One man and two women have five rowing golds. Steven Red grave (G B) won golds at consecutive Olympics from 1984 to 2000. Elisa beta Lipa ( RorT'!ania) won golds in 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004; and Georgeta Damian ( Romania) won two in 2000, two in 2004 and one in 2008.

Fastest 40,075 km (Equator) indoor row David Holby (U K) rowed 40,075 km ( 24,901 miles) - the

the fastest time for the Run Up - 9 min 33 sec achieved in 2003. Crake is the only man to do it under 10 minutes. The last four of his five wins from 1999 to 2003 were all under 10 minutes.

Most Empire State Run-Up wins (female) Cindy Moll-Harris ( USA) has

won the women's Run-Up four times, in 1998, 2000-01 and 2003. I n 2006, Andrea Mayr (Austria) set the fastest female time for the Run-Up completing in 11 min 23 sec.

ROW i n G Most World Coach of the Year Awards Richard Tonks ( New Zealand) ,

in 2005 and 2010, and Gianni Postiglione (Greece) in 2006 and 2011, have both won the World Rowing Coach of the Year Award twice.

Most World Rowing Cup wins The World Rowing Cup has been held annually since 1997 and is won by the country that

equivalent of the length of the Equator - in 2 years 6 months 20 days at The Malls shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, U K . H olby, who became known as "Dave the Rower" to the shoppers, rowed on average 300.34 km (186.62 miles) a week from May 2008 to December 2010.

Longest open-sea race The Indian Rowing Race covers 3,140 nautical miles (5,820 km; 3,615 miles) from Geraldton, Western Australia, to Port Louis, Mauritius. It has been held twice, in 2009 and 2011.

most Classic luge World Cup wins Road luge involves riding a wheeled board down an inclined paved road or course. The riders negotiate bends by leaning, and brake by using their feet on the road. Between 2007 and 2011, M i chael Serek (Austria) won five I nternational G ravity Sports Association (IGSA) Classic

Fa bulous Phelps · Michael Phelps (USA) is the

most successful swimmer of all time. He took up the sport aged seven and qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics at 15, where he finished fifth in the final of the 200 m butterfly. • At the 2004 Athens Olympics, while still a teenager, he won eight medals - six gold and two bronze - equalling the record for most medals won at a single Olympics.

•

Michael won eight medals

s w 1 m m 1 nG Fastest 200 m short course backstroke (female) Melissa "Missy" Franklin

(USA) - the 2011 FINA female

Swimmer of the Year - swam the short-course 200 m backstroke at the 2011 World Cup in Berlin, Germany, on 22 October in a time of 2 min 0.03 sec. Six weeks later, on 16 December, the 16-year-old and her Team USA colleagues swam the fastest 4 x 100 m short-course medley relay at the Duel in the Pool in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, with a time of 3 min 45.56 sec.

again at the 2008 Olympics this time, though, they were all gold, so he broke the record for the most golds at a single Olympics. His tally comprised five individual records and three as part of relay teams. He has won the most World Championships swimming golds - one in 2001, four in 2003, five in 2005, seven in 2007, five in 2009, and four in 2011 - a total of 26. •

He also holds the record for the most World Swimmer of the Year Awards, with six, won in 2003-04 and 2006-09. •

Fastest 200 m long course medley (male) Ryan Lochte (USA) swam the

200 m long-course medley in 1 min 54.00 sec in Shanghai, China, on 28 J u ly 2011.

returning to fight three times in 2010 and 2011, with all fights sanctioned by the European Boxing Federation.

Oldest winner of a major world championship At 46 years 126 days, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins (USA) defeated Jean Pascal (Canada, b. Haiti) in Montreal, Canada, on 21 May 2011 to capture the WBC, l BO and The Ring light heavyweight belts.

Heaviest heavyweight world champion

Heauiest ouer-105 kg snatch (male)

Behdad Salimikordasiabi (Iran) lifted 214 kg in the men's over-105 kg snatch category at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships in Paris, France, on 1 3 November. H e broke the previous record of 213 kg, lifted by Salimikordasiabi's fellow Iranian and two time Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh in 2003.

BOXInG Longest reigning world champion Joe Louis (USA) was undefeated heavyweight champion for 11 years 252 days, from 22 June 1937 when he beat Jim Braddock (USA) to when he retired on 1 March 1949. Floyd Mayweather, Jr (USA) first became world champion on 3 October 1998 and, u p to his win against Miguel Cotto (Puerto R ico) on 5 May 2012, was undefeated for 13 years 214 days. However. Floyd retired for a period during that time.

Most professional bouts (female) Stephanie M Dobbs (USA) fought 62 professional bouts between her first fight on 2 March 2002 and 5 June 2010.

Oldest active boxer Steve Ward (UK) was aged 55 years 219 days at the time of his most recent bout on 19 March 2011 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK. Ward boxed as an amateur from the age of 11 to 21 before embarking on a 10-year professional career. He retired for 23 years from 1987 to 2010, before

Nikolay Valuev (Russia) weighed in at a massive 148.7 kg (328 lb) for his WBA heavyweight title fight with Monte Barrett (USA) at Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois, USA, on 7 October 2007. Valuev won the bout via technical knockout in round 11.

Most Fighter of the Year Awards M uhammad Ali (USA) won five Fighter of the Year Awards, given by The Ring magazine, in 1963. 1972, 1974-75 and 1978.

Most Trainer of the Year Awards Freddie Roach (USA) has won five Trainer of the Year Awards, in 2003, 2006 and 2008-10.

W RESTLi nG Most men's Freestyle Wrestling World Championships Two competitors have won the men's Freestyle Wrestling World Championships seven times: Aleksandr Medved

Hea uiest 63 kg snatch (female)

Svetlana Tsarukaeva (Russia) lifted 117 kg in the 63 kg weight category of the snatch competition at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships in Paris, France, on 8 November 201 1 . l;lere, Svetlana i s shown at the 2011 World Championships in the clean and jerk, where the bar is first lifted to the collar bone. In the snatch, the bar is lifted in one smooth, continuous movement.

(Belarus) in the 97 kg, over-97 kg and over-100 kg classes between 1962 and 1971; and Valentin Jordanov (Bulgaria) in the 52 kg class between 1983 and 1995.

Most Olympic golds Five wrestlers have won three Olympic titles: Carl Westergren (Sweden) in 1920, 1924 and 1932; lvar Johansson (Sweden) in 1932 (two) and 1936; Aleksandr Medved (Belarus) in 1964, 1968 and 1972; Aleksandr Karelin (Russia) in 1988, 1992 and 1996; and Buvaysar Saytiev (Russia) in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

longest women's w restling winning streak Saari Yoshida (Japan) won 119 consecutive matches between 2002 and 2008. Yoshida eventually lost her unbeaten record i n a match against Marcie Van Dusen (USA) in a Team World Cup event i n Beijing, China, on 20 January 2008. Above, Saari is shown competing against Tanya Verbeek (Canada) on her way to gold in the 55 kg weight class at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Heaviest wrestler

sumo Most bouts won in a calendar year In 2009, Yokozuna Hakuh6 Sh6 (Mongolia, birth name Monkhbatyn Davaajargal) won 86 out of the 90 regulation bouts that a top rikishi (sumo wrestler) fights annually.

Samoan-American Saleva'a Fuauli Atisano'e (aka Konishiki), weighed in at 267 kg (589 lb) at Tokyo's Ry6goku Kokugikan on 3 January 1994. He put his massive weight down to eating a high-protein stew called chankonabe.

Most top-division wins The most makuuchi, or top division, wins in sumo wrestling by a rikishi is 815, by Kai6 Hiroyuki (Japan, birth name Hiroyuki Koga) from 1993 to 2010. There are 42 wrestlers in the makuuchi, ordered into five ranks.

TA EKWOnDO Most World Championship finweight titles won · Yeon-Ho

Choi (South Korea) has won four finweight World Championship gold medals, in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009.

J U DO Most women's World Championships medals Ingrid Bergh mans (Belgium) won 11 medals - comprising six gold, four silver and one bronze - at the World Championships between 1980 and 1989.

Youngest female judo world champion Ryoko Tani (nee Tamura, Japan) was 18 years 27 days when she won the under-48 kg title at the World Championships in Hamilton, Canada, in 1993.

I n May 2010, Manny was elected congressman for Sarangani on the Philippine island of Mindanao. He is the first professional boxer to hold national public office while active in the ring. •

most boxing world titles in different weig ht diuisions Manny Pacq uiao (Philippines) won h i s eighth world title a t different weights when he defeated Antonio Margarita (USA) to win the WBC super welterweight title on 13 November 2010. He has also held sanctioned belts in the WBC flyweight, super featherweight (which he won against Mexico's Juan Man uel M a rquez, left) and lightweight divisions, plus The Ring featherweight, I BF super bantamweight, l BO and The Ring light welterweight, and WBO welterweight.

• Manny has starred in films, including the boxing superhero movie Wapakman (2009), an entry in the Metro Manila Film Festival.

Manny is also a keen singer. His albums include Pac-Man Punch (2007) for MCA Records, and his 2011 duet with singer-songwriter Dan Hill, "Sometimes When We Touch", reached No.19 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary Top 20 list. •

Farthest golf shot Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin (Russia), assisted by caddy Commander M ichael Lopez-Alegria (USA), teed off during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on 23 February 2006. NASA estimated the ball would orbit for three days and travel 2.02 million km (1.26 million miles) before burning up in the atmosphere. The longest golf shot at an altitude below 1,000 m is 373.07 m (408 yd). by Karl Woodward (UK) at Golf del Sur, Tenerife, Spain, on 30 June 1999.

H ighest-altitude golf course The Yak golf course, part of an Indian Army base, is 3,970 m {13,025 It) above sea level in Kupup, East Sikkim, India. Natural ponds and mountain streams provide hazards.

Largest golf range The SKY72 Golf Club Dream Golf Range in Jung-gu, lncheon, South Korea, has 300 individual bays.

Largest golf facility Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, has 12 fully operational l8-hole courses.

Largest bunker The Hell's Half Acre bunker on the 535-m (585-yd) seventh hole of the Pine Valley course. Clementon, New Jersey, USA, starts 265 m (280 yd) from the tee and extends another 137 m (150 yd) up the fairway.

Longest hole The seventh hole {par 7) of the Satsuki golf course in Sa no, Japan, measures 881 m (964 yd).

Longest holed putt in a top-flight tournament Jack Nicklaus (USA). in the 1964 Tou rnament of Champions, and Nick Price (Zimbabwe) in the 1992 United States PGA, both sank putts of 33.5 m (110 It). Bob Cook (USA) holed a putt measured at 42.74 m (140 It 2.75 in) on the 18th at St Andrews. Scotland, in the International Fourball Pro Am Tournament on 1 October 1976.

Lowest score to pa r after 72 holes in a top-flight tournament Chapchai Nirat (Thailand) hit 32 under par at the 2009 SAIL Open (on the Asian Tour) at the Classic Golf Resort, Gurgaon. India, on 21 March 2009.

Most consecutive birdies in a PGA Tour event Mark Calcavecchia (USA) hit nine birdies in the third round of the Canadian Open at Oakville in Ontario, Canada, o 25 July 2009. All nine of Calcavecchia's putts were within 4.72 m (15 It) of the hole. Despite his amazing start, he ended the third round with a score of 71 (one under par).

Longest individual unbeaten streak in the Ryder Cup Lee Westwood (UK) from 2002 to 2008, and Arnold Palmer (USA) from 1965 to 1971 , both went 12 matches unbeaten in the Ryder Cup. Westwood lost

two matches at the end of the 2008 Ryder Cup, but stormed back in the 2010 event, winning three matches and halving one, to help Europe regain the trophy.

Most consecutive Major wins Tiger Woods (USA) claimed four consecutive Major titles in 2000-01, winning the US Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship in 2000 and the US Masters in 2001. This achievement has been dubbed the "Tiger Slam" - a true Grand Slam involves winning all the Majors in one calendar year.

Highest prize money for a golf tournament The Players Championshi p, contested at Sawgrass, Florida,

iii ��ESiiiii.,Lowest total score in the US Open Rory Mcilroy (UK) won the U S Open a t Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, M a ryland, USA, on 1 6-1 9 June 2011 with a score of only 268 (65-66-68-69). This score, 16 under par, was also the lowest score to par in a US Open. The win was Rory's first Major and, at the age of 22 years 46 days, he became the youngest US Open champion since Bobby Jones (USA) i n 1923 and the youngest Major winner since Tiger Woods (USA) won the US Masters in 1997.

FASTEST GOLF DRI U E: 328 Km/H (204 m i/H) BY J ASOn ZUBACK (CA n ADA) Most wins, h ighest earnings, lowest rounds 1 8 Jack Nicklaus (USA), 1962-86

Most Majors British Open, US Masters,

14 Tiger Woods (USA), 1997-2008

US Open and US PGA

11 Walter Hagen (USA), 1914-29

Championship

Highest career earnings - US Tour

$95,516,542 Tiger Woods (USA) $65,944,204 Vijay Singh (Fiji) $65,286,308 Phil Mickelson (USA)

Highest career earnings - European Tour

€26,985,651 Lee Westwood (UK) €26,472,392 Ernie Els (South Africa) €24,387,862 Colin Montgomerie (UK)

Lowest rounds - major tours only

58 (-12) Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) The Crowns tournament, 2010, Japan Golf Tour 59 (-13) Al Geiberger (USA) Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, 1977, US PGA Tour 59 (-13) Chip Beck (USA) Las Vegas Invitational, 1991, US PGA Tour

Statistics correct as of 19 March 2012

USA, has a total prize pool of $9,500,000 (£5,906,672), with $1,710,000 (£1,063 , 201) going to the winner. K J Choi (South Korea) won the event in 2011.

31 December 2010. Lewis played 611 full rounds of golf, plus an additional two holes, averaging more than 30 holes played per day!

Highest season's earnings on the Ladies' European Tour

Most British Opens hosted

Laura Davies (England) earned 471,727 euros (£354,644; $698,084) on the 2006 European Tour.

Highest season's earnings on the Ladies' US Tour I n 2007, Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) earned $4,364,994 (£3,198,973) on the US Ladies' PGA Tour.

Most consecutive . US Opens started Jack Nicklaus (USA) started all 44 US Opens from 1957 to 2000.

Most holes of golf played in one year Richard Lewis (USA) played 11,000 hobes, all at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in I rving, Texas. USA, from 1 January to

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews established in Fife, Scotland, UK, in 1754 and patronized by King William IV in 1834 - has hosted the Open golf championships a record 28 times between 1873 and 2010.

Most wins of the women's British Open Karrie Webb (Australia) and Sherri Steinhauer (USA) have both won the British Open a record three times - Webb in 1995, 1997 and 2002; Steinhauer in 1998, 1999 and 2006.

You ngest winner on the European Tour Youngest female to play in the Curtis Cup Michelle Wie (USA) was aged 14 years 244 days when she competed in the Curtis · Cup at Formby Golf Club in Merseyside, UK, on 11 -12 June 2004. The Curtis Cup is the best-known team trophy for women amateur golfers - it has been played between the USA and Great Britain & I reland since 1932.

At the age of 17 years 188 days, Matteo M anassero (Italy) won his first European Tou r event - the Castello Masters at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo in Costa del Azahar, Spain - on 24 October 2010. H e soon proved this victory was not a fluke. On 17 April 2011, he won his second European Tou r event - the Malaysian Open at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club - aged 17 years 363 days, to become the only golfer to win two European Tou r events before turning 18.

Hig hest career earnings on the Asia n Tour Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand ) earned $4,472,290 (£2.7 million) on_ golf's Asian Tou r from 1999 to 19 March 201�. Jaidee has also recorded the most event wins on the Asian Tour with 13, the first being the Kolon Korea Open i n 2000.

265

First tennis player to achieve the "golden" Grand Slam In 1988, Steffi Graf (Germany) won the four G rand Slams - the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open - as well as the Olympic gold medal to complete the "golden" Grand Slam. She is the only person to have achieved this feat in singles in a calendar year. Two other players - Andre Agassi (USA) and Rafael Nadal (Spain) - have completed a "golden" Grand Slam over their careers.

Fastest serve lvo Karlovic (Croatia), who stands 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) tall, served a ball at 251 km/h (156 mi/h) in a doubles match against Germany in the Davis Cup on 5 March 2011. The fastest serve by a woman is 209 km/h (130 mi/h), by Brenda Schultz McCarthy (Netherlands) during the first round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on 15 July 2006. This was matched by Venus Williams (USA) at the 2008 final of the Zurich Open.

Ten n i s Most consecutive weeks at No.1 (male) Roger Federer (Switzerland) spent 231 weeks at the top of the singles ran kings, from 2 February 2004 to 7 July 2008. He lost the top spot to Rafael Nadal (Spain) after falling to the Spaniard

i n a five-set Wimbledon final. The previous best was 160 weeks by J im my Connors (USA), from 29 July 1974 to 22 August 1977.

most men's doubles wins at the badminton UJorld Championships The most wins of the men's doubles event by the same pair i s four, by Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng (Ch i na) i n 2006 and 2009-1 1 . Their victory in the 2011 final came in straight sets against Ko Sung-Hyun and Yoo Yeon-Seong (both South Korea).

between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs (both USA), which drew 30,472 people to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, USA, on 20 September 1973.

Highest attendance

Largest Grand Slam fine

A crowd of 35,681 saw Kim Clijsters (Belgium) defeat Serena Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-2 in Brussels, Belgium, on 8 July 2010 in a n exhibition match. The figure beat the " Battle of the Sexes" match

Serena Williams (USA) was fined $82,500 (£53,000) for verbal abuse during the 2009 US Open semi-final at Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, on 12 September 2009. Williams's outburst occurred o n match point against her, after she was called for a foot-fault. She was given a one-point penalty, which meant her opponent, Kim Clijsters, was awarded the match.

Longest professional match The 2010 first-round match at Wimbledon between John Isner (USA) and Nicolas Mahut (France) lasted 11 hr 5 min and stretched over three days. After playing 183 games, Isner finally defeated Mahut 70-68 in the final set. Ironically, the pair were drawn against each other at the 2011 Wimbledon - this time, Isner won in straight sets in only 34 games.

Longest rally Identical twins Ettore and Angelo A Rossetti (USA) played a 25,944-stroke rally at North Haven Health & Racquet in North Haven, Connecticut, USA, on 9 August 2008. The attempt lasted 1 5 hours.

longest men's tennis G rand Slam final Rafael Nadal (Spain, left) and Novak Djokovic (Serbia, right) played for 5 h r 53 min i n the Australian Open final at Melbourne, Australia, on 29 January 2012, a record for the Open era. Djokovic won the match, widely regarded

BA D m i nTon Fastest hit When testing Yonex rackets. Tan Boon Heong (Malaysia) hit a shuttlecock at 421 km/h (261.6 mi/h) at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, on 26 September 2009. The fastest hit recorded in competition is 332 km/h (206 mi/h), by Fu Haifeng (China) in the 2005 Sudirman Cup.

Longest match The men's singles final at the 1997 World Championships at Glasgow, UK, on 1 June lasted 124 minutes, with Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) overcoming Sun Jun (China) 16-17, 1 8-13, 15-10.

Tennis, squash and table tennis Tennis Most Grand Sl;;;;;singles - men

��

Roger Federer (Switzer!�)

14 Pete Sampras (USA)

!

12 Roy Emerson (Australia)

Most Grand Slam singles - women Largest stadiu ,;;capacity ATP Tour and Grand Slams

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Margaret Court (Austral�

1

22 Steffi Graf (Ger":'any) _ 19 Helen Wills Moody (USA)

f

+23�200 A�thur Ashe Stadium, New York, UsA

Most World Championship wins (men's singles)

(used for US Open)

17,500 02 Arena, London, UK (used for ATP World Tour Finals) 16,100 Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, USA (used for Indian Wells Masters)

Lin Dan (China) has won four World Championships - in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

--+---- -

Most World Championship wins (mixed doubles)

Squash Most British Opens - men

(first held in 1930)

Most British Opens - women

4_

8 Geoff Hunt (Australia)

__

I

10 ' Janet Morgan (England)

8 Susan Devoy (New Zealand)

- 8 Tlansher Khan (Pakistan)

Most World Opens - men

6 Jahangir Khan (Pakistan)



7 Hashim Khan (P��stan)

16 · Heather McKay (Australia)


Most World Opens - women

!

- 41Geoff Hu�\(Australia)

- 5 I Sarah Fitz-Ger�ld (Australia)

Most World Championship singles - men

Two mixed pairs have won the World Championships twice: Park Joo-Bong and Chung .Myung-Hee (South Korea) in 1989 and 1991, and Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir (Indonesia) in 2005 and 2007.

6 Nicol Davi
4 1 Susan Devoy (New Zealand)

----

Table Tennis

-----

10 Jahangir Khan (Pakistan)

Viktor Barna (Hungary)

(first held in 1926) Most World Championship singles - women

Most World Championship wins (women's doubles) Gao Ling and Huang Sui (China) have won the World Championships three times in 2001, 2003


Correct as of 27 March 2012

as one of the greatest finals of all time, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. Nadal had lost to Djokovic in the p revious two Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon and the US Open) and so set a n unwanted record of three for the most consecutive tennis Grand Slam final losses in the Open era. (The Open era began in 1968, when professional players were first allowed to enter Grand Slam tournaments - with the first being the French that year.)

TABLE TEnniS Longest rally Brian and Steve Seibel (USA) played a rally lasting 8 hr 15 min 1 sec at the Chris town YMCA in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on 14 August 2004. The longest rally in a competition was in a 1936 Swaythling Cup match in Prague between Alojzy "Alex" Ehrlich (Poland) and Paneth Farkas (Romania). The 2-hr 12-min rally was the first of the match.

SQUASH Most World Championship wins (team , women) The women's title has been won nine times by Australia, in 1981, 1983, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2010.

Longest recorded competitive match Jahangir Khan (Pakistan) took 2 hr 45 min to beat Gamal Awad (Egypt) 9-10, 9-5, 9-7, 9-2 in the final of the Patrick International Festival at Chichester, West Sussex, U K, on 30 March 1983. The first game alone lasted a record 1 hr 11 min.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The tournament was carried out under standard Mongolian archery rules.

Farthest accu rate distance (men's) Under regulated FITA conditions, Peter Terry shot an arrow 200 m (656 ft 2 in), at the Kalamunda Governor Stirling Archers club in Perth, Western Australia, on 15 December 2005. Terry's feathered feat was accomplished using a compound bow, and he hit two out of six on a FITA 122-cm (48-in) target.

Highest score, indoor (18-m) On 6 March 2011, compound archer Christopher Perkins (Canada) broke the junior and senior indoor 18-m archery records with a score of 599 at the Canadian Indoor Championships.

DARTS Most 180s in a Premier League Darts match

A RCHERY Highest FITA 24-hour score by a team of two Sergeants Martin Phair and Jamie Fowler (both UK) scored 37,359 points shooting FITA (International Archery Federation) 18-m rounds at the Royal Air Force Benson

Oxfordshire, UK, on 17-18 June 2009. Phair even managed to shoot a rare "Robin Hood" firing one arrow directly into the back of another.

Gary Anderson (UK) hit a total of 11 maximum scores of 180 while playing Simon Whitlock (Australia) on 21 April 2011. Anderson's sharp-shooting

most Weber Cup appearances T h e Weber Cup is a ten p i n bowling contest played between Europe and the USA since 2000. Tim Mack has represented the USA i n 10 Weber Cups between 2000 a n d 2010 - the largest number of a p pearances. ' Mack won the Cu p six times between 2000 and 2008, the most wins of the Weber Cup by an individual. The most team wins of the Weber Cup is seven, by the USA, i n 2000-02, 2006-08 and 201 1 .

dartsmanship took place during a Premier League Darts match at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK.

Longest singles marathon Ryne Du Shane and Dylan Smith (both USA) played a marathon darts game lasting 41 hours at the I tty Bitty Bar

Largest archery tournament On 4 August 2010, 1,024 participants took part in an archery contest organized by the People's Government of Xiwuzhumuqin County, in Balaga'ergaole,

most archery wins in men's recurue Brady Ellison (USA) has won two men's titles using a recurve bow in the FITA World Cup, in 2010 and 2011. The other category i n the World Cup, which began i n 2006, features t h e compound bow, and the record for most wins in the men's compound World Cup is also two, by Sergio Pag n i (Italy) i n 2009 and 2010.

in Holland, Michigan, USA, from 16 to 18 May 2011. The duo played a variant of darts called "Cricket", with Du Shane winning 105 to 66.

Fewest darts to score 1 ,000,001 On 21-23 August 2010, a team of eight men - Mickey Mansell, Mickey Taggart, Felix McBrearty, Daryl Gurney, Campbell Jackson, Ronan McMahon, Eamonn McGovern and Thomas Stoga (all UK) - threw 35,698 darts i n more than 46 hours to reach a score of 1 .000,001 at The Weigh Inn bar i n Omagh, County Tyrone, UK.

Martin Cotter, Damian O'Driscoll, Steven Coveney, John O'Shea, Craig Sproat, Jason Kavanagh, Kevin McDonnell and James Corcoran (all ireland) of the Cork Darts Organisation scored 35,087 In an hour at St Vincent's GAA Club i n County Cork, Ireland, on 20 March 2010.

POOL

record achieved at the Stateside sports bar in Consett, County Durham, U K , from 31 July to 3 August 2011.

Most wins of the World Cup of Pool The World Cup of Pool - a nine-ball competition for doubles - has been won twice by two countries. The Philippines, represented by Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, took the honours in 2006 and 2009. Chi na Li Hewen and Fu Jianbo triumphed in 2007 and 2010.

Youngest pool world champion Wu Chia-Ching (Chinese Taipei, b. 9 February 1989) won the pool world championships at the age of 1 6 years 121 days old. The championship was staged at Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, on 1 0 June 2005.

The eight-ball division of the 2010 American Poolplayers Association National Team Championships recorded the largest ever pool contest when 5,361 participants played in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, from 1 9 to 28 August 2010.

Longest singles marathon Colin Pilcher and Marc Murray (both UK) cued up for 72 h r 2 min - a charity marathon

Most UK Snooker Championships


Most Men's World Darts Championships (British Darts

Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation)

Most Women's World Darts Championships (British

Darts Organisation, first held in 2001)

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set by Ding Junhui (China}, aged 19 years 288 days while playing at the Masters tournament at Wembley, UK, on 14 January 2007.

Longest singles marathon

7 Stephen Hendry (UK) 6 Ray Reardon (UK) Steve Davis (UK) 6 Steve Davis (UK) 5 Stephen Hendry (UK)

I

4 Ronnie O'Sullivan (UK) 1 5 Phil Taylor (UK) 5 Eric Bristow (UK) Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands) 9 Trina Gulliver (UK) 2 Aloastasia Dobromyslova (Russia) 1 Francis Hoenselaar (Netherlands)

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• In competition, players usually start at 501 and must reduce their score to zero. The final dart - known as "the check-out" - must be a bull's-eye or a double.

Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon (Thailand) was 1 6 years 312 days old when he potted a maximum break at the Euro Players Tour Championship in Russelsheim, Germany, on 22 October 2010. The record for the youngest player to score a maximum score of 147 in a televised snooker match was

Snooker and darts c hampionsh ips


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Youngest professional to score a break of 147

Snooker Most WPBSA World Snooker Championships

The bull's-eye scores 50 and is placed 1. 73 m 5 ft 8 in above the floor. The outer bull scores 25.) •

· The "oche" - the line behind which players stand to throw the darts - is 2.37 m 7 ft 9.25 in from the board.

SnOOKER

Largest tournament

)

• Dartboards measure 45.7 em (18 in in diameter and are divided into 20 sections, scoring from 1 to 20. Each number has double and triple segments.

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Gerry Cunningham and Gary McDonald (both U K) set the record for the longest singles snooker marathon when they played for 50 hours at the Chatham Pool & Snooker Club i n Chatham, Kent, U K between 27 February and 1 March 2009. McDonald had only stepped in after Cunningham's original partner fell ill.

TEnPin BOWLinG

Longest marathon

Most strikes in a minute Colin Champion (USA) made eight tenpin bowling strikes in a minute at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Florida, USA, on 24 January 2011. Champion, a member

of the Webber International U n iversity bowling team, required 10 throws to complete his record attempt.

Charity fundraiser Stephen Shanabrook (USA) bowled for 134 hr 57 min (more than five days!} at Plano Super Bowl in Plano, Texas, USA, from 14 to 19 June 2010. In the course of his record tenpin session, Shanabrook completed 643 full games.

Youngest bowling world champion Paeng Nepomuceno (Philippines, b. 30 January 1957) won the 1976 Bowling World Cup in Tehran, Iran, aged 19 years 292 days. Nepomuceno - named the "International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium" - also holds the record for winning the most tenpin bowling World Cups (four times, in 1976, 1980, 1992 and 1996) and the most bowling titles in a career (124).

most snooker Premier League titles Ronnie O'Sullivan (UK) won the Snooker Premier League title on a record 10 occasions between 1997 and 201 1 . The round robin competition was originally known as the Matchroom League from its debut in 1987 to 1998. Stephen Hendry (UK) is O'Sullivan's nearest rival with six wins (1987-2004). O'Sullivan has also recorded the most competitive 147 breaks in snooker, with 11 in total. Hendry equalled his record, with a 147 against Stuart Bingham ( U K) in the first round of the 2012 World Championship.

Out-and-return distance (two straight-line legs, one turn point): 2, 247.6 km (1,396.5 miles) by Klaus Ohlmann (Germany) from Chapelco, Argentina, on 2 December 2003. Overall distance (with at least one, but not more than three, turn points): 3,009 km (1,869.7 miles) by Klaus Ohlmann (Germany) from Chapelco, Argentina, on 21 January 2003. •

•

Highest speed

Fastest s on a 70-m canopy-piloting course (female} C anopy piloting, also known as swooping, i nvolves a skydiver deployin g the parachute (canopy) at 1 , 525 m (5,000 ft), then entering a steep rotating dive, before levelling out and completing a course. On 31 July 2011, Jessica Edgeington (USA, above) flew the 70-m course in 2.301 seconds in Longmont, Colorado, USA. This equates to an average speed of 109.55 km/h (68.07 mi/h). The fastest time to complete a 70-m course by a male canopy pilot is 2 .093 seconds, by G reg Windmiller (USA) i n Johannesburg, South Africa, on 5 December 2009. This equates to an average speed of 1 20.38 km/h (74.8 mi/h).

A EROBATICS Most consecutive rolls by an aircraft Zoltan Veres (Hungary) performed a head-spinning 408 consecutive rolls i n an aeroplane during the Al Ain Aerobatic Show i n Al Ain, UAE, on 29 January 2007.

Longest inverted flight The longest flight sustained with the aircraft upside own

lasted 4 hr 38 min 10 sec and was performed by Joann Osterud (Canada), flying from Vancouver to Vanderhoof, Canada, on 24 July 1991.

G LI DinG Farthest distances Free distance (one straight-line leg): 2,192.9 km {1,362.6 miles) by Terence Detore (New Zealand) at El Calafate, Argentina, on 4 December 2004. •

www. g u i n n e s s w o r l d r e co r d s . c o m

The highest speed in a glider to set an official Federation Aeronautique lnternationale (FAI) record is 306.8 km/h (190.6 mi/h), over an out and-return course of 500 km (310 miles), by Klaus Ohlmann (Germany) on 22 December 2006 at Zapata, Argentina. He flew a Schempp-H irth Nimbus-4DM . The highest average speed achieved in a glider by a woman when setting an official FAI world record is 227.8 km/h (141 . 54 mi/h), by Ghislaine Facon (France) at Chos Malal, Argentina, on 22 November 2005.

Fastest speed (out-and-return course) On 26 December 2009, pilots Jean-Marie Clement (France) and Bruce Cooper (UK) set the world record for speed on an out-and-return course when they flew their SchemppHirth Nimbus-4DM at an average speed of 208.19 km/h (129.36 mi/h) over a distance of 1 ,000 km (620 miles). The duo began and finished their flight at Bariloche, Argentina.

• BASE jumpers perform daredevil leaps from fixed structures (rather than aircraft), gliding to earth with a parachute.

• "BASE" stands for "Buildings. Aerials, Spans and Earth". "Spans" denotes bridges; "Earth" denotes cliffs or rock faces. BASE jumpers leap from all of them, often illegally.

• Unlike parachutists. BASE jumpers do not carry a second

HA nG-GLIDinG Most consecutive loops Chad Elchin (USA) performed 95 loops consecutively at the Highland Aerosports flight park at Ridgely in Maryland, USA, on 16 July 2001. Elchin was towed to 4,846 m (15,900 It) and looped his Aeros Stealth Combat non-stop down to 213 m (700 It), at speeds of 28-128 km/h (18-80 mi/h).

Most World Championships The men's World Hang-Gliding Championships were first held in 1976. The most individual wins is three, by Tomas Suchanek (Czech Republic) in 1991, 1993 and 1995; and Manfred Ruhmer (Austria) in 1999. 2001 and 2003.

• In freefall, a BASE jumper reaches a speed of around 190 km/h (120 mi/h).

It's dangerous! A 2008 study concluded that 1 in 60 BASE jumps ends in death. •

· The most common cause of death is "offheading" - flying in an unintended direction and hitting a solid object.

The most individual wins of the women's World Hang· Gliding Championships is four, by Corinna Schwiegershausen (Germany) in 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2008. The competition was inaugurated in 1987.

miCROLIGHT Fastest speed Pavel Skarytka (Czech Republic) achieved an average speed of 194.2 km/h (120.67 mi/h) in a B-612 microlight aircraft over a 15-km (9.3-mile) course near Bubovice, Czech Republic, on 11 October 2003.

Highest altitude The highest altitude achieved in a microlight is 9,720 m {31,890 It), by Serge Zin (France) over Saint-Auban, France on 18 September 1994.

Most microlights airborne at once A group of 30 microlights completed two circuits (anti clockwise) within a 3.7-km (2.2-mile) radius above the Wrekin hill in Shropshire, UK. The event was organized on 6 May 2000 by Shropshire Microlight Flying School and Telford Business Club (both UK) to raise money for charity.

PARACHUTinG Fastest freefall style In the free fall style discipline, skydivers must compete a pre determined set of manoeuvres in the quickest time. The fastest time for the men's parachuting freefall style is 5.18 seconds by Marco Pflueger (Germany) over Eisenach, Germany, on 1 5 September 2007. The fastest women's parachuting freefall style is 6.10 seconds, by Tatiana Osipova (Russia) over Bekescsaba, Hunga ry, on 19 September 1996.

most Paragliding World Cups Competitors in t h e Paragliding World Cup must negotiate a number of different courses at various sites worldwide. Each course has set turning points and a finishing line; the winner is the paraglider who is fastest to the line. Christian Maurer (Switzerland, right) has won three Paragliding World Cups, in 2005-07.

Farthest non-stop flight by a powered parachute The official FAI record for the longest distance flown in one hop by powered parachute is 1,105 km (686 miles), by Juan Ramon Morillas Salmeron (Spain) from Jerez in Cadiz to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, Spain, on 23 April 2007.

Largest canopy formation The largest canopy formation consisted of 100 parachutes and was formed by an international team over Lake Wales in Florida, USA, on 21 November 2007.

Most tandem jumps in 24 hours On 10 July 2011, a total of 130 tandem parachute jumps took place in an event organized by Khalsa Aid and Skydive Hibaldstow (both UK) at Hibaldstow Airfield in Lincolnshire, U K . T h e record for t h e most tandem parachute jumps by an individual in 24 hours is 105 and is shared by Luther Kurtz and Angela Bishop (both USA) at Harbor Springs Airport in Harbor Springs, Michigan, USA, on 29-30 June 2010. Kurtz served as the instructor on all jumps, with Bishop (his sister) as his tandem traveller.

PA RAGLI DinG Farthest out-and-return distance The greatest out-andreturn distance achieved by a paraglider is 259.7 km (161.3 miles), by Aljaz Vatic (Slovenia) at Sorlska Planina. Slovenia, on 20 July 2006.

On 19 August 2009, Nicole Fedele (Italy) covered 164.6 km (102.2 miles) from Sorica, Slovenia, to Piombada, Italy, in a paraglider, the farthest OJit-and-return distance by a female paraglider.

Farthest flight in a tandem paraglider Richard Westgate and Phillip Bibby (both UK) flew 356.2 km (221.3 miles) without landing from Vosburg to Krompoort Farm, South Africa, on 7 December 2006.

Greatest altitude The greatest height gain in a paraglider is 4,526 m (14,849 It), by Robbie Whittall (UK) at Brandvlei, South Africa. on 6 January 1993. By way of comparison, Boeing 747s normally cruise at 10,000 m (35,000 ft).

Most loops Raul Rodriguez (Spain) carried out 108 continuous loops i n his paraglider above Passy Plaine-Joux, France, on 15 June 2006.

SKYDIU i nG Fastest speed Switzerland's Christian Labhart reached a speed of 526.93 km/h (327.41 mi/h) in Utti, Finland, at the International Speed Skydiving Association (ISSA) World Cup on 4-6 June 2010. The highest speed achieved by a woman in a speed skydiving competition is 442.73 km/h (275.09 ml/h), by Clare Murphy (UK) In Uttl, Finland. at the IS SA World Cup o n 15-17 June 2007.

(2 m iles) at an average speed of 160 lcm/h (100 mi/h). This Is the largest formation recognized by the United States Parachute Association (USPA).

Longest banzai skydive

On 2 September 2000, over

Davis, California, USA. Yasuhlro Kt.tbo (Japan) jumped from a Dt.ll lle
SKATEBO A RD Most Summer X Games medals

Most consecutive ollies

Most consecutive kickflips

The greatest number of ESPN Summer X Games skateboard medals won to date is 19, by Andy Macdonald (USA). He won his first medal in 1999.

The greatest number of consecutive kickflips performed on a skateboard is 1 ,546, by Zach Kral (USA) at 4 Seasons Skate Park in M i lwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on 30 November 2008.

Highest hippy jump

Longest board slide

A 'hippy jump" is a trick in which the rider jumps off the skateboard and over an obstacle while the skateboard rides on underneath it. The highest skateboard hippy jump is 102.87 em (40.5 in}, and was achieved by Patrick Neal Rushing (USA) at Fish Creek Park in Arlington, Texas, USA, on 12 November 2011.

Rob Dyrdek (USA) produced a 30.62-m (100-ft 5.75-in) board slide on MTV's Rob & Big show in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 17 September 2007.

Fastest time to slalom 50 cones On 28 August 2011, Janis Kuzmins (Latvia) slalomed through 50 cones in just 10.02 seconds at the N ike Riga Run in Mezaparks, Riga, Latvia.

Eric Carlin (USA) carried out 242 consecutive skateboard ollies at Mount Laurel in New Jersey, USA, on 16 July 2011. Carlin had three failed attempts (of 55, 122 and 20 consecutive ollies) before breaking the record on his fourth attempt of the day.

Most shove-its in 30 seconds In a "shove-it", the skateboarder keeps the lead foot on the board while propelling his or her board with the other foot. The greatest number of skateboard shove its executed in 30 seconds is 26, by Nicholas Hunter Heath (USA) in Ocoee, Florida, USA, on 4 September 2011.

Most tricks i nvented Widely regarded as the most influential skater of all time, frees tyler Rodney "The Mutt" Mullen (USA) invented at least 30 skateboard tricks between 1997 and 2008.

SnOW BOA RD Most Winter X Games gold medals

Hig hest skateboarding ol lie A n "ollie" involves raising all four wheels of the board off flat ground simultaneously. The highest ollie measured 114.3 em (45 in) and was achieved by Aldrin Garcia (USA) at the Maloof High Ollie Challenge in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 1 5 February 2011. Garcia was required to ollie over a rigid high bar without it making contact with a ny part of his body or board . The ollie has a special place in the skate hall of fame: it was the first skateboard trick ever performed - by Alan Gelfand (USA) in 1976.

As of January 2012, Shaun White (USA) had won a record 12 Winter X Games golds. White won his 12th gold at Winter X Games 16 in 2012, when he scored the first perfect 100 in the snowboard superpipe. All of his ._-. gold medals came in snowboard superpipe and snowboard slopestyle. White has won 17 medals in all, the most X Games medals won �Y an individual. Shaun, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, also holds the snowboard record for the highest air on a superpipe, reaching 7 m (23 ft) at Winter X Games 14 in Aspen. Colorado, USA, i n 2010.

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Most men's TTR World Snowboard Tour titles Peetu Piiroinen (Finland) won three consecutive TTR World Snowboard Tour titles, from 2008/09 to 2010/11.

Most World Snowboarding Championships The greatest number of World Snowboarding Championship titles won (includi ng Olympic titles) is seven, by Karine Ruby (France, 1978-2009). She won giant slalom in 1996, snowboard cross in 1997, Olympic gold in 1998, giant slalom, parallel slalom and snowboard cross in 2001 , and snowboard cross in 2003. Ruby also won the most Federation lnternationale de Ski (FIS) Snowboard World Cups, with 20 victories in the following categories: overall (1996-98, 2001-03); slalom/parallel slalom (1996-98, 2002); giant slalom (1995-98, 2001); snowboard cross (1997, 2001, 2003-04); and big air (2004) The most men's FIS Snowboard World Cups won is six. by Mathieu Bozzetto (France}, with victories in the overall (1999-2000) and slalom/parallel slalom (1999-2002) categories.

Fastest speed The greatest speed achieved by a snowboarder is 201.907 km/h (125.459 mi/h}, by Darren Powell (Australia) at Les Arcs in Savoie, France, on 2 May 1999.

shortcuts · The forerunner of the modern snowboard was called the "Snurfer" (a reference to snow and surf). It was created in 1965 by Sherman Poppen (USA). · Having grown in popularity from its birth in the 1960s, snowboarding finally became an Olympic sport in 1998. · The sport of snowboarding is part of the Federation lnternationale de Ski (FIS). · The Snowboard World Cup series began in 1995. The sport'sWorld Championships were inaugurated the following year.

Fastest speed standing on a skateboard

The fastest skatebo ard spe ed from a stan ding pos itio n was 113 km/h (70. 21 mi/h) . by D ougla da Silva (Brazil) at Teu ton ia. Rio Gra nde do Sul. Bra zil. on 20 O ctob er 2 007

most Wakeboarding World Series wins Phillip Soven (USA) won the Wakeboarding World Series (WWS) four times, consecutively, between 2007 and 2010. In 2011, he just missed out and finished second.

Longest rail g rind Calum Paton (UK) performed a rail grind measuring 78.7 m (258 ft 2.4 �n) at the Milton Keynes Xscape in Buckinghamshire, U K, on 2 December 2011. The record was broken at an event organized by Whitelines snowboarding magazine, which saw professional and amateur riders attempt to break the record. No one matched the previous record until the very end of the event, when it was bettered by more than 10 m (32 ft 9.7 in).

SURFinG Most wins o f the ASP long board world championship

The most wins of the ASP women's Longboard World Championship is two, by Jennifer Smith (USA) in 2007 and 2009.

Largest wave surfed {unlimited) On 1 November 2011, Garrett McNamara (USA) surfed a wave measuring 23.77 m (78 ft), trough to crest. off Praia do Norte, Nazare, Portugal. The term "unlimited" denotes that the surfer is towed to the wave, enabling him or her to catch waves that would be too strong to be caught by paddling in. Gary Saavedra _ (Panama) surfed a wave for 66.47 km

Nat Young (Australia) has won the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men's Long board World Championship four times, in 1986 and 1988-90.

most RSP world titles (men)

Kelly Slater (USA) has won the men's ASP world title 11 times, in 1992, 1994-98, 2005-06, 2008 and 2010-11. He has also recorded the most consecutive wins of the men's ASP world title, with five wins in 1994-98. The most ASP world titles won by a woman is seven, by Layne Beach ley (Australia), in 1 998-2003 and 2006.

(43.1 miles) on the Panama Canal on 19 March 2011 the longest wave surfed . Saavedra followed a wavecreating boat for 3 hr 55 min 2 sec during the event, also breaking the record for the longest time to surf a wave.

Two boarders share the record for the most women's world championships. Tara Hamilton (USA) won the title in 1998 and 2002; Maeghan Major (USA) won in 1999 and 2000.

Longest marathon

On 30 August 1999, Julz Heaney (UK) achieved 15 inverts (somersaults) in a minute on a wakeboard at the John Battleday Water Ski

Kurtis Loftus (USA) surfed for 29 hr 1 min at Jacksonville Beach, Florida, USA, on 26-27 October 2011. The 50-year-old Loftus surfed 313 waves during his time in the ocean, using the same board throughout.

Most inverts in a minute

• The first "Extreme Games" were staged from 24 June to 1 July 1995. In 1996, they were re-christened "X Games".

· The Winter X Games debuted on 30 January1997. · Winter X Games 8 in 2004 was the first to be televised live; the 2011 Summer X Games were watched by an estimated 37 million television viewers!

Oldest big-wave competition The inaugural Eddie Aikau Memorial took place in Hawaii, USA, in 1984. The first event was staged at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore, before moving the following year to its current location in Waimea Bay. The event has only been held eight times because of the precondition that the ocean swell must reach 20 m (66 It).

Most world titles Wakeboarding involves riding a board over water, usually pulled by boat, and employs water-skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques. The World Wakeboard Association (WWA) World Championships were first held in 1994 and Darin Shapiro (USA) has won the men's title the most: three times in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

Longest rail tU.ie

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The longelit w�arrlr slide measu�.87 m (l53 9.2 in), and c�veg by Borij Lev$kl venia# in Slovenia QD Ju ly 2011. used a gblelift (similaY , sld !tf!J'tO tow him.

a wakeboard b y a woman is 13 m (42 ft 2 in), by Sandrine Beslot (France) on the same TV show, and at the same location, on 7 July 2005.

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Youngest world champion Fu M ingxia (China, b. 16 August 1978) won the women's world title for 10 m platform diving at Perth, Western Australia, on 4 January 1991, at the age of 12 years 141 days. The following year, aged 13, she won the same event at the Barcelona Olympics.

KITE SURFinG Youngest world champion (female)

AQUA B I KinG Most Pro Offshore World Championship wins (men) Cyrille Lemoine (France) has won the Union lnternationale Motonautique ( U I M) men's Pro Offshore World Championship three times, in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

DIUinG Most wins of the Diving World Series 3 m springboard (women) The most wins of the FINA Diving World Series women's 3 m springboard event is three, by He Zi (China), in 2009-11.

First "perfect 10" in the World Championships The first award of a score of 10 to a diver in the World Aquatic Championships was achieved by Greg Louganis (USA) at Guayaquil, Ecuador, on 5 August 1982. Louganis won gold medals in both the 3 m springboard and 10 m platform competitions.

Most World Championships Guo Jingjing (China) won 10 FINA diving world titles, in the women's 3 m springboard, individual and synchronized events, five times: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Most World Series 10 m Platform wins (men) Qui Bo (China) notched u p three consecutive wins i n the F I NA Diving World Series men's 10 m platform event � in 2009-11.

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Gisela Pulido (Spain, b. 14 January 1994) won her first Kite board Pro World Tour (KPWT) world championship on 4 November 2004, aged 10 years 294 days. She went on to win her first Professional Kiteboard Riders Association (PKRA) championship on 26 August 2007, aged just 13 years 224 days.

Fastest speed kite surfing (male) Rob Douglas (USA) reached 55.65 knots (103 km/h; 64 mi/h), at the 2010 Luderitz Speed Challenge in Luderitz, Namibia, on 28 October 2010. The fastest speed kite surfing by a woman was 50.43 knots

Longest-distance underwater swim with one breath Carlos Coste (Venezuela) swam 1 50 m (492 ft) in the Dos Ojos cave system in Quintana Roo, Mexico, on 3 November 2010. Coste's swim, which lasted 2 min 32 sec, is the longest with one breath in open water. . (93 km/h; 58 mi/h), by Charlotte Consorti (France) at the 2010 Luderitz Speed Challenge, in the same location on the same day.

Longest distance covered in 24 hours Rimas Kinka (Lithuania) kite surfed for 504.8 km (313.6 m iles) off the coast of Islamorada, Florida, USA, on 13 November 2011.

WATERSKIInG Longest jump The farthest waterski jump by a male is 75.2 m (246 ft 8 in), by Freddy Krueger (USA) at Seffner in Florida, USA, on 2 November 2008. The longest waterski jump by a woman measured 57.1 m (187 ft 4 in), by June Fladborg (Denmark) in Lincoln, U K, on 24 August 2010.

Most flips (30 seconds) Nicolas Le Forestier (France) completed 16 full 360° flips on one waterski in 30 seconds on the set of L'Ete De Tous Les Records in Lac de Biscarrosse, France, on 5 August 2003. The most waterski flips by a woman (30 seconds) is eight and was achieved by Duan Zhenkun and Han Qiu (both China) in Xichang City, Sichuan Province, China, on 17 November 2011.

Barefoot slalom Skiing on h is bare feet, Keith St Onge (USA) performed 20.6 crossings of the wake in 30 seconds at the Gauteng North Barefoot Waterski Championships in Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa, on 6 January 2006. The most barefoot crossings of the wake by a female waterskier in 30 seconds is 17, by Nadine De Villiers (South Africa) on 5 January 2001 in Wolwekrans, South Africa.

wins of the women's aquabike l.Uorld Championship Julie Bulteau (France) has won the Union l nternationale Motonautique (UIM) women's Pro Ski World Championship three times, consecutively, i n 2009-11 .

274

Highest trials motorcycle wall climb On 21 January 2009, Jordi Pascuet and Marcel Justrib6 (both Spain) each climbed a vertical wall on to a platform at a height of 3.22 m (10 ft 6.38 in) on the set of Guinness World Records, in Madrid, Spain.

Longest reverse ride Hou Xiaobin (China) rode a motorcycle backwards for l 50 km (93.21 miles) in Binzhou City, China, on 4 0ctober 2006.

amx Highest vertical air

Longest front flip On 17 November 2008, Jim DeChamp (USA) performed a 14.52-m-long (47-ft 8-in) motorcycle front flip at Godfrey Trucking/ Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt 1.ake City, Utah, USA, fcir the MTV show Nitro Circus. This was the first time anyone has successfully front flipped a m otorcycle.

On 28 May 2011, Jed Mild on (New Zealand) performed three back flips on a bicycle in a single leap at the Unit T3 M i ndtricks BMX Jam at Spa Park in Taupo, New Zealand. Mildon first rode his BMX bike down a 45° ramp from a height of 20 m (65 ft 7 in) before taking off from the up ramp.

Most gyrator spins in one minute Takahiro Ikeda (Japan) carried out 59 gyrator spins in a minute on the set of 100 Handsome Men and Beautiful Women, at the Kojimachi NTV studio i n Tokyo, Japan, on 13 November 2011.

Riding a Kawasaki KX250T8F, Gary Harding (USA ) maintained a nose wheelie for 86.2 m (282 ft) at Mason Dixon Dragway in Boonsboro, Maryland, USA, on 22 August 2010. Immediately after the attempt, H arding proposed to his girlfriend on the very same track. She quickly accepted!

mOTORCYCLE

M a t Hoffman (USA) carried out an 8.07-m (26-ft 6 -in) air on a BMX bicycle from a 7.31 -m-tall (24-ft) quarterpipe ramp on 20 March 2001, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He was towed by a motorcycle in the run-up to the jump. The highest air o n a halfpipe is 5.8 m (19 ft), by Dave M irra (USA), off a 5.4-m tall (18-ft) ramp i n San Diego, California, USA, in January 2001.

Most backflips (single leap)

ngest nose wheelie on a motocross bike

First double backflip

Travis Pastrana (USA) made ' the first successful double back flip on a motorcycle at ESPN X Games 12 i n Los Angeles, California, USA, on 4 August 2006.

Highest tightrope crossing On 16 October 2010, in Benidorm, Spain, the aptly named Mustafa Danger (Morocco) motorcycled across a 666.1-m-long (2,185-ft) tightrope set at a height of 130 m (426 ft).

Longest wheelie First landed backflip Aaron Fotheringham (USA) landed the first wheelchair back flip at Doc Romeo skate park in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 25 October 2008.

Longest stationary manual A "stationary manual" is a position in which the wheelchair is held balanced on its rear wheels alone. Hermann van Heerden (South Africa) held this position for 10 hr 1 sec in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on 11 October 2011.

Eliza Mcintosh (USA) sustained a continuous rear wheel wheelie for 19.93 km (12 39 miles) at the East H igh School athletics track in Salt Lake City, Utah , USA, on 8 October 2011. She completed 48 laps of the athletics track without the front wheels of the wheelchair touching the ground.

Most manual spins On 23 February 2011, Gulshan Kumar (India) carried out a dizzying 63 manual wheelchair spins in one minute on the set of Guinness World Records - Ab India Todega i n M u m bai, India.

2 75

Most points scored by an F1 driver Michael Schumacher (Germany) scored 1,517 points between 25 August 1991 and the end of the 2011 season.

Most consecutive F1 grand prix victories by a constructor Mclaren (UK) won 11 grands prix in a row in the 1988 season. Ayrton Senna (Brazil, 1960-94) won seven of the races and his fellow Mclaren driver and arch rival Alain Prost (France) won four. Senna went on to win the World Drivers' Championship, pipping Prost by three points.

Fastest lap of Le M ans Lo'ic Duval (France) was driving a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP in the Le Mans 24-hour race when he recorded a lap of 3 min 19.07 sec, on 12 June 2010.

Closest finish in NASCAR racing

Most championship wins Formula One Most World Drivers' Championships


Most World Constructors' Championships


7 Michael Schumacher (Germany, 1994-95, 2000-04) 5 Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina, 1951, 1954-57) 4 Alain Prost (France, 1985-86 , 1 989, 1993) 16 Ferrari (Italy, 1961 , 1 964, 1975-76, 1977, 1979, 1982-83, 1999-2004, 2007-08) 9 Williams (UK, 1980-81, 1986-87, 1992-94, 1996-97) 8

Mclaren (UK, 1974, 1984-85, 1988-91, 1998)

NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) Most Sprint Cup Series Drivers' Championships


276

7 Richard Petty (USA, 1964, 1967, 1971-72, 1974-75, 1979)

f------�

There are two instances of a NASCAR race being won by just 0.002 seconds. Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch (both USA) by 0.002 seconds at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, USA, on 16 March 2003. Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer (both USA) by the same margin to win the 2011 Aaron's 499 race at Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, Alabama, USA, on 17 April.

Most NASCAR titles by a car make Chevrolet (USA) has provided the car for the NASCAR champion 35 times between 1957 and 2011, includir)g every year since 2003.

most motoG P manufacturers' Championships Yamaha (Japan) have won five Moto Grand Prix Manufacturers' Championships, in 2004-05 and 2008-10. Honda have won four championships (2003-04, 2006 and 2011) and Ducati one (2007).

Fastest speed in N H RA drag racing, top fuel Top-fuel cars are the fastest drag racers - they have the engine at the back and a sleek "rail" design. The highest terminal velocity at the end of a 402-m (440-yd) run by a top-fuel car is 543.16 km/h (337.58 mi/h}, by Tony Schumacher (USA) in Brainerd, Minnesota, USA, on 13 August 2005 in his US Army dragster.

Fastest speed in N H RA drag racing, funny car " Funny cars" have the engine in the front and bodywork similar to a normal production car. M ike Ashley (USA) reached a terminal velocity of 538.04 km/h (334.32 mi/h) from a standing

start over 402 m (440 yd) in a Dodge Charger in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 13 April 2007.

First female lndyCar winner Danica Patrick (USA) won the Indy Japan 300 in Motegi, Japan, on 20 April 2008. Danica began her career i n kart racing a n d Formula Ford.

BIKES Most AMA Superbike Championships (manufacturer) Suzuki (Japan) won 13 AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) Superbike titles between 1979 and 2009.

Most Superbike World Championships (manufacturer) Ducati has won 17 Superbike World Championships, in 1991-96, 1998-2004, 2006, 2008-09 and 2011.

Fastest speed in N H RA d rag racing, pro stock Pro-stock bikes cannot use artificial induction such as turbocharging, supercharging, or nitrous oxide. The highest terminal velocity for a pro-stock motorcycle is 318.08 km/h (197.65 mi/h), by Michael Phillips (USA) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, on 18 July 2010.

Longest motorcycle race circuit The 60.72-km (37.73-mile) " M ountain" circuit on the Isle of Man, over which the principal TT (Tourist Trophy) races have been run since 1911 (with minor amendments in 1920), has 264 curves and corners.

most wins in the modern era of OASCA R The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has been awarded since 1949, but the modern NASCAR era i s usually dated from 1972, when the season was shortened from 48 races (including two on dirt tracks) to 31 . Jeff Gordon (USA) has the most NASCAR wins i n the modern era, with 85. He won his 85th race (pictured) at the AdvoCare 500 Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, i n Hampton, Georgia, USA. on 6 September 201 1 .

You ngest and oldest The youngest F1 grand

•

prix winner was Sebastian Vettel (Germany), who won the italian Grand Prix at Monza on 14 September 2008, aged 21 years 73 days. In this race, Vettel was also the youngest F1 grand prix driver to attain pole position.

Most wins at the Isle of Man TT festival Most Motocross des Nations wins Motocross takes place on off road circuits and the Motocross des Nations, also known as the "Olympics of Motocross", has been contested annually between national teams since 1 947. The USA has won the competition 22 times. Great Britain is second with 16, and Belgium is third with 14.

I an H utchinson (UK) won all five solo races at the Isle of Man TT festival in 2010.

Fastest lap at the Isle of Man TT John McGuinness (UK), riding a Honda in 2009, completed the "Mountain Circuit" in 17 min 12.30 sec. His average speed on the lap was 211.754 km/h (131.578 mi/h).

First female in the British Superbike Championship I n 2011, Jenny Tinmouth (UK) competed in the British Superbike Championship for the Splitlath Motors port team.

• The oldest F1 grand prix winner is Tazio Nuvolari (Italy), who won the Albi Grand Prix at Albi, France, on 14 July 1946, aged 53 years 240 days.

• Troy Ruttman (USA) Is the youngest winner of the Indianapolis 500 - he won the race at the age of 22 years 80 days on 30 May 1952.

• At 19 years 93 days old, Graham Rahal (USA) became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing history when he won the lndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg in Florida, USA, on 6 April 2008. Open-wheel racing cars have wheels outside the car's main body (and often just one seat) so they include Formula One vehicles.

This year's index is organized

astronauts 26 -27, 107, 205

birthdays 70

into two parts: by subject and

At the Movies 214-215 Athletics 252-255; cross

Births 70-71, 157; birth rate

by superlative. Bold entries in the subject index ind icate

country 253, 254: field

a main entry on a topic, and

events 252, 253,254, 255:

BOLD CAPITALS ind icate an

jumping 252, 253, 254,

cars 176, 177,184, 185; accidents 162; amphibious

107, 157; multiple births 70,

191; autosports 276; carried

71. 146

87: circumnavigatio n 117,

biscuits/cookies 92, 96

119: factories 176: flying car

bison 47

184: hydrogen 117: jou rneys

228; optical ZOO

concrete 1 68; blocks 111 conkers 108, 109 Conn Smythe Trophy 246 Copa America 239

255: road walking 254;

Bizarre Beauty 76-77

117, 123;jumps over 111:

lists personal names.

track events 232-233, 252,

black holes 30, 31, 206

model13, 99, 101; number

253, 254

black mamba 63

plates 99; people i n 88;

corruption 157

blindness 132, 157

pushed 86; submarine

cosmetic surgery 77

blood 155

184; supersonic 124; wheel

Cosmic Curiosities 30-31

change 110

Cosmic Microwave Background

Atlantic Ocean: crossings 121. 124, 125; transatlantic

abseiling 68 acid rain 22, 36

flights 11 6, 117, 118, 122

acoustic: hyperlens 207;

atmosphere 22. 23, 35

mirror 206

attendances: baseball 242:

acrobats 9 0

ootball 236; rugby 240,

106, 214, 215; TV 224, 225

241; school 147; soccer 239; tennis 266

ADVENTURE 112-125 agencies 151 aerobatics 270

boats: circumnavigation 116,

basketball 250: Gaelic

actors: height 78, 81; movie

advertising 27, 225, 228;

BMX 275

Board Skills 272-273

Auctions 105, 148-149, 213

117; ocean crossings 124,

cartoon strips 105

125; solar-powered 117

catamarans 125

bobsleig h 260

cathedrals 170

bodybuilding 68, 69

cats 51. 59, 100, 144; age 145

Body Parts 74-75

Big Cats 58-59, 63; Janus 55;

audiences, TV 219, 220, 242

body piercing 76, 77

Australia 134, 135, 147;

bog snorkelli ng 109

cattle 55, 56, 60, 61

Bolivia 161

caves 33, 114

Afghanistan 160, 161

circumnavigation 1 25

Copa Telmex 238 cornflakes 149

Carstensz Pyramid, Indonesia 135

sabre-toothed 56

200 Costa Rica 156 Cotswold Olimpicks 109 countries see also nations Cow Clicker 164 cows 89, 100, 60 craters 2 2

Cricket 244-245 crickets 50 crochet 198

Africa 132-133, 157 AI & Robotics 196-197

authors 68, 98, 106

bombs 178, 179

celebrities 144, 210-211

autographs 16, 98

crocodiles 47

centuries (cricket) 245

aid 157

autogyros 122

bones 66

crop glyphs 155

aircraft 20, 149, 176;

bookmarks 101

CERN (European Organization

Autosports 276-277

books 98, 99,101, 177, 227:

circumnavigation 116, 117;

aviation 173

flying car 184: military 161,

awards & prizes 202; athletics

176, 180, 181; pulled 86, 87;

252; boxing 262; Conn

characters 256, 257

for Nuclear Research) 192,193 CFL (Canadian Football

cucumbers 93, 95

Leag ue) 236, 237

cups of: coffee 102;

Smythe Trophy 246; Cy Young Awards 243; Eisner

Boston Marathon 256

supersonic 206; see also

Awards 213; Grammys 229;

bottles 99; caps 12, 13

flights

lg Nobel Prize 203; Mercury

aircraft carriers 180, 181, 183

bouquets 72

champagne bottles 111

Music Prize 218; MOBO

bowerbirds 50

Champions League see also

air guitar 8 8

Award 68; Nobel Prizes

bowling (tenpin) 268, 269

airline: boarding passes 98;

17, 68; Olivier Awards 223;

Borexino Experi ment 192

bowls 68

chainsaws 110

Curiosity rover 195

chameleons 55

Curious Contests 108-109

charities 223

Box-Office Hits 216-217

Charlie's Angels 99

bags 99

Razzies 214; Songwriters

boxing 79, 262, 263

cheese 94

Hall of Fame 221; Tony

airships 122 albatross 63 alcohol 1 57

Ayers Rock, Australia 134

cheetahs 58, 59. 63 chelonians 52

8

Brazil 1 56

Chernobyl, Ukraine 39

breath: holding underwater 111;

chess 106, 109, 197

bridge- laying vehicles 180

alligators 52, 57

babies 80, 257

Allure of the Seas, MS 61, 189

back scratchers 98

Amazon 40, 41, 139

Bacon numbers 202

American Football 234-235;

bacteria 40

Super Bowl 107, 21 9, 234,

Boyoma Falls, Congo 132 brain 196

vehicle lifted with 86 brides & bridegrooms 72 bridesmaids 74

bridges 1 34, 153, 173, 188,189

Curtis Cup (golf) 265 CyYoung Awards (baseball)

UEFA

Oscars 107. 214, 215, 226;

Awards 223; Veto d'Or 258

hot chocolate 268

chairs 149

flight attendants 69; sick air pollution 36, 37

crust. Earth's 115

illustrations 105

restrained 87; space plane

Airports 172-173

cross-country running 253, 254 crutches 122

boomerangs 178

28; sports 270; stealth 179;

chewing g u m wi chest hair 75

chicken 51. 61; fried 95; nuggets 92

chilli con carne 95

243 cyborgs 197

Cycling 258-259; BM):( 275; bog snorkelling 109; circumnavigation 116: journeys 122; static 26, 258; underwater 111 cyclo-cross 259

dams188 dance 68, 109; games 228, 229 darts 68, 268, 269

British Open (golf) 265

chillis 93

Badwater Ullramarathon 247

Dead Sea Marathon 257

Brussels sprouts 92, 95

bags, plastic 105

chimneys 170

deadlifts 86, 87

broadcasts: radio 13; to space

chin -ups 12, 13, 87

deaths: mountaineering 124;

bad minton 266, 267

am phipods 54

baked beans 92

amphitheatres 128

ball bearings 177

26:TV114

China 36, 38, 151,1 57, 177

road-traffi c 187

bubble- gum 97

chinchillas 145

decathlon 253, 255

chocolate 92, 96, 97; coins 12,

Deep Flight Challenger 114-11 5

amusement parks 129

ball skills 237

Andes 40, 42

Buddhas 131

Ball Sports 236-237 Bailon d'Or 239

13, 96; Easter eggs 94, 97;

androids 196, 197

budgerigars 145

deforestation 42, 43

Angel Fal ls, Venezuela 138

balloon modelling 105

Buenos Aires, Argentina 153

stacking 15

democracy 1 57

angel hair 155

balloons: circumnavigation 117,

angels 100

124: polar flights 119

buffalo 53, 56, 61

choirs 88

demonstrations 16

build ings 170 -171: climbing

churches 170

diamond (baseball) 242

cigar bands 101

diamonds 149

110; mud 132

Angkor Wat, Cambodia 130

Battis Vallis, Venus 23

Angry Birds 228

bananas 92, 93

Animal Life S0-51 Animal Longevity 52-53 Animal Oddities 54-55

banks 150, 151

animal sa nctuaries 60,131. 134

barnacles 50

burns 163; full-body 12, 13, 111

ANIMALS 44-63, 114, 204:

BASE jumping 68, 270, 271

burps 206

Baseball 242-243;

buses 1 53 ; pulled 87

baby 50, 51; costumes 257; farm 60-61; size 46-47; sounds 206, 207; twoheaded 54

bar chimes 102

bulls 51. 61, 202

cigarette cards 101

diet48

burgers 93

cinemas 134

dinosaurs 47, 51, 56, 57

Burj AI Arab Hotel. Dubai 170

Circumnavigation 116-117;

dioramas 99

Burj Khalifa, Dubai. UAE 3. 110,

Barbie dolls 101, 148

autographed 98, 148; held in baseball glove 237

Basketball 13, 250-251; age

Animalympics 62-63

107, 250, 251; ball skills

animations: movies 216

237; slam dunks 63

168-1 69, 171

But is it Art? 104-105 butterflies 100 buttons 101

c

amphibious car 119; around

discus 253, 255

Australia 125; balloons 117,

diving 119, 274; deep-ocean

124; flights 118; polar 122;

3, 114-11 5, 118, 119, 120;

sailing 121, 123, 125

mammal 114; scuba 114;

Circus Arts 90-91 Cities 34, 152-153; capitals 134; pollution 36 City Montessori School, Lucknow, India 141

shallow 91 divorce 156 Dls 106 Do Not Disturb signs 99 dogs 51. 63, 144; age 145;

CityVille 164

breeds 145; in space 27; surfing 62; weddings 73

Annapurna 120

Batman memorabilia 148

cables 200

battles 154, 161. 181

clams 52

Antarctica 34, 107, 11 6, 11 8,

Caesarean sections 71

class reunions 147

dolls 100, 1 01, 148, 154

beach volleyball 248

cakes 93; wed ding 72 , 73

climate cha nge 34-35

dolphins 50, 62

antimatte r 194

beards 75, 110

calculators 1 97

climbing: bu ild ings 110;

antlers 57

beatboxers, human 88

Donald Duck 100

Calder Hall, Cumbria, U K 38

Beatles, The 98

calendars 148

clocks 148, 194

donkeys 60, 61

Call of Duty: Modem Warfare 3

cloning 204

doughnuts 92

clothing 55, 103; bridal 72

drag racing 276, 277

119,194

Aphrodite Terra , Venus 22 Apollo m issions 21, 26, 27, 121, 122

beds 102 beer 101, 129

209

walls 102

doners 94

apples 93, 95

bees 80

cameras 1 94; movie 99

aquabiking 274

beetles 52, 57, 63, 200

coaches/trainers 250, 261, 262

dragonflies 63

arcade ga mes 165

bells 100, 176, 177

camouflage, electronic 179

Coca- Cola 100

draughts 108

Canada 122, 151, 156, 175

cocktails 94

drawings 104, 105

archery 268

bench presses 86

canals 188

coconut 110; ice 96

dresses 149; wedding 72

arcology 1 52

bicycles 177, 1 84, 185; static 26;

candies 96-97

coffee 156

dressing up: marathon

candles 99

coins 149, 155, 177; chocolate

Arctic 34 arm hair 75 a rmad illos 52, 56

see also cycling

Big Cats 58-59 Big Food 94-95

candy floss 96

12, 13, 96; stacking 14

runners 2 56-257; mass participation 12, 13, 89

candy-soda fountains 93

cold seep trenches 41

drinking 110

collections 98-101; model cars

drones 179

armed forces 160-161 , 181

bigfoot 154

cannibalism 55

armoured vehicles 98

Biggest ... 102-103

canoeing 124

13; two-headed animals 54;

arrows 110

billionaires 1 50, 1 51 , 1 64

canopy piloting 270

drugs 203

videogames 228

drums 102 , 106

art 104-1 05 ; thefts 128

biodiversity 40

caps: rugby 241

art galleries 129

bioluminescence 49, 1 55,

artificial intelligen ce (AI) 196-197

200, 201

Biomes 40-41 birds 55, 57, 63, 155; eggs 51;

Colombia 156

Dubai, UAE 152, 168-169

car parks 153

Colosseu m, Rome 128

duck (cricket) 245

carbon dioxide 35, 36

colour 55, 200, 201

ducks 51, 101

careers: TV 225

Comics 89, 212-213

dumpli ngs 92 Dushanbe Flagpole, Taji kistan

carn ivals 139

companies 150, 151, 174

assassinatio n attempts 159

longevity 52, 53; nests

carol singers 88

computers 156, 177, 1 95, 196,

asteroid s 21

42, 55

ca rpets 214

Asia 130-131 , 157

197; games 228; hacking

265, 273: movie actors 215: TV 2 24, 225 Easter Island 138 eating 92; glass 110 eBay149 eclipses 24

The Economy 150-151 ecosyste ms 40 eggs 48, 51, 61 Ei sner Awards 213 El Capitan, California 120 electricity 155 elephants 46, 53, 130; tusks 57 emails165 emigration 156 Emma Maersk, MV 189 Empire State Run- Up 260, 261

ENGINEERING 166-189 English Channel 69, 124 Enigma machine 149

ENTERTAINMENT 208-229 Epic Engineering 188-189 Epic Journeys 122-123 escalators 153 escapology 90, 91; underwater 111 ESP (extra-sensory perception) 202 Europa 21

Europe 58, 122, 128-129, 1 57 European Space Agency 23 Everest. Mount 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 130 Explorers' Grand Slam 119, 125 explosions 25, 29, 31 eyeballs 75 eyebrows 75 eyelashes 75 eyes 54, 67, 86, 110 eyesight 200

D

amphibians 52, 55

235

earnings: sport 239, 242, 248,

contortionists 82

entire chapter. Neither index

A

E ear hair 75

171 dwarfs 68

F

Facebook 164, 165, 211 faces 55; piercings 76 factories 176, 177 falafels 94 fame 210 -211 farmer's walk 87 fathers 71 feet 74, 75 festivals: beer 129; comic 212; jazz 136

Ffesti niog Railway, Wales 174 FIBA ( International Basketball Federation) 251 FI FA World Cup 107, 238, 239; women's 239

Fighting Vehicles 180-181 film cameras 99 film projectors 99 fingernails 74, 75 fi ngers 74, 87, 110 fire 27, 36; breathing 90; spontaneous human combustion 154; torches 14 fireman's patches 99 fish 54, 61. 62, 63, 115; age 53, 145; and chips 95 eggs 51 FITA (International Archery Federation) 268 flags 102, 170 flamingos 100 Flickr 165

flights 122; circumnavigatio n 116, 117, 118; polar 117, 119; supersonic 119; transatlantic 116, 117, 118, 122; transpacific 117 floorball 249 food 26, 92-97, 163; fights 128; irradiation 38, 39 football 238-239; Aussie 236, 237: ball skills 237; Canadian 236, 237; dribbling 256; European 238, 239; Gaelic 236; memorabilia 148; passes 15; Premier League 238, 239; tournaments 238; videogames 229; women's 237, 239; World Cup 107, 238, 239; see also American football

forces 39 forests 40, 41, 42, 43 Formuta One 107, 276, 277 fountains, candy-soda 93 Fra nce 38, 157 Fraser Island, Australia 135 fridge magnets 100 frogs 55, 63 , 155 fruit 94, 95 fudge 97

Fun with Food 92-93 Furnace Creek 508 258

G

galaxies 30, 31, 200 game reserves 133 games: arcade g ames 165; social network 164; videogames 228-229

hat-tricks: rugby 241; soccer 238 hats 99, 103, 149, 203

lquitos, Peru 152

lizards 52, 53, 54, 56, 145

Irradiation 38, 39

Loch Ness Monster 155

irrational numbers 198

log rolling 108, 109

haunted houses 154

Islam 130

London Marathon 256-257

Hayabusa spacecraft 21

islands 133, 135, 138

London Underground 152

He Collects... 98-99

Isle of Man TT 277

long jump 253, 255

heads: shaving 88; twoheaded an imals 54

mobite phones 177; gaming

Award 68 models: airport 172; cars 13, 99, 101; human organ 104;

longevity 2 , 52-53, 6 6- 67

J

luge 185, 260, 261

railways 175 models (fashion) 79

jackal 53

l u n g transplants 163

Moldova 157

lungfish 52

molecules 195

novels , graph ic 212, 213

Jaffa Cakes 92

Luxembourg 157

molluscs 52

Nuclear Energy 38-39

heart transplants 163

jaguars 58, 59

lynx 53

heather 40

James Bond 148 , 216

monarchs 158, 159

nuclear fission/fusion 38. 39 nuclear waste 37

monuments 137, 170

nuclear weapons 29. 160, 162,

Heineken Cup 240

javelin 252, 253, 254, 2 5 5

M

Helicopters 182-183;

jaws 57, 205

macaws 50

Moon 20, 21, 27, 121 . 122

jazz 136

Machu Picchu. Peru 138

moons 21, 2 2

Mad Science 202-203

Mosconi Cup (pool) 268

Numbers 198-199

Madagascar 133

Moscow, Russia 150; Metro

Nyos, Lake, Cameroon 155

circumnavigations 116, 117; jouneys 123

jelly 93

Hello Kitty 100

jelly babies 96

helmets 178

jesters 257

magazines 103, 154, 175, 229

152, 153; State University 170

magnetic fields 22, 25 mail38

mothers 71

garden gnomes 89, 102

high jump 253, 254, 255

journeys 122-123; polar 107,

Makkah Royal Clock Tower

motocross 277

gardens 132

hippopotamus 47, 57

116, 11 8 -119, 125; quad bike

garlic 92, 95

hockey 146, 248, 249; unicycle

113; sea 124-125; train 174

geoglyphs 138 gestation 48, 59

109; see also ice hockey holograms 200

mammoth 57

juggling 91 ; chainsaws 110; on

mangrove forests 41

unicycle 91 jumps: animals 62-63;

Hong Kong 152, 168; Sanatorium 170

maps 37, 194

hornbill 57

board skills 272, 273;

Marathon, Battle of 154

horns 56, 57

mass participation 89;

Marathons (race) 252,

giant panda 50, 53

gliding 270

over moving cars 111 ;

horseshoe pitching 108, 109

parachute 69, 271

hospitals 170

gloves 102

hostages 160

gnomes 89, 100, 102

hot dogs 93, 94

goalkeepers & goaltenders: soccer 238; ice hockey 246, 247 goals & field goals: basketball

250, 251; football 234, 235,

237; ice hockey 246, 247; rugby 240, 241 ; soccer 238, 239; water polo 248 goats 53. 54, 60, 61 gold143 Golden Temple, Amritsar, India 130 goldfish 145

Golf 257, 264-265; courses 172, 264; ranges 264 gorges 137 gorillas 46 CPS (Global Positioning System) 29 Graf Zeppelin 122 g raffiti 105 Gram my Awards 229 Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA 137

monster truck 275;

horse racing 260 horses 53, 60, 63, 99

hotels 128. 129, 136, 171 houses 154, 155

How Big Can Animals Get7 46-47

Jutland , Battle of 161

K K2 120

kangaroos 47, 51, 63 kayaking 124 kicks: cups off head 111; to head 110

How Deep Can We Go? 114-115

How Famous Can You Get7 210-211

How Fast Can We Run? 232-233

How Heavy Can We Lift? 84-85

How Long Can We Live? 66-67

How Much Climate Change Can We Survive? 34-35 How Rich Can You Get? 142-143

How Tall Can We Build? 168-169 how to be a record -b reaker 14-1 5

Oceania 134-135 oceans 34; acid 35; biomes

actors 78, 106, 214, 215, 217; animations 216; box office

Oldest ... 68-69

196, 214, 215, 216-217;

olives 92

darts 268; film watching

directors 68. 106. 215 ,

Olympic Games 119, 239, 252;

14; gaming 229; ice hockey

217, 226; Oscars 107, 214,

246; lessons 147; pool 269;

226; p remieres 214, 226;

medals 106, 117, 248, 252, 254, 260, 261; Winter 260

skiing 260; snooker 269;

producers 107; soundtracks

On the Farm 60-61

static cycling 258; surfing

220; special effects

onions 93 , 95

273; tenpin bowling 269;

215; Star Wars 226-227; stuntmen 81

TV talk show 224 Mariana Trench 115, 120

mud 36, 132

opera 223 Operation Overlord 161 oranges 92 orangutans 131

kidney transplants 1 63

Mariner spacecraft 22, 23

mudflats41

Mario Kart 229

murders 156

organs 104; transplants 163

Kingdom Towe r, Saudi Arabia

marriage 73, 156

muscles 74

organs (musical) 207

married couples 80

music 218-221; awards 229;

168-168

Oscars 107, 214, 226

chart hits 68, 218-221;

ostrich 47, 63

Mars Climate Orbiter 202

choirs 88; concerts 26,

oysters 92

marshmallows 92

114, 219, 220; festivals

ma rsupials 51. 52. 56

136; games 228; movie

koalas 51, 53, 134

martial arts 217, 263

soundtracks 220. 226;

pacemakers 38

korfball 249

mascots 123, 256

online 164; opera 223;

Pacific Ocean 41; crossings

Krakatoa , Indonesia 206

mass participation 88-89;

recordings 68; teachers 147;

kissing 13

Mars21

kite surfing 274 kiwis 51 knives 103; throwing 91

Kursk, Battle .of 161

dressing up 12, 13, 89; ensembles 88

L

videos 164, 220 musical instruments 101, 102,

matchbook covers 101

149, 177; ensembles 88

p

122, 123, 124, 125; flights over 117 paintings 104,105, 130, 146 Pakistan 160 palaces 131

Lac Rose, Senegal 1 55

matchbox labels 101

musicals 106, 217, 223

lacrosse 249

materials, man -mad e 195

Myspace 164

pandas 101

lakes 138, 155

mathematics 146, 147, 198-199

Mysterious World 154-155

Pantanal , Brazil 139

landfill sites 36, 37

mating 50, 51

land mines 180

matte r 30

N

paragliding 122, 123, 271 paranormal 154, 202

parachuting 69, 271

languages 157, 206

Mauna Kea, Hawaii 19

nails 15 5

Maxwell Montes. Venus 2 3

names 59

66 -6 7; size 46, 65, 74,

wells 115

256-257; age 69; half

Large Hadron Collider 38,

graphene 203

swimming 69, 125 oil 36, 37; platforms 170;

114, 254 marathons (endurance):

hula hoops 13, 256

Great Barrier Reef 41, 135

155; rowing 121 , 122, 123, 124, 125, 261 ; sailing 125;

biome 41; planetary 22, 23 movies 49, 213, 214-217;

HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT 82-111

diving 114-115; glowing

mountains 130, 135; alpine

Grand Slam (tennis) 266. 267

HUMANS 64-81 ; longevity

40, 41 ; deep -ocean

120-121 , 122, 123

grandparents 71 grapes 92

observation wheels 170

Kilimanjaro, Mount 120

How Far Will We Explore? 20-21

obesity 156

90, 273; tricks 275

Mountaineers 117, 118, 119,

255; BASE 68, 270, 271;

obelisks 170

racing 276, 277; tightrope

Manila, Philippines 153

Manufacturing 176-177

0

observatories 19

motor racing 107; games 229

athletics 252, 253, 254,

178, 205 num ber plates 9 9

journeys 123; people on 88;

Manhattan, New York, USA 125

gherkins 92

gi raffe 46, 57

motorcycles: crashes 163;

mammals 50, 56, 58, 59

judo 263

home runs (baseball) 242, 243 Honduras 156

Hotel, Saudi Arabia 171

ghosts 154

Giro d'ltalia 258

noses 74, 75

monkeys 207

jigsaw puzzles 102

geese 51

North Pole Marathon 257 Norway 15 7

jackets 102, 148

jet engines 122

170

North Korea 160 North Pole 118 , 119, 123

hearing 66

High Flyers 270-271

Gateway Arch, St Louis, USA

North America 136-137, 156

headteachers 147

heptathlon 255

gas masks 257

133, 139 nipples 86; hair 75

heads of state 1 58-1 59

Gandhi costumes 89

gamma rays 31

Nite River

228, 2 2 9 MOBO (Music Of Black Origin)

1 91 , 192

Largest... 78-79

McMurdo Station, Antarctica 172

Las Vegas, N evada 136

Mead crater, Venus 2 2

parasites 42

narwhal 56, 57

Paris, France 128

NASCAR racing 276, 277

parking 152; meters 153

Nations 156-157; g u n

parks 136, 17 2 ; t h e m e parks

ownership 179; height &

88, 1 37

lasagne 92, 94

meatballs 93, 95

hummingbirds 51

lasers 181, 194, 195, 201

Mecca, Saudi Arabia 130

weight 79; marriage rates

parliaments 158

G reat Rift Valley, Africa 133

hurling 249

Latvia 147

media151

73, 156; Nobel Peace Prizes

parrots 63

GREEN EARTH 32-43

hydrogen fuel 117

Lego 176, 177

medicine 205

17; schools 146, 147; wars

particle accelerator/detector

greenhouse effect 35

hydrothermal vents 40

legs 55; hair 75

memorabilia 98, 99, 100, 101

160; wealth 150, 151

Great Pyramid of Giza. Egypt 133,170

78 -81; speed 63, 232-233

Greenland 156 Grey Cup (Canadian football)

38, 191, 192

Le Mans 24-hour race 276

memory 67, 199; bits 195

NAT0 161

parties 12 , 13

lemons 93, 95

Menger sponge 199

Natural Bridges National

pasta 93

Monument, Utah 136

pasties 94

ice: hotel 129; runways 172

leopards 58, 59

menus 27

G uatemala 156

ice caps 34

leprechauns 12, 13

Mercury Music Prize 218

navies 161

guinea pigs 51, 62, 63, 145

ice cream 92, 95

lesso� 146, 147, 236

metros 152, 153

Nazca lines, Peru 138

Peace One Day 16-17

Ice Hockey 79, 246-247

letters 149

Mexico 147, 156

NBA (National Basketball

pearls 149

236

guitars 148 guns 177, 178, 179, 229; ray 179, 203; space 28, 29

Iceland 156, 160

Lexington, USS 160

Mexico City 152

ice skating, speed 260

Leyte Gulf, Battle of 161

mice145

Association) 107, 250

penguins 46 pens 101

Mickey Mouse 101

nematode worms 114, 194

GWR Day 12-13

life 194; extraterrestrial ZO, 21

microelectronics 194

nests 42, 51, 55

gymnastics 69

India 36. 151, 157

life expectancy 157

microlights 270

netball248

Indian Ocean 124, 1 25, 155, 261

lifeguards 68, 2587

military 160-161; space warfare

Indianapolis 500 277

lifts 162, 169

hailstones 155

Indonesia 135, 147, 206

light: pollution 37; speed of

hair 67, 74, 75, 86

industry 37, 176 -177

H

iguanas 53, 63

libraries 172

192,193

28-29

neutrinos 192 neutron stars 30

milk60, 61

New Horizons spacecraft 20

Milky Way 31

newspapers 13, 69 New York City Subway, USA

Hamburg, Germany 153

l ndyCa rs 276, 277

light bulbs 200, 201

millionaires 106

hammer throwing 253, 255

infrared 200

Light Fantastic 200-201

millipedes 55

handbags 148

insects 51 , 52, 63, 207, 257

lighthouses 38

minarets 132

New York Marathon 257

handball 248, 249

International Space Station

lightning 23, 162, 203

mince pies 92

New Zealand 157

handcuffs 91, 111 hang-gliding 270 Hang Son Doong cave, Vietnam 33 happiness 156 H arry Potter 98

27, 205 internet 156, 204, 210, 211; social media 164-165

lights 200, 201

mines 114. 115. 163

limbs, artificial 177

Mir space station 26, 27

lion 57, 5 9

missiles 178

iPad 177

lips 76, 77

IPL (Indian Premier League)

litters 51 , 58

cricket 244, 245

Living in Space 26-27

M LB (Major League Baseball) 243 moal 138

pencils 101

necks 76, 90, 110

Inca 138

gurning 108

pea shooting 108

152

N F L (National Football League) 234, 235 N H L (National Hockey League) 79, 246, 247 N iagara Falls 136 Niger 157

People at War 160-161

reefs 41. 135

shot putl 253, 255

peregrine falcon 63

referees 237, 240, 246

showers 26

Persian Gulf 125 Petronas Towers. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 169, 171

118, 123; road walking 254

stigmata 15?

shrimps 92

tractor beams 204

walls 131; climbing 275

religious gatherings 89

siblings 68. 80

stilts 256

traffic li ghts 186

Wally/Waldo 89

Sikhs 89, 130

stir-fry 95

Trains & Railways 174-175

walrus 51, 57

s ilk 55

stock markets 150, 196

trams 153. 174. 175

war 160-161

simulator, spaceflight 21

stomatopods 200

trapeze 90

warships 160, 181

Singapore Flyer 170

Stonehenge 1 28

Trees 42-43

warthog 57

PGA (Professional Golfers'

restaurants 151

165, 200

facing backwards 75; polar

toys 196, 214

refugees 160

rescues 160, 1 62

photographs 1 05, 144, 149,

towers 12 , 13, 171

reptiles 63

Pets 53, 144-145 Associatio n) 264

steeplechase 253, 254, 255

stick insects 51

reunions 147 rh inoceros 47, 54

sirens 206

storms 42

triathlons 260

washing machines 177

rice crackers 12, 13

ska eboarding 62. 272

stout 110

tricycles 184

Washington Monument,

rift systems 133

skateboards 103

straitj ackets 90, 91. 111

tries (rugby) 240, 241

Pick of the Pops 218-219

riflesl78

skeleton (sled) 260

Street Fighter 229

trillthons 128

waste 36, 37, 168

piers 175

Rio de Janeiro. Brazi l 139

skeletons 89, 149

streets 186

triple jump 252, 253. 255

waler boatman 50

pigs 51, 61, 63, 101

Risky Business 110-111

pi 198

USA 170

skiing 118, 119, 162, 260

Strength 86-87

triplets 70, 71, 141

waterfalls 132, 136,138

risotto 95

skin 66, 74

tropical rainforests 40, 41

watermelons 93

pineapples 94, 95

rivers 133, 139

stridulation 50

skydiving 270. 271

structures 31, 170; ice 129;

trousers 103

water polo 248. 249

pine boards 13

road walking 254

Skylab space station 26

magnetic 25; marine

trucks 167, 275

water rockets 13

pine cones 42

Roads 152. 186-187 robots 196-197, 203, 204, 205;

an imal 41; religious 130

truffles 148

pirates 89

Skyscrapers 152 , 168-1 69, 170-171

submarines 28, 38, 114, 120, 181

tsunamis, solar 25

water slides 139

pitchers (baseball) 243

humanoid 195; industrial

sleeping 27

submersibles 114-115, 119

tundra 40

Water Sports 274

pixies 100

176; wedding 73

slums 152

su bways 153

tunnels 187, 189

Rock of Ages 220-221

smell, sense of 48, 6 6

Sudoku 198

rockets 21. 28. 29

smog 36

Suez Canal, Egypt 188

pilgrimages 89, 130

pizza 93, 99 planetary rovers 195 planets 20, 21, 204; extrasolar 20, 30, 204; Venus 2 2-23

turkeys 89

wealth 142-143, 1 50, 1 51

Weapons 178-179

tusks 57

Weber Cup (bowling) 268

TV 224-225; actors 224, 225;

Weddings 72-73; dresses 72,

roller coasters 131

smoking l56

roller skating 275

sulphur dioxide 36

snails 95, 144

Romans 210, 257

sumo wrestling 78. 263

audiences 219, 220, 242;

snakes 45, 53, 54, 63

The Sun 24-25, 31

broadcasts 114; soap operas

weight: carried 87; held 87

73; 3D 224

weightllftlng 84-85, 86, 87,

plants 139

roof bolting 109

snipers 161

platypus 55

roundabouts 187

snooker 269

plays 222, 223

rowing 261; ocean 121. 122, 123,

snowboarding 176, 272. 273

sunspots 24, 25

snow- kiting 123

superheroes 213. 217

ploughman's lunch 94

·

waterskiing 274

124. 125, 261

Sundarbans, Asia 41 sunflowers 89

koala 51; size 78, 79. 80 Twitter 164, 165

Royal Mint 177

snow leopard 58

Superman 89, 9 9

typing 199

pogo sticks 111

royalty 79; see atso monarchs

soap bubbles 88

surfing 62, 273

tyres 176, 177, 185

poison gas 178

Rube Goldberg 203

Soccer 238-239 Social Media 164-165;

surgery 68, 163; cosmetic 77

Pokemon 101

Rubik's Cube 197

Rugby 240-241

polar bears 46

running: barefoot 257; cross-country 253, 254;

Polar Journeys 118-119. 12 2. 12 3

Face book 164, 165; games 164; Twitter 164, 165; YouTu be 164, 165. 210, 219

full- body burn 12, 13;

SOCIETY 140-165

Survivors 162-163 swamps 139 Sweden 157

110, 189, 262, 263

twins 146; age 68; births 70. 71;

Pluto 20

poker 1 07, 197

256; pets 73, 144

u

U E FA Champions League 238, 239; Women's 237

Wellington, New Zealand 134 whale shark 48

whales 46. 47. 50. 51, 114, 206; teeth 56, 57

What's the Speed Limit? 192-193 Wheel Skills 275 wheelchairs 87, 123; sports

Sweet Treats 96-97

ukuleles 88

swimming 261; ocean 69, 125;

Uluru, Australia 134

wheelies 90, 275

266, 275

underwater 111. 206; bench

wheels, observation 130

polar regions 107. 116, 120

journeys 123; juggling 91;

socks 103

pole vault 254, 255

robot 1 95; speed 232-233;

solar eclipse 24

swimming pools 139

press 86; cable 200; car

whips207

pole-weaving 62

in underwear 88; see also

solar flares 25

184; draughts 108; ocean

whiskers 144

police 204

athletics; marathons

Sydney Harbour Bridge 134

solar power 186

depths 114-11 5; painting

whisky149

runs (cricket) 244, 245

solar prominences 24

pool268, 269

Russia 157

Solar System 24. 25; Venus

popcorn 95

Ryder Cup (golf) 268

Pollution 36-37

population 107. 156, 157; cities 1 53 postal codes 152

s

22-23 solar wind 24

Sahara 122

underwater 274

T

104; swimming 274;

whistling 88

table tennis 267

weddings 72, 73

white canes 103

taekwondo 263

underwear 13. 88,103

white dwarfs 31

tails 144

unicorn 54

wickets (cricket) 244

soldiers, toy 148

Talyllyn Railway, Wales 175

unicycles 91, 184; hockey 109

wife carrying 108, 109

Somali a 1 6 0

tanks 1 6 1 , 180, 181

United States 151 , 156, 175

Winchester House, San Jose,

potatoes 92, 95

sailfish 63

Songwrite rs Hall of Fame 221

tape measures 201

universe 30, 31. 206

Power Sports 262-263

sailing 117, 121.123. 125

Sound 206-207

tapir 53

universities 106, 170

wind 168

U nma nned Aerial Vehicles

wine glasses 103

salads 95

South Africa 40, 157

Target Sports 268-269

prematurity 71

salamanders 52

South America 138-139

Tasmanian devil 52

presidents 158, 159

salami 95

South Pole 116, 117, 118, 119,

tattoos 76 , 77

prime ministers 107

salsa 95

power stations 38, 39

prime numbers 198 Princess Tower, Dubai, UAE 171 prints 105 prisoners 17, 73,159 prize money: golf 264; tennis

Salyut space stations 26, 28, 29 Sam Maguire Cup (Gaelic football) 236 sandwiches 92 satellites 28, 29

120, 125, 182

Uruguay147

SPACE 18-31; ESP

teachers 146, 147

Uruk, M esopotamia 152

Teams Round-Up 248-249 Teamwork 88-89

US Open (golf) 264, 265

experiment 202; exploration 20 -21 ; living in space 26-27: nuclear reactor 38

projectors, film 99

sausages 92

space shuttle 26, 28, 29, 205

pronghorn 63

scarification 76 school uniforms 256, 257

publishing 213

schools 141, 146-147 Sci-fi Science 204-205 SCIENCE 190-207 Science Frontiers 194-195

pull-ups 87 pumas 58 , 59 pumpkins 95 push - ups 87 puzzles 198 pyramids 133, 137, 170 pythons 45

Q

quad bikes 113

q uadruplets 70

Quetzalc6atl Pyramid, Mexico 137

scooters 122, 184 scratchcards 101 screwdrivers 103 scuba diving 114 sculpture 105

spacesuits 27

vans 184

telephones 103

vegetables 95, 256, 257

telescopes 19, 194

ve hicles 1 84-185, 189, 214;

temples 130

spades 103

tennis 79, 231. 266. 267;

armoured 98; lifted 86; pulled 86; run over

World 's Strongest Man 86;

SEASAT 28

World War ii 160, 161 wrestling 262, 263 ; gravy 108;

testes 51

Venice Arsenal. Italy 176

Spice Girls 101

tex ting 165

Venus 22-23

spiders 55

Theatre 222-223

Venus Express orbiter 22, 23

Sharks 47, 48-49, 63 shaving 26

Three Poles Challenge 119

Videogamers 228-229

Thrust sse 124

videogames 89, 196, 209, 257;

power sports 262-263;

tiddlywin ks 108

videos: music 164, 220:

racing sports 260-261;

tigers 47, 51, 58, 59

combu stion 154

SPORTS 230-277; arenas 247; ball sports 236-2 37;

thunder 23

spin-offs 216, 227 YouTube 164, 165

racket sports 266 -267:

tightropes 90, 273

violi ns 88, 149

stadiums 235, 236, 243,

time 204

Virtua Fighter 165

267; target sports 268-269;

Titanic, RMS 114

Woman 87

Veto d'Or 258

vertebrates 53

sea levels 34

sports

military 160-181 :

Victoria Falls 132

sensory deprivation ta nk 203

Curious Contests 108-109;

see also entries for specific

stomach 86

wheelcha ir 266

Test match (cricket) 244, 245

wool 60

World Leaders 158-159 WORLD TOUR 126-139

theme parks 88, 137

vision 200

sumo 78, 263; toe 108

X X Games 107, 272, 273

y

yachts 116 Yellowstone National Park, USA 136 yoga 12, 13 yoghurt 92

Titicaca, Lake 139

Vittoria 11 6

Youngest ... 106-107

tournaments 238, 268,

toast 149

volleyba il 249

YouTube 164, 165, 210, 219

Shibam, Yemen 152

269; TV 224; water sports

toes 74

vomiting 27, 207

Shinjuku Station , Tokyo 153

274; see also entries for

toilets 177; space 26, 27

vortices 23

specific sports

Tokyo, Japan 153; Sky Tree

Vostok sp acecraft 21, 26, 27

zebra 53

Voyager 1 spacecraft 20

zombies 89

She Collects ... 100-101

Racing Sports 260-261 Racket Sports 266-267

sheep 57, 60, 61, 63

radio 205; broadcasts 13;

ships 39, 162; contai ne r 189;

team sports 248-249:

radioactivity 39

crane ships 189; cruise

squash 267

railways 174-175; bridges 188;

ships 61, 189; warships

stair climbing 260, 261

mod el 1 75; stations 153,

Teeth, Tusks & Horns 56-57

Three Gorges Dam, China 188

rabbits 51. 63

174, 175; underground 152

woolsack racing 109 World Championships & Cups:

spontaneous human

shares 150

rainfall155

woodpeckers 53

vampires 89

148; weight held 87

Space Warfare 28-29

humans 232-233

wolf 47

vampire finch 55

temperature 119

speed 192-193; animals 58, 62;

Basketball Association) 251 wok racing 108, 109

V2 rocket 29

spacewalks 26

speech 206

WNBA (Women's National

teenagers 79, 80

sponge 52

quiz shows 197

equipment 149

29, 205

v

wing walking 69

teeth 48, 56, 57, 74, 101; false

sea battles 161

Seven Summits 120,123 sewage 168

R

space stations 26, 27, 28,

teddy bears 149

wingsuits 271

wombats 52

Sea Journeys 124-125

quintuplets 70

quetzalcoatlus 47

170

tea parties 12, 13

space plane 28

Proxima Centauri 20, 21

Ursa Platform, Gulf of Mexico

tea bags 103

South Sudan 157

saunas 108

231 ; TV game show 225

(UAVs) 180, 181

USA 154

160, 181

12, 13, 171

77, 86

tomatoes 95, 128

w

Stanley Cup (ice hockey) 246

tongues 74,

shipwrecks 114, 115

Star Trek 89

tornadoes 162

Wacky Vehicles 184-185

shoes 100, 103

Star Wars 226-227

tortoises 46 , 51, 52, 62 , 155

Wadden Sea 41

rallying 276, 277

shopping trolleys 12, 13

rats 62. 145

shops 69, 152

recordings 206

shortfin mako shark 48, 63

Statue of Liberty, USA 170

Red Pyramid, Egypt 170

Shortest ... 80-81

statues 131. 137, 138

stars 20, 21, 25, 30, 31; artificial 201

touchdowns (American football) 235 Tour de France 258, 259 tourism 12 8, 157

waist 75 wakeboarding 273 walking: backwards 123; circum navigation 116; feet

z

Best-selling

tightrope walk 90

car176

trapeze flight 90

Mario Kart completion 229

infrared photograph 200

weapon i n space 29

mountain climbing 120. 121,

interplanetary mission to

wedding: robot 73

chocolate bar 9 6 comic 212

135

succeed 2 2

zero-gravity 7 3

Fastest growing

ocean crossings 125

body mass index 156

inter-species web chat 204

wheelchair backflip landed 275

cookie 97

ocean swimming 125

social network game 164

koala twins 51

music recordings 218. 219,

woman to command fighting

parachuting freefall 271

laser gunship 181

220. 221, 226

tree 43

Biggest

microelectronic device 194 FTSE 100 closing price 1 50 grossing: Broadway shows

polar journeys 118, 119, 125

light pollution map (global) 37 lightning detected on Venus 23

Fastest•selling

rowing 261

lion-tiger hybrid 59

Flattest

albums 219, 221

gun ownership in country 179

Rubik's Cube solved by robot

living laser 194

star 30

health care budget 156

Greatest

lase r ene rgy 195

rock concerts 219

contributor to Atmospheric Brown Cloud 37

ratio 1 57 frequency

roof bolting 109

playwright 222 videogames 228

warship 160

foreign aid

197 speed skating relay 260

man -made object to break sound barrier 207

223; film director 226; movies 214- 217, 226. 2 27

living neon sign 201

skateboard slalom 272

Fastest (speed)

World Air Games 270

ice hockey save percentage 246 biodiversity 40

manufacturing output 177

dinosaur nest 51

aircraft pull86

Sudoku completed 198

animals 62, 63

man on the Moon 20

colour vision 200

M MO hack 228

swimming 261

marriage rate 73

opening weekend for re-

bad minton hit 267

manned spaceflight 21, 26

depth cycled underwater 111

murder rate 156

typing from 1 to 1,000,000 199

military space shuttle mission

distance: cycled 258; flame

nuclear fusion energy output

released film 226 Rugby World Cup win 240

camera 194

walking with feet facing

canopy-piloting 270

backwards 75

social games company 164

cell 202

stock-market crash caused by

combat jet 181

automated trading 196

computer 195

wife carrying 109

drag racing 276, 277

woolsack racing 109

fibre-optic cable 200

wrapping person in newspaper

TV audience for Super Bowl act 219

wheel change on spinning car110 •

13

fighting vehicles 180, 181

Brightest

flying-boat 181

bioluminescence 200

galaxy approaching 30

Fewest

light ever observed 200

glider 270

planet seen from Earth 22

humanoid robot running 195

darts to score 1,000,001 268

ice hockey shot 246

28 military space station 28 motorcycle double backflip 275 motorway 186 mountaineering firsts 118, 1 20, 121 , 122, 123 music recording firsts 218, 219, 2 2 0, 2 2 1

divorces 156 eggs produced by fish 51

Nobel Peace Prizes 17 nuclear power stations 38 nuclear-powered pacemaker 38

Busiest

kite surfing 274

NHL wins In a season 246

airports 173

lacrosse shot 249

numbers for a culture 199

ocean canoeist 124

nuclear reactor in space 38

cargo airport 173

land mammal 58

points in basketball quarter

ocean rows 121, 122, 123, 124, 125

metro network 152

matter in the universe 30

railway network 174

microlight 270

smokers 1 56

Olympic alpinism medal 117

station 153

military submarine 181

toes 74

Olympics featuring athletes

251

motorcycle tightrope wheelie

from all continents 2 5 2

First

parking meters 153

airports 1 73

possible In universe 192-193

NB: Guinness World Records

peace treaty 17

finish in NASCAR racing 276

shark 48

only recognizes significant

pharyngeal jaws used to catch

shopping trolley, motorized

"firsts"

Closest

Coldest/Coolest

90

1 2, 1 3

acoustic hyperle ns 207

part of the Sun 24

skeleton sled 260

road 186

skiing 260

teachers 147

skyd iving 271

artificial guide star 201

snowboarding 272

armoured car squadron 180

aeroplane (powered) 20 AI devices 196,197

prey 205 planet found to orbit two stars 204 poison gas used on large sca le i n war 178 polar exploration firsts 118-11 9,

Darkest

spacecraft 20

extrasolar planet 30

standing on skateboard 272

man-made substance 195

star spinning 30

Deadliest/Most deadly

ten nis serve 266

anti-personnel robot 196

Tour de France 259

car to break sound barrier 124

production car factory176

conflict 160

train journey 174

charge distribution image I n

remote-controlled b u l l 202

tank 181

Everest year 124

trains 174

ascent of north face of Eiger 118 big cat in Europe 58 blockbuster movie 49 boomerang 178

single molecule 195

123

blown 90; run barefoot 257; i n wingsuit 271 .external foot rotation 75 gender difference in life expectancy 157 girth of living tree 43 lifting capacity for ship 189 loss by company 150

cat 58 p rize winnings on TV game show 225 product placement return for film 215

speed su rvived in motorcycle

sense of smell in a fish 48 span of athletics appearances 255 time d ilation 204 waterfall 132

domestic pig 61 family74

satellite destroyed from

armoured vehicle 180 artiodactyl47 birthweights 70, 71 black hole 31 eggs 51

city 1 5 2

policeman 204

horn bill horn 57

comics 212

satirical social network game

man 78

164

commercial filmed in space 27

science firsts 194, 195, 203

country to impose compulsory

scientific probe into tin-foi l

foundations 169 hydrothermal vent 40 multicellular life 194 note in universe 206 ocean dive 3, 119

�91 1,000 One-Day International runs 245 1 million followers on Twitter 164

road tunnel 187

athletics 252, 253, 254, 255

submarine dive (manned) 120

bog snorkelling 109

education 146 dark sky park 136 deep-ocean dive 118 dog in space 27 Earth -like extrasolar planet 204

hats 203 scientific treatise on spontaneous human combustion 154

population for a city 153

climbing Burj Khalifa 110 coconut piercing with finger

Farthest

110

archery arrow shot 268

comic book produced 213

bull's-eye thrown In darts 268

cycling 258, 259

car accident flight survived 162

driving across USA in reverse

distance: cycled underwater 111: gliding 270; survived

117 eating and drinking 92-93, 110;

European Venus orbiter 23 exoplanet that could support Ea rth -li ke life 20 expedition to reach South •

Pole 116

Explorers' Grand Slam 119, 125 factory to use standardized parts 176

space 26 space firsts 20, 21. 22. 23, 26-27, 28, 29 spacecraft to lift off from asteroid 21 spacecraft to reach surface of Mars21 Star Wars videogame 226

female prime min ister 159

survivor of two nuclear attacks

1 2 2, 271: powered parachute 271

straitjacket 90, 91, 111 farmer's walk 87

golf shot 264

fitting into box 82

hammer throw 255

hat-trick in rugby 241

juggling on un icycle 91 land-and - return sample mission 21

Isle of Man TT lap 277

jelly baby sorting 96 journeys 122, 123

Malteser blown 97

jump over moving cars 111

object ever visible t o the eye 31

kayaking across English

pogo stick underwater 111

Channel 124

ski fall su rvived 162

Le Mans lap 276

ski journey (solo) 119

marathons 256 -257

food irradiated commercially 38 flying car 184

twins 78 vehicle lifted with breath 86

262, 263; armcurls 87; beard 110: dead lift 86, 87:

Largest (number)

eye socket 86. 110; little

advertising agency revenues

finger 110: neck 110; nipples 86; at sea 189; tongue 86 woman 78 woman to give birth 71 wrestler 263

162 tank 180 tennis golden Grand Slam 266 theatre 222 trapeze firsts 90

batting average (baseball) 242

carbon dioxide levels 36 chocolate consumption 97 concentration: of heathers 40: of theme hotels 136 242: beach volleyball 248:

Twitter firsts 165

footballer 239; golfer 265:

wing180

heat- ray gun 203

use of term "shark" 48

helicopter firsts 1 82-183

videogame theme to win Grammy Award 229 voice recording 206

ten nis 266 bank collapse 1 5 0

163

TV firsts 224 UAV: aerial battle 181: combat

236; rugby 240, 241;

body burn percentage survived

graphene distillery 203

humans to walk on Moon 121

anti-war rally 16 armed force 160

auction of comic books 213

graphic novel 212

hologram 200

Antarctic expedition 119

birth rate 157

tree 42

haunted battle scene 154

151 a nimal tricks 62, 63

attendance: baseball 242

food smuggled into space 26

guns 178-179

Hottest

basketball 250: FI FA World

superhero 213

flights 116, 117, 118, 119

tree 43 tree nest 42 waterfall 138

Cup 239; Gaelic football

submarine car 184

escape: handcuffs 91, 111:

tusks 57

alcohol consumption 157

female president 158

autogyro 122: paraglider

sportswoman 7 8 statue 137

stigmatic 155

fascist dictator 159

fitness game 228

skateboarding ollie 272

Highest

cup of coffee 268; glass 110;

238

railway line 175

route-clearance vehicle 180

aircraft production 176

sweets 96 English Premier League goal

pedal bike (rideable) 185

stealth satellite 28

In tornado 162; tracked by Earth 20

wall climb 275 navigable lake 138

stealth aircraft i n combat 179

lost dog 144: travelled from flights: 1 2 2 ; airship 122;

motorcycle: tightrope 275;

planet 2 2

song beamed into deep

nervous systems 203

boxer 262

weights lifted 84-85, 86, 87,

sola r- powered road 186

ESP experiment in space 202

mountain 120. 130

marathon 257

electric railway (public) 174 electronic dialogue between

leap ing shark 48

heavywe ight world champion

place i n Solar System 24

eBay item sold 149

12 5: of Australia 125

skateboard 272

fruit and vegetables 94, 95

wedding cake 73

bus pulling 87

circumnavigations 116. 117. 119,

flame by fire- breather 90 j umps: animals 62-63;

skateboard 1080 272

ca r pushing 86 carrying weight 87

bridges 188, 189 dam 188

vehicle pulled by hair 86

underwater escape 111

Densest

Earth 29 BMX vertical air 275

sensory deprivation tank 203

submersible descent 119

objects i n universe 31

cat specimen 58; golf 270; nuclear explosion

collision of white dwarfs 31

computer firsts 196, 197, 200

altitude: achieved 21; big

29; paragliding 123, 271;

in wingsuit 271

Fastest (time)

airport 172

Happiest

wind in Solar System 24

100 m 232-233; while juggling

TV advertising rate 2 2 5

country 156

smog 36

Deepest 114-115

tree ring count 43

course 264; microlight

unmanned aerial vehicle 180

cold seep trench 41

crash 1 6 3 tank production rate 180

Highest (height) Hairiest

wacky vehicles 814, 185

digestive system 203

197

river flow 139

wars hip 181

robot: astronaut i n space 205;

quiz show score by a computer rated TV series 225 share value 1 5 0

Heaviest

road -traffic death 187

developer 164 pup il-to-teacher ratio 147

rescue without loss of life 162

aircraft pulled 86

railway firsts 174, 175

264; scientific proof of paranormal ability 202 population 157

mountain 120

122. 123, 124

prize money: golf tournament

price p a i d f o r social network

lake 155

circumnavigations 116, 117, 121,

loud 199 pitch mating call 50

milk-yielding g o a t breed 60

postal codes 152 project 204

number sequence counted out

north-south range fo r b i g

prehistoric extinct cloning preserved railway 175

38 nuclear power use (country) 38

earn ings: baseball player

movie actors 215; surfer 273: TV 224, 2 2 5 entertainment product revenue 209

battles 161 book of signatures 16 canopy formatio n 271 carbon dioxide (CO,) e missions 36 carnival 139 class with perfect attendance 147 coffee producer 1 5 6 collections 98-101: comics i n museum 213; haunted dolls 154; model cars 13: two-

field goal percentage 235

head ed animals 54:

food irradiation dose 39

videogames 228

companies 150, 151

bun leer 264

trilithons 128

red carpet at premiere 214

corporate bankruptcy 151

c a r parlc 1 53

truclc body 167

railway networks 175

163; with no pulse 162;

cream tea party 12. 1 3

cargo terminal 173

tunnel boring machine 189

railway platform 175

without food 163

dairy goat population 60

cat fangs 56

unicorn 54

reef 135

survived: trapped underground

surviving: Janus cat 55; transplant patients 163

DDT producer 36

cave 33

unma nned logistic vehicle 181

rift system 133

don key sanctuary 60

Cherenlcov telescope 194

Venusian atmospheric vortices

river 133, 139

table tennis rally 267

ecological footprint 157

circumstellar disc 31

emigrant population 156 ensembles 88 entertainment voice ·over project 226 fee paid for appearance i n videogame advert 228 festivals: beer 129 : comic 212: jazz 136 film merchandising franchise 227

roads 186, 187

tattoo session 76

cities 152, 153

vldeogame controller 228

runways/airstrips 172, 173

tennis rally 266

clothing 103

waist 75

snalce living 45

theatrical management

carle tree 43

waterfall132

subway 153

wedding bouquet 72

teeth 56, 47

theatrica l run 222

tongue 74

theatrical performance (solo)

crop glyph 155

23

dam (concrete) 1 88 deforestation 42

Last

trains 175

eggs48, 51

B53 weapon dismantled 178

tuslcs 57

e-waste site 37

man on the Moon 122

walll31

explosions in Solar System 25

piclc 'n' m ix sweets sold 97

wave surfed by a dog 62

factories 176, 177

wedding dress train 72

organization 223

222

precise value of pi 198 premature birth 71 produced Main Battle Tanlc 181 profitable restaurant chain 151 prolific: cat 144; ch icken 51; contemporary playwright 2 2 : dancing game scorer 228: mother 70: videogame series based on licensed property 227; videogame magazine 229 protective female tortoise 5 1

tramway in continual operation 174

recent sharlc family discovered

trapped in lift 162

remote: man-made object 20:

unexplained explosion detected from space 29

48 tree42 southerly: capital city 134:

financial rescue plan 151

feet 74

Least

fine in Grand Slam tennis 266

fish 48, 49

air pollution (city) 36

floclc of birds to invade house

foods and drinks 94-95:

appealing sound 207

Longest-running

weight held 87

spoofed film series 227

women's wrestling winning

talked -about Faceboolc topics

wedding veil 72

chocolate coin 12, 13, 96:

corrupt country 157

annual class reunion 147

food fight 128

rice cracker 12, 13; sweets

dense goat coat 60

comic 212

fortune made from film

96, 97

genetically diverse big cat 58

manufacturers 177 musical in London's West

155

franchise 226

galaxy cluster 30

peace for a country 160

game of Angry Birds 228

game reserve 133

varied diet for sharlc 48

gatherings: fancy dress 12, 13,

geoglyphs 138

End 223 paranormal magazine 154

89; pets 144; religious 89: in

glowing sea area 155

Lightest

pressurized-water reactor 39

space 27: women 89

golf facility 264

births 70

show on Broadway 223

guns (arm muscles) 74

car184

space grocery delivery

hammerhead sharlc 4 9

person 81

Guinness World Records attem pt 16 hula-hoop workout 13

hand-held firearm in space 29

landlocked navy 161

helicopter: 182: carrier 183

Longest (distance)

lessons: Gaelic football 236;

highland region on Venus 22

board slide 272

school146 litters 51, 58

horn spread for domestic cattle 56

programme 27

adrift at sea 162 aircraft restrained 87 banzai slcydive 271

Inca discovery 138

rugby 240, 241

basketball spinning on toothbrush 237

golf: hole 264; holed putt 264; shot 264

boxing world champion 262 breath held u nderwater lll

islands: reed 138; sand 135

inverted flight 270

land gorge 137

journeys 122-12 3; quad bilce 113

career: teacher 147;

movie premiere 226

land vehicle 189

nuclear-powered lighthouse

landfill sites 36, 37

jumps: by animals 63; monster

TV entertainer 225 embalmed lea der o n display

programme 38 nuclear reactor building programme 38

light bulb 201 lip plates 76

truck 275; walceboard 273;

159

waterskiing 274 Ieite surfing 274

full-body burn lll

LSD dose administered 203

motorcycle front flip 275

fusion reaction sustained 39

numbers198

Menger sponge 199

motorcycle reverse ride 275

gestation periods 48, 59

observatory concentration 19

model airport 172

open-sea race 261

house arrest 17

online auction house 149

monument 137

rail grind (snowboard) 273

house construction 154

online music playlist 164

mud building 132

rail slide (walceboard) 273

human presence in space 27

orangutan sanctuary131

newborn marsupial 51

slci races 260

i mprisonment for head of

parliament 158

nuclear power station 39

swum underwater with one

state 159

personnel carrier family 181

observation wheel 130

publisher of comics 213

oil spills 36, 37

tightrope crossings 90

lasting p ollution 37

red mud spill 36

palace 131

Tour de Fra nce 259; solo

lesson 147

satellite constellation 29

particle accelerator 191

school141

particle detector 38

school reunion 147

penis 50

breath 274

escape 259 train journey without changi ng trains 174

juggling 91

light bulb burning 200 lightning (man- mad e) 203 lived/ living: animals 52-53; forests 42; pets 5 3

sheep population 61

pinlc !alee 155

triple jum p 252

sports tournaments 238,

planetary rover 195

wave surfed 273

Loch Ness Monster vigil155

planets 22

wheelc hair stationary manual

lunar mission 122

268. 269 stand-up for charity 89

radioactive exclusion zone 39

stoclc market flotation 150

railway system 174

sunspots i n current solar

re-usable space craft 205

cycle 24

275

Main Battle Tanlc development 180

wheelies 275

marathons: darts 268; film watching 14; gaming 229;

roundabout 187

Longest (length)

takeover 150

sandstone monolith 134

baby born 70

ice h ockey 246; pool 169;

theatre cast 222

satellites 28

baculum 50

Tour d e France victory margin

scented garden for blind 132

skiing 260; snooker 169;

beard 75

static cycling 258; surfing

sculptures 105

beetle with e nlarged jaws 57

273; tenpin bowling 169; TV

sharlc pups 48

bicycle 184

chat show 224

259 trading volume in day 150 triathlon race 260 tricorder competitio n 205

ships: container 189; cruise

matches: badminton 267;

bridges 188, 189

squash 267; tennis 266;

canals 188

Test cricket 244

slum 152

candy floss 96

snail pet 144

cartoon strip 105

weddings 72 , 73

solar flare 25

cat 144

neclc hang 90

white tiger population 58

solar granules 25

cat whiskers 144

netball game 248

wingsuit formation 271

solar prominence 24

channel in Solar System 23

observational science data 25

dams188

ocean row solo 125

dog tail144

operating nuclear power

World Series 242 video sharing website 164

Largest (size) 102-103

61 , 1 89

binary number memorized 199

shopping centre 152

TV audience: roclc concert 220;

Solar System object 25 solar tsunamis 25

model railway magazine published 175

acoustic mirror 207

space station 205

airport 172

spider 55

escalator, metro 153

planetary day 2 2

air terminal 173

spider sillc clothing item 55

fibre- optic cable 200

radio show broadcast 12 , 13

amphipod crustacean 54

stadiums 235. 243. 267 structures: Ice 129; magnetic

finge rna ils 74, 75

Ryder Cup unbeaten streak

amphitheatre 128

driverless metro network 152

foods 9 5

anechoic test chamber 207

25; marine animal41;

graffiti scrol l 105

animals 46-47

religious 130; in universe 31

hair 74

station 38

•

264

serving: female prime minister 159: heads of state 159;

antlers 57

sunspot group 24

horns on sheep 57

headteacher 147; music

arcology project 152

swimming pool139

teacher 147; polar research

artworks 104. 105

teeth 56; sharlc 48

kissing chain 13

bell foundry 176

testes (animal) 51

neclc 76

solar ecli pse. total 24

big cats 58, 59

theatre 222

nose 74, 75

solar minimum 25

biomes 40-41

tractor-beam study 204

optical tape measure 201

spaceflight simulation 21

bowers 50

tram network (urban) 153

paintings 105

spacesuit mission 27

bubble-gum bubble blown

tree transplanted 42

pine cone 42

spent in box 82

proof 199

submergence underwater lll

through nose 97

tricycle 184

varied diet for sharlc 48

penis 50

visited: Silch shrine 130; theme

pipe organ 207 siren 206 sounds 206

motorcycle race circuit 277

park 137; waterfall 136 wanted man 161 watched man on TV 224 widely distributed big cat 59

FTSE 100 closing price 150

eyeball pop 75 fall survived in a lift 162

antimatter trapped 194

228

variable stature 81

burp 206

widely used animal fibre 60

full- body burn running 12, 13

mobile phone gaming party

animals 206, 207

widely viewed factual

goals: American football 234;

military operations 161

travelled toy mascot 123

Bacon number 202

human organ model104 hyperbolic crochet 198

165 translated comic 212

Loudest

Longest (time/duration)

horned toad 56

impact crater on Venus 22

road 186

Lowest

manufacturers 176, 177; helicopter 183

streak 263

TV shows 224

mail irradiation programme 38

me nu in space 27

wait for class reunion 147

station 120

programme 224

marathon 257 marriage rateJ3. 156

Most advanced

numbers 198

humanoid robot 197

population density 15 6

pilot helmet 1 7 8

pupil-to -teacher ratio 146

sniper rifle 178

roadworthy car 184

synthetic human brain 196

score: golf 264, 265; Test side innings 244

warhead casing material179 weapon for drones 179

temperature ever 119

Most dangerous Most abundant

road 187

farm mammal 60

tree42

Most

Most expensive

accurate cloclc 194

artworks 105

acidic acid rain 36; i n Solar System 22 adaptable electronic camouflage 179 bioluminescent sharlc 49 bloodthirsty bird 55

auction items 105, 148-149 baseball, signed 148 boolc illustration 105 calendar 148 chair149 city to parlc in 152

calorific burger 93

cloclc 148

cannibalistic amphibian 55

coin 149

cold -tolerant trees 43

comics 212

colourful cattle 55

conversion error 202

common: language sound 206; military helicopter 182 complex: road junction 187; roundabout 187 crooked road 187

diamond 149 doll148 dress 149 eBay item sold 149 elephant painting 130

democratic country 157

false teet h 148

detailed map of Antarctic

game show 225

bedroclc 194

guitar148

disliked video online 164

handbag 148

distant: dwarf galaxy 31;

hotel room 128

extra solar planet 20;

IPL player 245

object in universe 31

jacket 148

durable TV presenter 224

jewel sold at auction 149

extensive scarification 76

letter149

extreme airports 172

memorabilia 148

famous celebrity 211

musical instrument 149

fertile sticlc insect 51

office location 168

frequent mating 51

Old Master drawing 105

heavily armed space station 29 highly decorated

pearl necklace 149 photograph 105, 149 radio equipment 149

servicewoman of

single weapon system 180

World War 1 1 160

soccer player 238

influential people i n history 210

sweet dispenser 96 teddy bear 149

irrational number 198

theatre production 222

isolated human 121

toilet system 26

life-lilce android 196

toy soldier 148

lilced video online 165

tree 42

luminous star in galaxy 30

truffle 148

northerly: airport 173;

TV: commercial/

marathon 257; tramway terminus 175

adverti se ment 225; series 224

parasitic trees 42

videoga mes 119

p ierced tongue 77

wedding 72; pet 144

poisonous shark 48 portrayed character in film 215

wedding calce slice 72 wedding dress 72 whislcy149

Most (number)

marathon runners linked 257

wakeboard inverts 273

147 breaks in snooker 249

marathons run 256

watermelons crushed with

180s in darts match 268

Mentes and soda fountains 93

head 93

ai rcraft rolls 270

microlights airborne 270

water rockets launched 13

apples snapped 93

military personnel rescued at

waterski flips 274

arrows caught 110 art contest 104

sea 160

money: lost by a film 214;

wedding guests 73 weddings: soap opera 73;

art gallery space 129

made at auction by artist

assassination attempts 159

105; raised for cha rity by

weeks as tennis No.1 266

bananas snapped 93

Broadway show 223

wheelchair spins 275

baseballs held i n baseball glove 237 basketball circles around waist 237

movie sequels released in year 215

underwater 73

World 's Strongest Man/ Woman wins 86, 87

multiple births 70, 71; in one year at one school 146

railway company 174

Strangest

railway station 174

objects falling from sky 1 55

road surface i n use 186 skyscraper city 152

Steepest

sports clubs: baseball

road 186

243; netball 248 sportsmen: athlet ic s 2 5 2 , 254; baseba ll 242; beach volleyball 248;

Stretchiest

boxing 262; cycling 259;

skin 74

darts 68; F 1 winner 277;

X Games medals 272, 273

golf 2 64; gymnastics 69;

Strongest

ice h o c key 246;

animal63

Muslim pilgrims 130

Most popular

marathon runners 69,

billionaires 150

names for a mammal 59

dog breeds 145

257; Olympic medallists

blind people 157 BMX tricks 275 body modifications 77 body piercings 76, 77 bottle c a p s removed w i t h head 12, 13 boxing bouts as professional 262 bridges i n a city 153

ocean crossings: rowing 124; solo 124 official languages 1 57 Olympic gold medals won:

number199 schoolkids 147 sweet 96 tourist destination 128, 1 57

bobsleigh 260; hockey 248;

Tallest

traffic light 186

actor 78

260; swimming 261; water

nuclear- powered cargo

polo 248; wrestling 262 Oscar nominations 21 5, 226

ship 39 radio signal deliberately

Oscars won 214, 215, 226

Most successful

participants: Furnace Creek

action -fig ure range 227

508 258; haunted house study 154 people: in fancy dress 89; head shaving 88; in Mini Cooper 88; on a motorcycle 88; in

chin- ups 12, 13, 87

one pa ir of pants 13; in soap

chocolates stacked 1 5

bubble 88; on theme- park

clean sheets in F I FA World

ride 88; wearing underwear

Cup 238

88 performances: in one

coins stacked 1 5

Broadway show 223; of

competitors i n hot-dog eating

one- man show 223

contest 93 computers per ca pita 156

pictures downloaded from website 165

concrete blocks broken 111

pine boards broken 1 3

content uploaded to on line

plastic bags used in a rt work

video service 165 countries for a head of state 158 crystals on wedding dress 72 cucumbers snapped 93

105 players in soccer exhibition previews for Broadway show 222 primary schools 146

deaths on Everest 124

prize money in ATP season 231

dolphins born 50

product placements in film 215

draughts players underwater

pull-/push - ups 87

108

Razzie nominations 214

eating feats 92, 93 , 96, 97

runs: baseball 243; cricket 244

editions of comic 213

book series based on film box-office month 215 feature-film spin-off 214

film merchandising franchise 227

saves by goaltender 247

eggs laid by dinosaur 51

schools attended 146

escalators in metro system 153

sendi ncos-off in World Cup 239

speech sound 206 tiger hybrids 59

art works 105

media tycoon 151

edition of Shakespeare work

monarch 158

222

nations 151 people 142-143 pets 144

Xbox sold at auction 229

citizens 79 dog 145 horse living 6(1

hotel 171

mammal46

monument 170 mountain o n Venus 23

professional model 79 pyramid 133

Nearest

actor81

star to the Sun 20

stone Buddha 131

ba by, newborn 80

supermassive black hole 30

bull61 cat 144

Newest

citizens 79

big cat 58

commercial runway 173

independent country 157

dogs 145

number198

donkey 61

sea- launched ballistic missile

ears for goat breed 60 horse 60 man 65, 80, 81

Oddest

married couple 80

animal 55

national leader 159

structure 170 teenager 79 tower 12 , 13, 171 trees 42- 43 tribe 78 twins living 79 tyre 185 unicycle ride 184

world leader 159

things sold on eBay 149

railway track 174

Thickest

siblings 80 street 186

planetary atmosphere 22

Oldest 68-69

stuntman 81

Widest

teenager 80

brid ge 134

fingers and toes 74 fire torches extinguished with mouth 14

sixes in an innings 245 skateboard tricks 272 skyscrapers in a city 1 52

flames blown 90

slam dunks by parrot 63

followers on Twitter 165

sniper kills 161

Formula One pole positions

soccer: passes 15;

276 garners voting in gaming award 229

touches 237 social networking 165 South Pole treks 118

baseball diamond 242

twins 80 woman 80, 81

best man 72 big wave competition 243 birth parents 71

Shortest-lived star 3 0

timekeepers 147

bus rapid -tra nsit network 153

Shortest (time)

Youngest 106 -107

bridesmaid 72

carnivorous marsup ial 52

presidency 159

ghost 154

Test match 244

biome40

heads of state 158

war 1 60

car crash su rvivor 162

irrational number 198

Spitfires flown 180

island 133

Slowest

stacked benches held

koala s'anctuary 134

growing tree 43

guns in videogame 229 hat-tricks (soccer) 238

Stanley Cup finals refereed 246

higher education students 146

stations In metro system 152

home runs (baseball) 242, 243

strikes (tenpi n bowling) 269

light 200

Smallest

marathon 256

big cats 58, 59

metro syste m 152

bird egg 51

model train set 175

chameleon 55

tattoos 76, 77

mountaineers 120, 121

collection 101

hostage-taking in country 160

teams in rugby World Cup 241

national park 136

comic 213

teeth 56 , 74

number problem unsolved

wins 229 internet users per capita 156 juggling catches 91

'

Test match: d ism issa ls 245; runs 244; wins 244 theatre awards 223

198

investment banker 150 monarchs 158, 159 Nobel Peace laureate 17

locomotive roundhouse 174

horns on: giraffe 57; sheep 57 international Street Fighter

billiona ire 151, 164

head of state 1 58

gill slits on a shark 48

between teeth 87

nuclear waste accident 37 sulphur d ioxide fire 36

bride & groom 72

golf holes p layed in year 265 graphic novel contributors 213

Worst air pollution 36

animals 53

ecosyste m 40 farm animal breeds 61

ocean rower 124

frog 55

open-a ir cinema operating 134

he licopter 183

ocean rower 124 person to have wisdom tooth extracted 74 recording artists 21 8, 219 referees: soccer 237; rugby 240 sportsmen: athletics 254; basketball 250, 251; beach volleyball 248; bowling 269; cycling 259;

kicks to head 110

torches put out 90

opera 223

magnetic memory bit 195

knives thrown around human 91

Tours de France completed 259

Oscar-wi nning actor 214

model railway 175

golf 265; ice hockey 247;

nuclear-powered attack

judo 263; kite surfing 274;

lanes on a road 186

trees destroyed by storms 42

legs 55

triplets/twins in one year at

lightning strikes survived 162 loops: hang gliding 270; paragliding 271

one school 146 tweets per second 164 vehicles run over stomach 86

macaws born 50

vehicle transformations 184

marathon finishers 257

veto d'Or awards 258

pair of Levi's 149 people 2, 66- 67, 68, 69

person to begin primary school 146 person to grow new tooth 74

submarine 38 placental mammal baby 50 robotic space plane 28 semelparous mammal 50

pets 145

stars 30

president 158

van 184

Nostromo (Alien)

woman 7 9

automated nuclear weapons

rugby match 241

�

water slide 139

amusement park 129

sires by a bull 51

Battlestar Galactica (Battlestar Galactica)

obelisk 170

SFX characters played 215

book 213

Vigilant (Farscape)

observation whe el 170

siblings: born on same day

film adaptations of comic

�

moai 138 mohican 75

sportsmen 13, 78, 79

control system 205

Serenity (FirenyJSerenity)

marathon costume 256

Everest ascents 121

70; playing in international

..,.,.

minaret 132

eyes for a fish 54 facial piercings 76

USS Enterprise (Star Trek)

bu ild ings 3, 110, 170-171

Shortest

178

us, •

man 74, 79

Richest/Wealthiest family 143 investor 151

sports team 239

a n swers:

cat 144

don key living 61

Rarest

Most valuable

object stolen 128

bigfoot 154

chimney 170 place o n Earth 207

horse race 260

races won by a sheep 63

du c k s in Twe nty20 cricket 245

wedding cake 72 yoga teacher 12, 13

Quietest

match 236

cups kicked off a head 111

trees 43

beamed into space 205

series 227

children born to one mother 71

clothing used in bird's nest 55

son ic boom by aircraft 206

tightrope walker 90

parachute tandem jumps 271

chart hi ts 219, 220, 221

ma nufacturing robot 176

Most powerful

own goals (soccer) 238, 239

champagne bottles sabred 111

Olymp ics 260 terrestrial biome 41 theatres 2 2 2

c

How did you get on with i - fi ships quiz on p.205? Here are the

ou r s

force 39 magnetic fields o n Sun 25

jet engines 122

British Opens hosted 265

chainsaw juggling catches 110

s k i i n g 260; Winter

rowin g 261 ; soccer 239:

Caesarean sections 71 pet144

2 5 2 , 2 6 0; rugby 241 ;

bird gizzard 55 dam 188

skiing 260; speed skating

celebrities photographed with centuries in cricket 245

tightrope 90

bobs lei gh 260; bowls 6 8 ;

bench presses underwater 86 birdies in PGA Tour event 264

roller coaster 131 runway at airport 17 3

FACT vs FICTION

divi ng 274; drivers 277;

marathon 257; Olympic medallists 254, 260; pool 269; rugby 240; skiing 260;

snooker 269

state lead e r to control nuclear weapons 160

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

�'"" Trek)

m Tripod

(War of the Worlds)

Guinness World Records would like

Jurgalski (8000ers.com): Mark Karges:

Taylor; John Taylor (Skyhawk Aerobatics);

NASA 25: NASA; NASA; NASA

to thonk the following for their help

Yuriko Katsumata; Alex Keeter; lryna

Theatrical Management Association

26: NASA: Getty Images: Science Photo

Shah/Guinness World Records; Maria Elisa

in compiling this ynr's edition:

Kennedy (Irish Long Distance Swimming

(TMA), London; Themed Entertainment

Library 27: NASA; NASA: Rex Features;

Duque/GWR; John Wright/GWR; Owee

Association): Siobhan Kenney (Protected

Association: Spencer Thrower: TNR:

Getty Images: Getty Images 28: Boeing;

Salva/GWR: Prakash Mathema/GWR

Areas Programme. U NEP-WCMC):

Julian Townsend; truTV (Marissa. Adam,

Michael Stonecyphe/USAF 29: Getty

81: Getty Images: Uu Hong Shing/AP/PA;

Actors' Equity Association: Ruth Adams

Punit Paranjpe/Getty Images: Ashesh

and Smokey: Dr John Andrews, OBE:

Anne B Kerr: Erik Kessels; Keys; Rlshl

Angel, Marc. Stephen, Michael): UIM

Images; Getty Images 30: Science Photo

Owee Salva/GWR; Owee Salva/GWR;

Ascent Media: EricAtkins: Back-to-back

Khanna; Christopher Knee (International

(Union lnternatlonale Motonautlque);

Library; David A Aguilar (CfA); NASA;

Jonathan Lewis/GWR: Gary Parker: John

worldwide competition: Nigel Baker

Association of Department Stores);

V&A Theatre & Performance Enquiry

Reuters 31: Science Photo Library; NASA

Wrighi/GWR 82: Paul Michael Hughes/

(Boxing Monthly); Josh Balber: Patrick

Dr Jennifer Krup: Siddharth Lama: Orla

Service: Alex Valerio; Pedro Vazquez;

32: Carsten Peter/Getty Images

GWR 84: MedlcalRF.com/Getty Images;

Barrie (English Tiddlywinks Association);

Langton; Thea Langton; The Library of

Lorenzo Veltri: Gabriela Ventura; Viacom18

34: Steven Kazlowski/Getty Images: Mann

Darling Kindersley/Getty Images; Doug

BBC Sport Relief: Sarah Bebbington:

Congress; Martin Lindsay; Ashley Fleur

(Sandhya, Romil); Anneka Wahlhaus;

et al: Alex Tingle 35: Fleetham Dave/

Penslnger/Getty Images 85: Bertrand

Dr George Beccaloni (Natural History

Unklater; Lion Television; Nickie Lister

Charley Wainwright; Adam West:

Getty Images: William Wesi/Getr., Images;

Guay/Getty Images: Action Plus Sports

Museum: Bender Helper Impact; Morty

(Shiver Productions): Ashley Lodge; David

Beverley Williams; Adam Wilson; Stewart

Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images: NOAA/

lmages/Alamy 86: Ahmad Yusni/Getty

Berger (NYC Swim): Justin Bieber: Dr

Lotz: Peter Lowell: Dave McAleer: Sean

Wolpin; Lydia Wood; Dan Woods; World

Getty Images 36: Mike Sega/Reuters:

Images 87: Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters;

Janet Birkett: Bleeding Cool; Chelsea

Macaulay: Ewen Macdonald (Sea Vision

Planetarium database - APLF (France):

Tomas Benedikovic/isifa/Getty Images;

Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters 89: Niall

Bloxsome; Bolina; Boneau/Bryan-Brown;

UK); Eshani Malde; Albert, Stan and Sami

Tobias Hugh Wylie-Deacon: X-Leisure

Bill Bachmann/Photoshot; Munlsh

Carson/PA; ; Bikas Das/AP/PA: Piyal

Bonhams; Michael Borowski; Catherine

Mangold; Steve Marchant; Duane Marden

and West India Quay; Nada Zakula; Cherry

Sharma/ Reuters; James P Blair/Getty

Adhikary/EPA 91: Ryan Schude/GWR;

Bowell; The British Library: Broadway

(Roller Coaster Database): Clodomiro

Zhu; Zippy Production (Mitsue): Zodiak

Images 37: NASA: Kevin Lee/Getty

Richard Bradbury/GWR 92: Kevin Scott

League; lindsey Brown; Matt Burrows:

Marecos; Mike Margeson: Missy Matilda;

Rights: Eric Zuerndorfer; Vincent Zurzolo.

lrtlages 38: Reuters; Reuters; David

Ramos/GWR; Kevin Scott Ramos/GWR

Karumi Bustos (Zone Diet): Ronald

Clare "Babes" Mclean (Flawless Files);

Plus the children and staff at StThomas·

Prutchl: Ho New/Reuters 39: Getty

93: Cindy Ord/Getty Images; Adam

"Ron" Byrd Akana: Cameron Mackintosh

Alex Meloy; M etropolis Collectibles,

Hospital. and all of our incredible

Images; Andy Sotiriou/Getty Images:

Harnett/Caters 94: Xavier La Canna/PA:

Limited; H ayley Campbell: The Cartoon

Inc. & ComicConnect.com; Miditech

record holders

Zoltan Balogh/Getty Images; Boris

Kevin Scott Ramos/GWR 95: Christopher

Museum (London); Jennifer Cartwright;

(Niret. Nivedith, Tarun, Alphi. Nikita);

Horvat/Getty Images; Maciej Frolow/Getty

Furlong/Getty Images 96: Paul Michael

CCTV China (Guo Tong, Liu Ming, Wang

Jerry Mlka (Asian Trekking): Mark Millar;

PICTURE CREDITS

Images 40: Ala my; Peter Walton/Getty

Hughes/GWR 97: David Jones/PA

Wei, Lin Feng, Liu Peng): Alan Cassidy,

Tamsin Mitchell: Harriet Molloy; Sophie

2: Sir/Reuters; Sipa Press/Rex Features;

Images; TonyWu/Getty Images; Woods

98: James Ellerker/GWR 99: Cheryl

OBE (British Aerobatic Association):

and Joshua Molloy; Anik6 Nemeth M6ra

Sipa Press/Rex Features; Pascal Parrot/

Hole Oceanographic Institution; Swedish

Ravelo/ Reuters; Cheryl Ravelo/ Reuters;

Clara and Camille Chambers; Georgina

{International Weightliftlng Federation);

Sygma/Corbis; Georges Gobet/AP/PA

Museum of Natural History 41: Paul

Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters; WENN: Ranald

Charles: David Checkley (British Cave

Mark Muir (GRG); Steven Munatones

3 : Keystone USA-ZUMA/Rex Features;

Harris/Getty Images: Richard Benson/

Mackechnie/GWR 100: Shinsuke

Research Association): Leland Chee:

(Open Water Source); Simon Murgatroyd;

Getty Images: Charles Fisher 42: National

Mark Chi snell; Simone Ciancotti: City

Kevin Murphy (Channel Swimming and

Mark Greenberg/Virgin Oceanic 4: Ryan

(

Schude/GWR 6 : Rebecca Fall 7: Jose

Geographic; Forestry Tasmania; Thomas

Kamioka/GWR; Ryan Schude/GWR 101: Ranald Mackechnie/GWR

Montessori School: CITVC China (Wang

Piloting Federation); National Maritime

Luis Pelaez/Getty Images: Apple inc:

Hamer; Ala my; Rodrigo Baleia Getty

102: James Ellerker/GWR: Ranald

Qiao); Joyce Cohen: Collaboration (Mr

Museum (Claire Hyde, Sheryl Twigg, Rosie

Amazon: Barnes and Noble

Images 43: Alamy: Karl Brodowsky:

Mackechnie/GWR 103: Ryan Schude/

Suzuki. Miho, Masumi); Adam Cloke;

Linton): Captain Dexter Nelson (Oklahoma

8 (UK): McPix Ltd/Rex Features:

iStock 44: Kevin Scott Ramos/GWR

GWR 104: Rex Features 105: Otto

Comic Connect: Connection Cars (Rob and

City Police Department): Forrest Nelson

Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

48: Gary Bell/Oceanwide Images;

Greule lr/AP/PA: Francois Lenoir/Reuters;

Tracey Dunkerley): Don Coulson: Council

(Catalina Channel Swimming); Gemma

8 (US): Rahav Segev/Photopass.com:

Jennifer Crites; Andy Murch/Oceanwide

Paul Michael Hughes/GWR 106: David

on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat:

Nelson; New Jersey Performing Arts

White House/Chuck Kennedy: Mark

Images 49: Steve Bloom/Alamy; Rand

Grubbs/AP/PA; Kevin Scott Ramos/GWR 107: Steve Marcus/Reuters; Steve

Kenneth and Tatiana Crutchlow: Andrew

Center; Jessica Nichols; Greg O'Connor

Wilson/Getty Images

McMeins/Getty Images; Shutterstock

Currie: Dr Patrick Darling: Anastassia

(The Boston Light Swim Association);

8 (Canada): G W R 9 (UK): Robbie

50: Katherine Feng/FLPA 51: N H PA;

Marcus/Reuters: Paul Michael Hughes/

Davidzenka: Walter Day (Twin Galaxies);

Nicola Oakey (Virgin London Marathon):

Reynolds/CPR: Paul Michael Hughes/

Andrea Florence/Ardea; Mark Jones/Getty

GWR 108: Dave Thompson/PA: Dave Thompson/PA 109: Bonnie Salzman:

DC Thomson: Denmaur Independent

Ralph Oates (boxing); Shaun Opperman

GWR 9 (US): James Crisp: lames

Images: Gary Ombler/Getty Images;

Papers Limited; Mrs M . E. Dimery; The

(Battersea Dog Refuge): Michael Oram;

Crisp: Anthoula Lelekldis

DragOs 52: Michael Kern/Corbis; Joel

Madalyn Ruggiero/Eyevine: Getty Images;

Dock Museum, Barrow-In-Furness; Joshua

Ruben Dario Orue Melgarejo; Tiffany

9 (Canada): Ray Mickshaw/Getty

Sartore/Getty Images: J & C Sohns/Getty

lens Meyer/AP/PA 110: Alexander Pihuliak/GWR 112: Sacha Kenyon

Do'Nling; Helen Doyle: Europroduzione/

Osborne (Virgin London Marathon): Peace

lmagesPaul Michael Hughes/GWR:

Images; Laurie Campbell/Getty Images

Veralia (Marco, Stefano. Gabriel, Renate,

One Day; Andrew and Charlotte Peacock:

Ashesh Shah/GWR: Prakash

53: Jurgen & Christine Sohns/FLPA;

114: NOAA; Galen Borgonie/University

Carlo): Toby and Amelia Ewen: Eyeworks

Daniel Phillips; Dr Clara Piccirillo; Elena

Mathema/GWR 10 (UK): Comic

George Grall/Getty Images; SuperStock;

Ghent; Stephen Alvarez/Getty Images

Germany {Kaethe, Andi, Michael, Oliver,

Polubochko: Sarah Prior; Dr Robert

Relief: Steve Meddle/Rex Features:

John Binns 54: Oceanlab/Uni of

115: Jamstec: MarkThlessen/AP/PA

Martin): Eyeworks Australia and New

Putlar; Shawn Purdy; Miriam Randall;

Comic Relief: Comic Relief: Comic

Aberdeen; Caters; Caters; Richard

116: Ala my: Stephane Mahe/Reuters:

Zealand (Julie. Alison): F J T Logistics

Lauren Randolph; Dr Donald Rau; Simon

Relief 1 0 (US): Lou Rocco/ABC, inc

Bradbury/GWR 55: FLPA: Nature PL

Getty Images; Getty Images; Getty Images;

Limited (Ray Harper, Gavin Hennessy);

Raw; Robert Reardon; Am non Rechter;

1 0 (Canada): Philip Robertson/Britrock

Getty Images 117: Gerardo Garcia/

Benjamin Fall: Rebecca Fall: Joanna Fells:

Dr Ofra Rechter: Re:fine Group; John

Photography: Philip Robertson/Britrock

56: E R Degginger/Alamy; Juniors

Bildarchiv/Alamy; Paul Nicklen/Getty

Reuters; Mercedes Benz; Getty Images;

Rebecca Felts; Simon Fells; Hannah Finch

Reed (WSSR Council); Rachel Reiner;

Photogra phy 11 (UK): Matt Writtle/

Images 57: Tom Walker/Getty Images:

Getty Images; Getty Images 118: Leon

(VIrgin London Marathon): Noah Fleisher:

Brian Reinert; Tom Richards; Fran Ridler

Evening Standard: si m onjacobs.com:

Mark Bowler/Photoshot; FLPA 58: Vano

Neal/Getty Images; Robert Hollingworth;

Patrik Folco: Esteve Font Canadell:

(Virgin London Marathon): Jenny Robb

CPR: David Parry/PA Wire

Shlamov/Getty Images: Paul Sawer/FLPA:

Getty Images: Getty Images 119: Reuters;

Formulation Inc (Marcus, Ayako, Kei);

(Curator and Assistant Professor at Billy

11 (US): Kena Betancur/Reuters: NBAE

Andy Rouse/Nature PL 59: Elliott Neep/

Reuters: Rex Features: AP/PA: Getty

Justin Garvanovic (Editor-in-Chief,

Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio

1 1 (Canada): Colette Orfeo/GWR:

Getty Images: Splash News: AP/PA; Anup

Images 120: Robin Paschall; Ho New/

European Coaster Club); Gerontology

State University}; Gus and Dan Robertson;

Jason Franson/AP 12: Maxwell

Shah/Getty Images: Slobodan Djajic/

Reuters; Ala my 121: Photoshot; Getty

Research Group; Gerosa Group; Stewart

Jennifer Robson; Royal Shakespeare

Photography/GWR; Tokyo-Skytree;

Getty Images 60: Kevin Scott Ramos/

Images; Michael Burnett/Rex Features;

Gillies: Sean Glover: Paul Gravett; Jackie

Company; Rosy Runciman: Richard

Alexander Pihuliak/GWR; Alexander

GWR 61: Paul Michael Hughes/GWR:

NASA 122: AP/PA; Chien-min Chung/

Green: Martin Green; Victoria Grimselt:

Salisbury (The Himalayan Database): Tore

Plhullak/GWR; Tesco; Matt May/GWR;

James Ellerker/GWR 62: Ryan Schude/

Getty Images: Alamy 123: APPI; Polar

Alyson Hagert: Megan Halsband:

Sand: Santa Barbara Channel Swimming

Adrian Holerga 13: Paul Michael Hughes/

GWR 63: Paul Michael Hughes/GWR:

Circles - Dixie Dansercoer; Rex Features;

Kristin Mie Hamada: Hampshire Sports

Association {Scott Zornig and Evan

GWR: Paul Michael Hughes/GWR; Gerard

James Ellerker/GWR 64: Navesh

Ala my; David Cheski n/PA: AP/PA

and Prestige Cars (Richard Johnston):

Morrison): Schleich; Shaun Searle (Four

Farrell/GWR; Matt May/GWR 14: Sam

Chitrakar/Reuters 66: Getty Images:

124: Huntswood; Mirrorpix; Angel Medina

Carmen Alfonzo de Hannah; Stuart

One Four ltd (BMX)): The Shakespeare

Christmas/GWR 16: Simone Joyner/Getty

Science Photo Library; Frank Schwere/

G./epa/Corbis: Getty Images; Getty

Hendry; H eritage Auctions: High Noon

Guild; Sean Shannon; Bill Sharp

Images; AFP/Getty Images; Stuart Wilson/

Getty Images; Frank Schwere/Getty

Images 125: Paul Scambler; Roz Savage;

Entertainment (Pam. Jim, Andrew. Fred,

(Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards):

Getty Images; Peace One Day ltd; Eric

Images; Reuters 67: iStock; Getty Images;

ABACA/PA: Getty Images 126: iStock

Peter. Rachel); HighestBridges.com:

Ang Tshering Sherpa; Apa Sherpa; Dawa

Vandeville/GAMMA/Getty Images;

iStock: Casula/Getty Images: Getty

128: Hans Elbers/Getty Images: Lucy

Graham Hill (Aerobatics): Deb Hoffmann:

Sherpa; Elisa Shevitz; Samantha Shutts

Amnesty International 17: Stuart Wilson/

Images; Frank Schwere/Getty Images:

Nicholson/Reuters; Jochem D Wijnands/

Francois Mo ri/AP/PA 68: Lowell Mason

Getty Images; Getty Images 129: Getty

Hal Holbrook; Marsh K Hoover: Alan

(Columbus Zoo and Aquarium): Richard

Getty Images: Samir Husseln/Getty

Howard (Archives Director, International

Sisson: Tom Sjogren (ExplorersWeb);

Images; Peace One Day ltd; AFP/Getty

69: Anne Kerr; Don Coulson: Paul Michael

Images: Walter Bibikow/Getty Images:

Juggters Association); Dora Howard;

Lottie, Jemima and Emma Skala;

Images; Jorge Lopez

Hughes/GWR 70: Rex Features; Craig

Niels Poulsen/Alamy; Thomas Lohnes/ Getty Images 130: Bazuki Muhammad/

I Reuters; Getty

Matilda Howard; Katherine Howetts:

SLATE PR; Ben Smith; Society of London

Images 18: Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis

Conner/North News; Getty Images

Colin Hughes: Paullbell: ICM (Michael

Theatres (SOLT); Maria Somma; Lyle

20: Getty Images; Getty Images; NASA:

71: lames Ambler/Getty Images 72: AP/

Reuters; Nari nder Nanu/Getty Images:

and Greg); INP Media (Bryn Downing);

Spatz; Spectratek Technologies, Inc

Getty Images; NASA; NASA; NASA;

PA; Rick Wilking/Reuters; Reuters

Ang Tshring Sherpa/Reuters; Shilpa Harolikar/Getty Images: Adrees Latif/

Integrated Colour Editions Europe

(Mike Foster, Mike Wanless); Square

Antonio Rosario/Getty Images; ESO:

75: James Ellerker/GWR: Kevin Scott

(Roger Hawkins, Susie Hawkins, Clare

Four; Peter Stanbury; Jennifier Stewart

NASA 21: Getty Images; NASA; ESA:

Ramos/GWR: Shinsuke Kamioka/GWR

Reuters 131: Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty

Merryfield); International Planetarium

(The Broadway League); Stora Enso

laxa/ISAS/Ciel et E space Photos :

Images: Steve Allen/Getty Images: iStock;

Society: Amy Isabel: Itonic (Lisa Bamford

Veitsiluoto; Storyvault Films (Olivia

Perspectx: NASA; NASA; NASA; Pline;

76: Daniel Bazan/GWR 77: Kevin Scott

Ramos/GWR: Paul Michael Hughes/GWR

James Balog/Getty Images: Getty Images

and Keren Turner): Nicolas Janberg

Lichtenstein. Kieran Carruthers, Georgia

Getty Images; NASA 22: Detlevvan

78: Splash News; Tomas Bravo/GWR;

132: Pascal Rosslgnol/Reuters; Yves

(Structurae): Melanie Johnson: Roger

Cheates); Strongman Champions League

Ravenswaay/Science Photo Library; Don P

Ranald Mackechnie/GWR 79: PA;

Herman/Reuters; Ala my: Larry Dale

Johnson (The Sherlock Holmes Journal);

(llkka Kinnune and Marcel Moster!);

Mitchell; Getty Images: NASA 23: Max

I mag no/Getty Images; Richard Bradbury/

Gordon/Getty Images; Nigel Dennis/Getty

Rich Johnston: Barbara Jones (Lloyds

Tej Sundher; Amy Taday; Em ily Taday;

Planck Institute; Getty Images; ESA

GWR; Nir Elias/Reuters 80: Prakash

Images 133: Tarek Mostafa/Reuters;

Register Reference Library); Eberhard

Daina Taimina; Charlie, Daisy and Holly

24: NASA: NASA; NASA; NASA; NASA:

Mathema/GWR; Prakash Mathema/GWR;

Peter Adams/Getty Images; Ulrich

Doering/Alamy; Bertrand Rieger/Getty

Images: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Andrew Grantham; Thomas Marent/Ardea:

Images

I mages; Stefan Huwiler/Getty I mages:

165: YouTube: Kim White/Greenpeace:

Thomas Powell/USAF

Fred Greenslade/Reuters: Darren

210: Danny

236:

Nathan Denette/AP/PA;

Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Getty Images

A n d rew H Walker/Getty Images: 24 Hrs

Martindale/Getty Images: Frazer Harrison/

England/Get ty Images; Tony Feder/Getty

134: Roger Smith; Getty Images; Alamy;

Photos lnstattatie Erik Kessels Gijs van

I mages

Getty I mages; Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

d e n Berg/Caters News: Shutterstock

Getty Images: Steve Granltz/Getty Images;

135: Robert Cameron; Jeff Hunter/Getty

166: James Ellerker/GWR 168:

lmagno /

Getty Images; Nick Harvey/Getty Images:

237: Bongarts/Getty Images 238: Michael Steele/Getty Images: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images 239: Mike Hewitt/ Getty I mages; Jeff Gross/Getty Images:

Frederick M Brown/Getty Images; AFP/

Images; James D Morgan/Rex Features

Austrian Archives/Getty Images: AFP/

Steve Granitz/Getty Images: Noel

136: Getty Images; George Rose/Getty

Getty Images: A F P/Getty Images:

Vasquez/Getty Images; Jason LaVeris/

David Ramos/Getty Images

Images; Enrique R Aguirre Aves/Getty

Reuters: AFP/Getty Images

Getty Images; Steve Granltz/Getty Images;

Bouys/Getty Images; Lionel Bonaventure/

Images; Mar< Ralston/Getty Images

Takahashi/Getty I m ages: AFP/Getty

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images: Cindy Ord/

Getty Images; Stu Forster/Getty Images

Images: David Handschuh/NY Daily

Getty Images; Dominique Charriau/Getty

241: Dave Howarth/PA 242: Rob Carr/

Ashman/Getty Images; David Muench/

News Archive/Getty Images: Jeddah

Images; Dave M Benett/Getty Images;

Getty I mages; Chris Trotman/Getty

Getty Images; Gordon Slnclair/Photoshot;

Economic Company/Adrian Smith +

Bruce Glikas/Getty Images; Jeffrey Mayer/

Images; Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

John Mitchell!Alamy

137: A & L Sinibaldi/Getty Images; Mar<

169: Kuni

Gordon Gill Architecture

Getty Images

Images; Jacob Hatas
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Images; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Getty Images; lim Mclsaac/Getty Images

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Franklin/Getty Images; Suraj Kunwar/AP/

Images: Rob Kim/Getty Images: Dan

Dan ita Deli mont/Getty Images; Marti n

PA: Angelo Cavalli/Photoshot

MacMeda/Getty Images: Matthew

138: Jan Cobb/Getty

170: Cliff Tan 172: USAF/Getty Images; Stuart

240: Gabriel

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243: Elsa/Getty Images; Daniel Shirey/

173: Vincent Yu/AP/PA; Ala my 174: Veolia

Stocl:mao/Getty Images; X Factor/Getty

244: Getty Images: Hamish Blair/Getty Images; Getty I mages 245: Getty Images; Getty Images: Getty Images 246: Barry

Getty Images: Jon Arnold/Alamy;

Transportation, In Service to the Regional

I mages; Steve Granitz/Getty Images:

Chin/Getty Images; Claus Andersen/Getty

Vanderlei Almeida/Getty Images; Theo

Transit Authority of New Orleans; Mu

Lester Cohen/Getty Images; Paul Morigi/

Images

Allots/Getty Images; Richard Thomas/

Xiang Bin/Redlink/Corbis; SuperStoc<;

Getty Images

Images: Andy Marlin/NHLI/Getty Images

iStoc
140: Rishi Khanna/ Montessori School 142: Peter Foley/

AFP/Getty Images

Images; Stormstill; Rex Features

Bernetti/Getty Images

139: lngo Arndt/

175: Syd Neville;

212: Hachette; Getty

247: John Ttumac
213: King Features; Kazam Media/Rex

248: Martin Meissner/AP/PA; Clare Green/Team Bath 249: AFP/Getty

Getty I mages; Scott Olson/Getty Images;

Nausbaum/Corbls; China Photos/Getty

Features; Dominic Winter/Rex Features;

Images: Mohammed Dabbous/Reuters:

Scott Olson/Getty I mages: Eric Piermont/

I mages

Rex Features: Rex Features

Getty Images; Xurxo Lobate/Getty

176: Aaron M Sprecher/Getty Images; Chealion 1n: Aly Song/Reuters:

Entertainment: John Sciutli/Rex Features:

Bernstein/N BAE/Getty Images; MCT/

Images: Stephen Lam/Getty Images; Chris

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Paramount Pictures: Marvel/Paramount

Getty I mages; David Sherman/NBAE/

Goodney/Getty Images; NicK Harvey/

178: Chris lson/PA: Rex Features; Ho

Pictures

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New/Reuters: BAE Systems: BAE

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images: Francois

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214: Summit

215: Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images:

Fabrizio Glovannozz/AP

250: Andrew D

251: Scott Cunningham/

N BAE/Getty Images; Melissa Majchrzak/

Yury Kuzmin/Getty Images; Getty Images;

Systems; Paul Bratcher

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Getty I mages; Alamy; Getty Images: Getty

Martin Aeronautics: BAE Systems; Rex

216: Dreamworks: Studio Ghibli; New Line

AFP/Getty Images: AP/PA; Angelos

I mages

Features; BAE Systems

Ci nema; Warner Bros; Warner Bros;

Zimaras/Demotix/PA; Simon Bruty/Getty

Columbia; MGM; Sony Pictures: Pixar:

Images

143: AP/PA; Corbls; Getty Images: 144: James Eller<er/GWR

179: Loc
252: Eric Feferberg/

AP/PA; AP/PA

Sk.udder: Defense Imagery: Defense

145: Kevin Scott Ramos/GWR; Philip Robertson/GWR 146: Gill Yaari: Africa 24 Media/Peter Greste 147: David Lewis/ Reuters 148: Ala my; Sandi Holder's Doll

Imagery; Crown Copyright; Crown

Summit Entertainment: Walt Disney

Armino/AP/PA; Bob Martin/Getty Images

Copyright

Pictures

254: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/

217: 20th Century Fox; Warner

253: Don Ryan/AP/PA; Ermin do

181: Lockheed Martin; USAF; Sasa Kralj/AP/PA 182: Sergey Riabsev/

Bros; Columbia: Universal; Warner Bros; La

Getty I mages; www.photorun.N ET; Gary

letPhotos.net; Pavel/Ptanespotters.net

Petite Reine; Universal: Walt Disney

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183: Beate Kern: Shinsuke Kamioka/GWR; Oscar Espinoza/US Navy 184: Ben

Pictures; Warner Bros; Columbia; Icon

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Hughes/Guinness World Records;

AP/PA; Kevork Djansezia n/Getty Images;

Getty Images; Altsport/Getty Images;

Teddy Bear Museum, Korea; Christie's

Shinsuke Kamiok.a/Guinness World

Eamonn J McCabe; David Wolff/Getty

GWR

Attic, Inc.; Rex Features; Justin Sullivan/

I mages

149: Rex

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World Records

219:

218: Ed Bur<e/

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255: Peter Par<s/AFP/

256: AFP/Getty Images; M ichael Steele/Getty Images 257: AFP/

258: Attita Kisbenede
185: Ranatd Mac<echnie/ Guinness World Records 186: Robert

Images; Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images;

Offsi de; Offside; Quinn Rooney/Getty

Universal Music; Getty Images; Getty

Images

Alden/ Bloomberg via Getty I mages; Araya

MacDonald: Stefan Wermuth/ Reuters:

I mages; Getty Images; Getty Images; Getty

Diaz/Getty Images; Hannelore Foerster/

Natacha Pisaren
Images; Getty Images; Getty Images

Bloomberg via Getty Images

187: SuperStock: PA; Alamy; Spencer Ptatt/Getty Images 188: Sir/Reuters; Ha ndout/Reuters 189: Richard Bradbury/ GWR; Herrenknecht AG 192: Paolo

Sinya
151: Jason

152: Aldo

Pavan/4Corners; Ken Mac
153: IStoc<: lngolf 154: Anne Lewis/

At amy; Jubilo Ha
�Lombardi/I N FN -M I ; KAMIOKA: Cern;

220: MCA Records; Epic Records; Parlophone/EMI; Epic Records; Harvest/ Capitol; MCA Records

221: Warner Bros

260: Olaf Kraai:/Getty Images: AFP/Getty Images 261: AFP/Getty I mages; Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images;

I GSA; Stefano Reltandi ni/Reuters

262: AFP/Getty Images; Stephane Reix/ 263: Jeff

Corbis; AFP/Getty Images

Records; Creation: Atlantic Records; Jive

Gross/Getty Images; Jim Kemper/Zuffa

Records: Decca

LLC/Getty Images; Robert Bec
222:

Ranald Mackechnle/

NASA

GWR; Paul Brown/Rex Features; Redux/

Houdt/XL D-Sign; PA; Getty Images; Getty

193: NASA; NASA; AFP/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images 194: Dr

Images; Rex Features

Hamish Pritchard ; Dr Hamish Pritchard ;

eyevine; Rex Features; Michael Stravato/

Diggles/Getty Images; Atamy; Peter

Robert Wagner/Max-Planck-lnstitut/

The New York. Times/Eyevine; Wirelmage/

Images; Reuters

Adams/At amy; Peter Dazeley/Getty

Munich

Getty Images

Castetlo/Corbis; ian Watton/Getty Images

C Mci ntyre/Getty Images

155: loop van

156: Warren

195: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty

eyevine; Reduxjeyevlne

223: Redux/

224: Matt Hoyte/Getty

Illustrated/Getty Images

264: lim

Watson/Getty Images; David Cannon/ Getty Images; Stephen Munday/Getty

265: Domenech

Images; Dan ita Detlmont/Alamy; Mar<

Images; Yoshik.azu Tsuno/Getty Images:

Images; Vince Valitutti/Fox; Fox: Paul

266: Robert Cianftone/Getty Images:

Ralston/Getty Images; Danny Rami rez/

NASA: NASA

Michael Hughes/GWR; lTV/Rex Features

Julian Finney/Getty Images; Marl: Blinch/

196: Nlchlas Hansen: Tim

Reuters; Mayela Lopez/Getty Images

Boyle/Getty Images; Lucas Jac<son/

225: Doug Hyun/Turner Network

Reuters

157: Shaun Egan/Getty Images;

Reuters

Television; Frederick. M Brown/Getty

Getty I mages; AFP/Getty Images

Nils-Johan Norenlind/Getty Images; Gleb

Images; Bobby Bank/Getty Images

268: AFP/Getty Images; MATCH ROOM

Garanich/Reuters; Sublr Halder/Getty

198: Georges Seurat; Daina Taimina 199: Dan Everett: Rick Friedman/Corbis;

226: Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox/Kobal

SPORTS; Comic Relief; Paul Gilham/Getty

Images; Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images;

Sol
Collection; Electronic Arts/Bioware/

Images

Gareth Jones/Getty Images; Alan

Getty Images

Lucasfilms; Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox/

Boswell/Getty Images; John Nicholson/

NASA; NHPA; Ala my; NHPA

197: Seth Wenlg/AP/PA

200: Dick Jones; NASA; 201: Jeff

Kobat Collection

227: Lucas film/20th

Hasty Lab/UC San Diego; Jeff Hasty Lab/

Century Fox/Kobat Collection; 20th

Hanson/AFP; AFP/Getty I mages; Nelson

UC San Diego; Laurie Hatch; Laurie Hatch;

Century Fox/Everett/Rex Features;

Ching/Getty Images

Getty Images; iStoc
158: Fiona

159: Bob Sullivan/

267: AFP/Getty Images; AFP/

269: MATCHROOM SPORTS; AFP/Getty Images 270: Orl Kuper; Reuters 271: Martin Scheel; lvar Brennhovd 272: AFP/Getty Images 273: Carols Hauck: Bo Bridges/Getty

ENDPAPERS FRONT: Most people simultaneously throwing hats; Largest gathering of people weari ng one-piece pyjamas: Longest Berani flip; Most bowling balls juggled: Largest chess piece; Fastest time to climb the height of Everest on an indoor climbing wall (team); First recorded Mr Punch puppet show; Fastest half marathon dressed as a fruit (female); Most twins in the same academic year at one school; Most dominoes stacKed on a single piece; Most beer bottle caps removed with teeth - 1 min: Largest athletic

supporter/jocK strap; Largest cream-filled biscuit; Fastest marathon in an American

football kit Most people using mouthwash; Most martial arts k:ick.s in three minutes (using one leg) (mate); Most plastic bottles recycled (eight hours): Longest finger knitting by a team: Most cherry stems knotted in one minute; Youngest Zumba® instructor; Most people apple bobbing: Karting - greatest distance in 24 hours outdoors (individual); Greatest vertical distance rock climbing in 24 hours: Most people generating electricity In 24 hours - si ngle location; Most expensive hot dog; Largest rum tasting event; Largest treasure hunt game; Most sandcastles built in one hour; Most weight lifted by barbell. upright row, in one hour; Largest button mosaic

BACK: Fastest crossi ng of the English Channel by aquabike (jetski); Longest whistling marathon: Largest accordion ensemble; Largest aluminium can sculpture: Longest marathon harp playing: Longest marathon ironing; Most people performing a raindance; Largest kimono: Largest serving of parmigiana: Longest driven journey; Most lights on a residential property: Largest collection of Pooh and Friends memorabilia; Largest ten commandments tablet: Longest chain of school jumpers; Stair climbing vertical height (12 hours): Fastest time to push a car one mile; Largest hand drum ensemble; Longest marathon playing basketball; Largest Carolina shag dance; Most people polishing shoes: Farthest distance travelled with a football balanced on the head; Largest gathering of people dressed as garden gnomes; Largest human star; Most people to write a story: Largest doughnut mosaic; Most people planking si multaneously: Largest Twister board (playable); Most Kites flown simultaneously; Fastest crossing of the English Channel by seascooter - relay team; Largest gathering of peoplewearing swim caps

IN MEMORIAM Vasitiy Alekseyev (most weightlifting

records broken): Leila Denmark. (oldest ever practising doctor): Whitney Houston

(best·selling

soundtrack album, first album by a solo female to debut at US No.1);

AP/PA; James Nesterwitz/Atamy

Broo<s Films/Ronald Grant; Hasbro/Getty

Images: Pierre Tostee/ASP/Getty Images

Getty Images: Adalberto Roque/AFP/

202: NASA; Getty Images; Andy

I mages; David Crausby/Atamy

274: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images; Vittorio

Getty Images; Robert N ic<etsberg/Getty

Crawford/Getty Images; Mario Anzuoni/

Schude/GWR; Ranatd Macl:echnie/GWR

Ubertone/Aquabi<e Promotion Ltd

Images: Keystone/Getty Images; Walter

Reuters; Rex Features

275: RISPORT 276: Mar< Thompson/

Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

Getty Images; Murray Close/Getty Images;

Getty Images; Koichi Kamoshida/Getty

Burke/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images;

William Lawlis Pace (longest time

Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images

with a bullet in the head); Istvan

279: Benjamin Fall 286: Mario Tama/

Gomes Valenti m

204: Ethan Miller/

228: Ryan

Bronstei n/Getty Images; Getty Images;

Ronald Cohn/The Gorilla Foundation:

229: Richard Bradbury/GWR 230: Stan Honda/Getty Images 231: Clive Brunskill/ Getty Images 232: Getty I mages;

Royal Navy; Alamy

161: Romeo Gacad/ Getty Images; Getty Images 162: Jemal

20th Century Fox: S
iStoc
Shamlt Zhumatov/Reuters: Charles

Images

Countess/Getty Images: Getty Images:

Eshelman/Getty Images

Getty Images; Getty Images 234: Kevin C

Ben Hider/Getty Images; Ernie Sisto/

Photo Library; 20th Century Fox/

Cox/Getty Images; At Messerschmidt/

Getty Images: Geoff Caddlck/PA

Eyevine

163: Ho New/Reuters; Ho New/ Reuters; Ho New/Reuters 164: YouTube:

Moviestore; Lucasfilm/Moviestore; NASA

Getty Images: Otto Greute Jr/Getty Images

206: Ranald Mackechnle/GWR; Dr Gary

235: Jim Mclsaac/Getty Images: Ronald

Brian To/ FilmMagic/Getty Images:

Settles/Science Photo Library: Chrysler

Studio Ghibli: Henry S DzieKan I l l/Getty

Group LLC

Martinez/Getty Images; Brian 0 Kersey/

287: Sam Christmas/GWR: Matt Lingo/ Red Butt Content Pool 288: Jose Luis

160: Paula

205: Science

207: Andrew Grantham;

233: Tiziana Fabi/Getty Images;

Getty Images; Michael Zagans/Getty

Images: AFP/Getty Images

277: Jeff

Petaez/Getty I mages: Apple inc:

Amazon: Barnes and N o ble

Steve Jobs

(lowest paid CEO, largest

options grant); Evelyn Bryan Johnson (most flying hours togged); Ken LeBel (most barrels jumped over by a man on ice skates); Patrick Muslmu (deepest variable-weight freedive);

R6z savotgyi

(fastest 1 , 5 00 - m) ; Maria (oldest woman);

Parlc:Young-Seok. (first

person to

complete the explorers' grand slam)

The following day, he flew the greatest horizontal distance in a wing suit 26.25 km (16.31 miles), again above La Guajira. He flew 28.91 km (17.52 miles) that day - the greatest absolute distance flown in a wing suit.

Longest literary work in Pilish

Peter Czerwinski (Canada, a bove) scoffed 13 Jaffa Cakes in just one minute in London, U K, on 1 M ay 2012. Stijn Vermaut (Belgium) matched Peter's feat i n Vichte, Belgium, on 6 May 2012.

Highest altitude driven by car

a bove sea level) climbed without supplemental oxygen.

Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canales (both Chile) drove a 1986 modified Suzuki Samurai car to a n altitude of 6,688 m {21,942 ft) on the slopes of Chile's Ojos Del Salado volcano on 21 April 2007.

On 6 May 2012, Ruan Liangming (China) covered himself in a 62.1-kg (136-lb 14.51-oz) mantle of bees in Jiangxi Province, China.

First woman to climb all 8,000-m peaks without oxygen Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (Austria) summitted K2 on 23 August 2011 - her 14th "8,000-er" (a peak situated beyond 8,000 m, or 26,247 ft,

Heaviest mantle of bees

Longest duration wing-suit flight Jhonathan Florez (Colombia) was airborne in a wing suit for 9 min 6 sec above La Guajira, Colombia, on 20 April 2012.

"Pilish" is a style of English writing in which the lengths of successive words correspond to the digits of 1t {pi, or 3.14159 ... ). The longest text written in Standard Pilish is Not a Wake by Michael Keith (USA), following the first 10,000 digits of the mathematical constant. The opening lines run: " Now I fall, a tired suburbian in liquid under the trees/Drifting alongside forests simmering red in the twilight over Europe", representing the digits 3.14159265358979323846 ...

Most calorific burger commercially available The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, offers the 1.4-kg (3-lb 2.9-oz) Quadruple Bypass burger, packing 9,982 calories, or 6.91 calories per g (195.95 calories per oz). In April 2012, the burger sold for $16.63 (£10.50) - bacon included, sales tax excluded.

Oldest company to su pply Olympic medals The Royal M int (UK), which produced the medals for the 2012 Summer Olympics, was instituted in AD 886, which makes it more than 1,100 years old.

Oldest Eurovision Song Contest entrant (male) Engelbert Humperdinck (UK, b. Arnold Dorsey, India, 2 May 1936) represented the UK at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest aged 76 years 24 days. Humperdinck performed the track "Love Will Set You Free" at the 57th annual contest, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 26 May 2012.

Oldest pig Born on 20 December 1990, Peeper (also known as "Pete")

lived with his owners Ed and Denise Stottmann (USA) in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, until the age of 21 years 30 days.

Oldest woman to climb Mount Everest Tamae Watanabe (Japan, b. 21 November 1938) summitted the 8,848-m-high (29,029-ft) peak of Everest for the second time on 19 May 2012 - aged 73 years 180 days.

SnEA KER STOCKPILE REUOLUTIOnA RY SKATER •

FASTEST

••.

•

Completion of

Teamwork Temple, Wii Party (Wii)

Francisco Franco Pego and Sofia Franco Ruivo (both Portugal) completed Teamwork Temple, Wii Party (Wii) in 60 seconds in Coimbra, Portugal, on 4 May 2012.

Mile hula hooped (male) On 24 March 2012, Ash rita Furman (USA) covered a mile while hula hooping in 11 min 21.06 sec in New York City, USA.

•

LARGEST

.••

Chess piece The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and the World Chess Hall of Fame (both USA) created a "king" chess piece measuring 4.46 m (14 ft 7 in) tall and 1 .83 m (6 ft) in diameter at its base. It was measured in St Louis, Missouri, USA, on 24 April 2012.

Chocolate sculpture Fran�ois Melle! (France/USA) created a chocolate sculpture weighing 8,273.3 kg (18,239 lb 8 oz) and measuring 1.8 m (6 ft) tall and 3.05 x 3.05 m (10 x 10 ft) at its bas . It was

•

•

•

Crocodile in captivity Lolong, a saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), measured 6.17 m (20 ft 2.8 in) at Agusan del Sur province in M i ndanao, the Philippines, on 9 November 2011. He weighed some 1,075 kg (2,370 lb).

Nappy sculpture Huggies (Kimberly-Clark Argentina) created a diaper sculpture 5.14 m (16 ft 10 in) tall and measuring 13.2 m (43 ft 4 in) in diameter at the Golden Center, Buenos Ai res, Argentina, on 14 April 2012.

Glow-in-the-dark painting SZITIC Commercial Property (China) created a 104.18-m' (1,121.38-ft') glow-in-the-dark painting in Shenzhen, China, on 29 March 2012.

Indoor Ferris Wheel The government of Turkmenistan created an indoor Ferris Wheel with a diameter of 47.6 m (156 ft 2 in). It was measured in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 30 April 2012.

Tem porary straw bale maze The M EGA MAZE, which measured 8,997.38 m' (96,847 ft2), was constructed by Garden Cents (USA) in Rupert, Idaho, USA, and was verified on 1 October 2011.

Tom Schaar ( USA) performed a "1080" (three full rotations while airborne) on a skateboard using a "mega ramp" at Woodward West i n Tehachapi, California, U SA, on 26 March 2012. Above, Tom receives his certificate from GWR's Kevin Lynch.

mosT... Likes on a Facebook item As of 21 May 2012, the most likes on a Facebook item is 1 ,045,272, in response to the announcement of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's

People dressed as chefs A group of 2,lll people dressed up as chefs on 2 May 2012, in an event organized by the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) and Daejeon Metropolitan City Government in Daejeon, South Korea.

People dressed as leprechauns A total of 1,263 leprechauns each boasting the prerequisite green top hat and waistcoat,

red beard and black buckled shoes - filled the streets of Bandon in County Cork, Ireland, on 17 March 2012.

People in one pair of underpants A total of 169 participants squeezed themselves into a single pair of oversized underpants at an event organized by Dr Pepper (UK) at Thorpe Park in Chertsey, Surrey, UK, on 24 March 2012.

hair-raising pompadour, in the shape of a 113.5-cm-tall (44.6-in) mohican. The height was verified at the Bloc de l'art hair salon i n Tokyo, Japan, on 28 October 201 1 . It took a team of hair stylists fou r hours to sculpt Kazuh i ro's gravity defying coiffure.

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