Guinness World Records: Behind The Book
Why grow your fingernails to nearly 30-ft in length? How do you find clothes when you’re over 8-ft tall? Who left skid-marks stretching for 6 miles…? Find the answers to all your record-breaking questions in Guinness World Records: Behind The Book! Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday shares his favourite stories and anecdotes from his 17 years working on the world’s best-selling annual book.
More about Guinness World Records 2021Episode 10: Record-breaking Round-Up
From the most tattooed man and a 103-year-old skydiver to homemade LEGO limbs and the largest testicle in the animal kingdom, Craig and the team look back over a year of record-breaking at Guinness World Records.
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Episode 9: Survivors
Who’s survived the highest fall without a parachute? How many lightning strikes did one man endure in his lifetime? And what happens when you’re stung more than 4,000 times by African killer bees?
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Episode 8: The history of the world land-speed record
In this week’s podcast, GWR’s Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday offers a quick-fire tour of the history of human speed records, taking you from sledges and skis to supersonic planes in the blink of an eye.
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Episode 7: How eating records have changed
Guinness World Records has monitored gastronomy - or eating – records since the first edition in 1955. But during the last 64 years they’ve changed substantially.
In this week’s episode of Guinness World Records: Behind The Book, Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday explains the evolution of these records and how people train for competitive eating.
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Episode 6: The world’s tallest man
Some people have to work hard to become a record holder, others are born with the ability. Those who have become the world’s tallest man fit into the latter category.
Episode five of Behind The Book introduces you to some of these people, explains what their lives are like (the positives and negatives) and shares the story of how one helped save the lives of two dolphins.
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Episode 5: World's smelliest plant
Why does the world’s smelliest plant reek of death and decay? Why does it bloom only once every few years? And why on Earth is it called the Giant Misshapen Penis? Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday takes you on a trek through the Sumatran jungle to seek out the Titan arum – a phone-box-sized plant that’s both the tallest inflorescence and the stinkiest plant and shares his recipe for recreating the superlative stench in your own kitchen. Be sure to have some stale beer, rotting fish and some cough medicine at the ready…
Episode 4: Why do people collect sickbags, dinosaur poo and spoon rests?
Guinness World Records (GWR) books are full to bursting with the most mind-boggling collections. Yes, we monitor the classic categories and have done so for decades – stamps, coins, postcards and trading cards – but what’s emerged over the years is the revelation that people collect all sorts of unusual items from airline sickbags and dinosaur coprolites (that's poo!) to handcuffs and jet fighters.
Episode 3: How do you go to the bathroom with the world’s longest nails?
Why grow your fingernails to a combined length of nearly nine metres? And how do you use the toilet if your thumbnail alone is 90 cm long? Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday, explains the history of VERY long nails and tells you about the people who have earned a place in the record books because of them.
We also hear from Lee Redmond who grew her nails for more than 30 years, setting the record for the longest fingernails on a pair of hands (female) at 8.65 m.
Episode 2: How a drunken argument turned into The Guinness Book of Records
Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday reveals how a heated debate during a boozy dinner in Ireland led to the founding of The Guinness Book of Records and also the book's original purpose. Plus, he answers the question: what does the book have to do with Guinness beer?
Episode 1: Welcome to Guinness World Records: Behind The Book
Why grow your fingernails to nearly 30-ft in length? How do you find clothes when you’re over 8-ft tall? Who left skid-marks stretching for 6 miles…?
Find the answers to all your record-breaking questions in Guinness World Records: Behind The Book!
Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher
About Guinness World Records: Behind The Book
In this new series of weekly podcasts, Craig chooses one record from the new book and reveals the stories behind the superlatives. Could Lee Redmond really survive for a month eating nothing but her 9-m-long fingernails? Can you really build your own prosthetic arm from LEGO bricks? And why did one man cover his entire body head to foot in black tattoo ink?
Craig also takes the opportunity to answer the questions that he gets asked more than any other, such as "What's the weirdest record you’ve ever witnessed?", "Who's the most amazing record-holder you’ve ever met?" and "Can I get a record for this?!"
And if you have any questions of your own, or want to know how to get your name in the famous Guinness World Records books, then just ask Craig! You’ll find him on Twitter @CraigGlenday and @GWR, or search for #GWRPodcast.
Listen to a new episode every Thursday.
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