Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept, and twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in August 1955.
Anna Haining Bates was a Canadian woman notable for her great stature of 7 feet 11 inches (2.41 m). She was one of the tallest women ever. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.
The liger is a hybrid offspring of a male lion and a tigress, or female tiger. The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the opposite hybrid called the tigon, and is the largest of all known extant felines. They enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons.
Robert Pershing Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He was born and raised in Alton, Illinois, a small city near St. Louis, Missouri.
Stanley Roger Smith is an American former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles champion, Smith also paired with Bob Lutz to create one of the most successful doubles teams of all-time. In 1970, Smith won the inaugural year-end championships title. In 1972, he was the year-end world No. 1 singles player. In 1973, he won his second and last year end championship title at the Dallas WCT Finals. In addition, he won four Grand Prix Championship Series titles. In his early years he improved his tennis game through lessons from Pancho Segura, the Pasadena Tennis Patrons, and the sponsorship of the Southern California Tennis Association headed by Perry T. Jones. Smith is a past President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and an ITHF Life Trustee. Outside tennis circles, Smith is best known as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes.
A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), they have evolved into purpose-built vehicles with tube-frame chassis and fiberglass bodies rather than metal. A competition monster truck is typically 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, and equipped with 66-inch (1.7 m) off-road tires.
A house of cards is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structure or argument built on a shaky foundation or one that will collapse if a necessary element is removed. Structures built by layering in this way, such as Stonehenge, are referred to as "house of cards architecture", which dates back to the Cyclopean and Megalithic ages. The origin of the phrase is debated to be from the 18th century England but some believe that it has an American base.
Slacklining is walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwires and tightropes in the type of material used and the amount of tension applied during use. Slacklines are tensioned significantly less than tightropes or tightwires in order to create a dynamic line which will stretch and bounce like a long and narrow trampoline. Tension can be adjusted to suit the user, and different webbing may be used in various circumstances.
A half-court shot is a shot taken from beyond the 3-pointer line as defined by a semicircular line before the 2-pointer zone. Anything beyond the half-court line and on the side of the court a team or player is defending is considered a full-court shot. It is most commonly used as a buzzer beater as there is a limited amount of time before a turnover. It is also used as a streetball term where the teams only use half of the full court. The most common backcourt shot style is known as "the Runner". If the shooter has a few seconds to spare, "the Runner" can be used to shorten the distance to the rim while also adding extra power to the shot. Other backcourt shot styles include: "the Sheed" ; "the Contested Prayer"; and "the Zoran". Since an NBA game court is 94 feet (29 m) long, the midcourt line is 47 feet (14 m) away from each baseline.
Aicama Zorba of La-Susa or Zorba was a male Old English Mastiff who was recognized by Guinness World Records as the heaviest and longest dog in the world.
In golf, par is the predetermined number of strokes that a proficient golfer should require to complete a hole, a round, or a tournament. For scoring purposes, a golfer's number of strokes is compared with the par score to determine how much the golfer was either "over par", "under par", or was "even with/equal to par".
Bluey was a female Australian Cattle Dog owned by Les and Rosalie Hall of Rochester, Victoria. She holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest dog to have ever lived. The record was briefly disputed by Bobi, but Bobi's certification was revoked by Guinness due to the lacking evidence, after veterinarians came forward challenging Bobi's claimed age. Additionally, Bluey's title was also challenged by many other dogs including Max, Chilla, Maggie, and Bella, though they were never verified.
The largest body part is either the largest given body part across all living and extinct organisms or the largest example of a body part within an existing species. The largest animals on the planet are not the only ones to have large body parts, with some smaller animals actually having one particularly enlarged area of the body.
Mehmet Özyürek was a Turkish Guinness World Record holder. He had been confirmed as having had the world's longest recorded nose. His nose measured 8.80 cm when it was last measured on 18 March 2010. It was remeasured in both 2020 and 2021, disproving the myth that a person’s nose and ears continue to grow with age. He had been living in Artvin, Turkey. Özyürek was bullied by his friends for his nose when younger, but later in life, he came to the belief it was a blessing from God. He also claimed to have a better sense of smell than the average person and was able to inflate a balloon with his nose.
Heads of state throughout the world and at all periods of history may be ranked according to characteristics such as length of time holding that position; age of accession or death; or physical attributes. World records in these characteristics may be identified, though the historical basis for such claims is frequently uncertain.
