Guinness World Records Day – November 16, 2024

History of Guinness World Records Day

On November 10, 1951, the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, Sir Hugh Beaver, became curious about the fastest game bird in Europe at a shooting party in Ireland. He was unsure if it was the golden plover or the red grouse. After a few rounds of arguments, he discovered that there was no single book he could reference to confirm this fact. He also realized that there needed to be a book that could be used as a fact check for records achieved throughout the world during arguments like his (usually started in bars). 

This curiosity captured the interest of another employee at Guinness Breweries called Christopher Chataway, who then recommended two of his friends, Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had started a fact-finding agency in London. In August 1954, Norris and Ross McWhirter were commissioned to compile The Guinness Book of Records. The Guinness Book of Records office was established in London, and on August 27, 1955, the first edition of 198 pages was bound and became one of the best-sellers in Britain by Christmas. In 1956, the book was launched in the United States and sold over 70,000 copies. 

The G.W.R. quickly became the international authority on record-keeping all the world’s monumental achievements and unknown facts. The G.W.R. became so popular that in 1976, a Guinness Book of World Records Museum was opened in the Empire State Building in the United States to showcase the many brilliant records.