Uncover the jaw-dropping tales behind Guinness World Records

Mind-blowing Guinness World Records

Our world is filled with weird and wonderful things, and Guinness World Records is on standby, eagerly awaiting to document and celebrate the “Officially Amazing.” From the incredibly impressive to the truly bizarre and awe-inspiring, these records defy expectations and redefine what’s humanly possible. But have you ever wondered about the stories behind these extraordinary accomplishments?

Join us as we undertake a rollercoaster journey of jaw-dropping revelations, discovering the world's most officially unique humans, animals, and foods! Here are the astonishing stories and surprising facts behind some of the most extraordinary recent and longstanding feats that have entered Guinness World Records. In this mystical realm, facts sound less believable than fiction!

So grab a chair, pour a drink, sit back, relax, and prepare to be amazed by the tales behind the globe’s most unbelievable Guinness World Records.

The most incredibly impressive - the ability of the human brain

Multiplication is a walk in the park for Mrs Shakuntala Devi of India, who correctly multiplied two (randomly selected) 13-digit numbers in 28 seconds! This fantastic feat earned her the title of the Fastest Human Computation in 1980, breaking mathematical norms that boggle the mind.

Numbers come to life at lightning speed in the minds of the mentally superior. Scott Flansburg of Phoenix, Arizona, set the Guinness record for the Fastest Human Calculator on the Guinness set in Wembley, UK, on April 27 2000. He correctly added a randomly selected two-digit number (38) 36 times to itself in a whopping 15 seconds! The amazing fact behind this record is that Flansburg didn't use a calculator - only the symphony of numbers in his brain that defies conventional thinking.

The most truly bizarre - the stretchiest skin

It defies logic that the human skin, comprised of 19 million skin cells, is the human body's largest organ. This organ contains 11 miles of blood vessels and can stretch as we grow bigger or bounce back after losing weight. Astonishingly, Gary Turner can stretch his stomach skin up to 15.8 centimetres, earning him a spot in the record books in 1999.

Turner set this Stretchiest Skin Guinness record due to a rare medical condition known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This connective tissue disorder affects the skin, internal organs, and ligaments. So, please, don't try (beating) this one at home, kids!

Crazy animal antics - a dog’s a man’s best friend

Man's best friend takes the spotlight with several record-breaking titles:

Can you believe that the smallest living dog could fit in a teaspoon? "Miracle Milly", a female chihuahua, was born in 2011, weighing roughly 500 grams, and was so small that she had to be fed milk every two hours with an eye dropper. She measured 9.65 cm tall in February 2013, setting the record as The World’s Smallest Dog. This petite canine has a big personality, often sticking out her tongue for a picture!

The Shortest Dog Living is "Pearl F Semler" from the USA, measuring only 9.14cm. Pearl took this title on August 23, 2022.

Zeus, a three-year-old Great Dane from the USA, earned his Guinness world record title in 2011 as the world's Tallest Dog Ever (male) with a height of 1,118 meters. Zeus weighed over 70kg and ate about 131.6 kg of food every 14 days, but tragically died of bone cancer in September 2023.

Can you believe a dog soared nearly seven feet in the air? Meet Feather, the canine high-flier from the USA that defied gravity and left everyone in awe when he set the Highest Jump by a Dog record in 2017 at 191.7cm.

Samantha Valle owns and cares for Feather and another record-breaking dog, Geronimo, who happens to hold the record for the Most Double-Style Skips by a Dog in One Minute with 128!

Astonishing food feats - the largest pizza ever made

Picture a cheezy pizza so big it could cover the span of a football field - this is not your ordinary pizza party! The most giant pizza ever made stretched nearly 1.3 square kilometres. It took 6,193 kilograms of dough, 2,244 kilograms of sweet marinara sauce, over 3,991 kilograms of cheese, roughly 630,496 slices of pepperoni, and three days to make! This doughy giant, created in Los Angeles early in 2023, was crafted with passion and precision by Pizza Hut and YouTube star Airrack (Eric Decker), breaking the record as the Largest Pizza ever made.

Did you know that Pizza Hut celebrated the return of the iconic "The Big New Yorker" after 24 years with this record attempt? This fan-favourite from the 90s launched nationwide for the first time following a longstanding popular demand of 24 years.

This deliciously excellent Guinness record has long stirred in young Eric's heart. Airrack promised his YouTube followers to break this pizza record if the channel hits 10 million subscribers, which it did in 2022. His loyal commitment is to his fellow record-breaking partner and favourite pizza brand as he echoed, "NO ONE OutPizzas the Hut!"

It makes you rethink your pizza party plans now.

Most awe-inspiring - a record-breaking Marvel man

This fantastic Guinness World Record journey is complete with mentioning the man with the most broken Guinness World Records.

Meet Ashrita Furman, a Guinness World record breaker. This marvellous human was born in 1954 and currently holds 530 records. Since 2017, he has set over 600 official Guinness World Records. Why break one record if you can break 600? Here are some of his many unique and weird record achievements:

• Most Knives Caught in One Minute - The record is 56 - yikes!
• Farthest Water Balloon Launch and Catch - The record is 64.33 meters.
• Most Bananas Sliced with a Sword on a Slackline in One Minute - 36 Bananas! Wow!
• Most Olives Eaten in One Minute - The record is currently 60.
• Most Electric Fan Blades Stopped Using the Tongue in One Minute - Ouch - 35 Blades.
• Most Baseballs Held in a Baseball Glove - 26 baseballs seems impossible.

While it seems as if Mr Furman has nothing else to do with his time, he sets the stage for all of us to find inspiration, reveal our talents, and be “officially amazing’!

The power of record-breaking - an unsettled argument

We end our blog with the fantastic story behind the global brand - Guinness World Records. It all started with Sir Hugh Beaver’s idea in the early 1950s when an argument about the fastest game bird in Europe went unresolved at a shooting party in County Wexford.

August 1955 witnessed the birth of the first edition of "The Guinness Book of Records," topping the UK's best sellers list by Christmas! Now known as one of the world's most trusted and recognised brands, the "Guinness World Records" book boasts over 68 years of record-breaking authority and holds 62,252 active record titles worldwide.

Ironically, due to their focus purely on world records, the books never addressed the "original question of which game bird is the fastest in Europe", leaving the original argument unsettled.