Q&A with Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday. Last chance to send in questions

[RebeccaSMumsnet]

Guinness World Records is one of the bestselling books of all time and Guinness World Records 2014, our November children's book of the month, is jam packed with new and updated achievements from around the world, from tallest to shortest, from animals to machines and from the wacky to the astonishing.

Discover the most awe-inspiring people, pets and products from a 15-metre-long robot dragons to the world's furriest cat, and with over 100 all-new original photographs and a SEE IT 3D Augmented Reality feature, this new edition is guaranteed to be a favourite with all the family this Christmas.

We have 50 copies to give away so apply before 10am on 8 November and we'll email those who have been selected. Don't forget to come back and post your feedback over the month on this thread.

Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, will also be joining us for a Q&A to answer your questions about the Guinness World Records series. He has answered some of the questions but for those who are saving the book as a Christmas present he will be taking your questions until 10 January 2014. Please do keep posting up your reviews/ thoughts on the book and questions for Craig after Christmas.

[meerkatmumma]

Hi Craig,

What is the most competed for record of all time?

[outragednotme]

Thank you for sending me this book! My 8 year old son adores it, initially his favourite bit was about prisons

Then I loaded the app which was quick and easy to do...

Hold phone over pictures that have the 3D symbol and dinosaurs, goats and the shortest lady plus loads more all lift off the pages and 'come to life'. This has the potential to keep my sons amused for hours! (And I have three, aged 8, 14 and 16). DD not quite so enthralled as the boys.

Youngest son's question to Craig "which 3D video is your favourite?" (So far his favourite is the smallest lady as she speaks).

However, so much more to explore so he could have a new favourite soon.

[KAW18]

Sorry for not posting anything sooner. Thanks for picking me to receive a copy of the Guinness World Records 2014 book. Its great as always. Really interesting facts covering a wide range of topics. The 3D aspect makes it fun and interactive. Thanks once again!

[Emmasmith214]

This book is easy to dip into and get lost for hours. There is so much information to read and lots of pictures to keep the pages interesting

[Coffeechick]

The book is great. It has a lot of different records and the ones which have particularly interested my 5 year old daughter have been the lego and space pages. She keeps coming across new pages which interest her and it has been a source of quite interesting conversations with me.

[CMOTDibbler]

I have discovered one downside to this: my ds has now taken to testing us on our knowledge of world records. DH didn't do too badly on rugby, but is sadly lacking on modern circus.

I may let him take it to the ILs on Boxing Day so he can torment his (much) older cousins with it

[sandk]

DS (9) had requested this for Christmas so we were delighted to have received a copy!

I'd always thought of it as just being a few facts such as "tallest person" "smallest dog" "most people crammed into a telephone box", but the scope seems much wider - buildings, chairs(!), missions to Mars, moons, money and economics, superheroes and marine engineering are all in there! A number of the topics are already amongst DS's interests, but there are many more which I think may capture his imagination.

I particularly like the picture of the big pogo stick on the front page - DS seems to be fascinated by the idea of them!

[RachelMumsnet]

Great to see so many people are enjoying their copy of GWR. We've passed the questions over to Craig and he's just sent his answers back now which we'll post up later today. As we know some people will be holding their books back for Christmas, we thought we'd leave the Q&A open, so if your dcs have any further questions to put to Craig about how GWR works, please do send them post-Christmas and into the New Year. We'll close the Q&A on 10 January and post up Craig's answers to additional questions before the end of Jan.

[CraigGlenday]

@gazzalw

Hi Craig,
I grew up with the Guinness World Records: Roy Castle and the twin brothers..... It was one of those programmes that shocked and delighted in equal measures!
I just wondered what your favourite world record is and why? And were you a fan as a child?
Many thanks!

Hello!

Q1: It’s such a difficult question to answer, as there are so many fantastic stories and inspiring achievements to choose from. (And there’s plenty of crazy stuff too!) My favourite category of records has always been the Human Body, and I’m particularly fascinated by the fingernail records. Why would someone grow their nails so long? How do they function? It was, therefore, a real honour to meet the incredible Lee Redmond, whose nails measured a record total of 8.65 m (28 ft 4.5 in) in 2008.
Lee’s story is compelling – she took care of a poorly husband, held down a job and even taught self-esteem classes to children, telling them that it’s okay to be different and that our uniqueness should be celebrated. She also talked about her nails as being a “cage” – a psychological barrier to keep the world at a distance. We flew her to London once, and she showed us how capable she was: she made tea for us, did the washing up, showed us how she types (using very long pencils!) and even how she visited the bathroom! The only thing she struggled with was wearing sweaters with long sleeves.
Sadly, Lee lost her nails in a car crash in 2009, but she was sanguine about it – her husband had died not too long before this, and Lee saw it as a sign from God that she no longer needed her protective cage. She was liberated.

Q2: I certainly was. I was particularly fascinated by the case of Roy Sullivan, who survived seven lightning strikes. We’re always told that lightning never strikes twice, but tell this to Roy! I was blown away by his story (as was he, it seems!) but what fascinated me even more was the fact that he died not at the end of lightning bolt but by shooting himself. I’ll never forget the wording that Norris McWhirter had chosen: “In September 1983 he died by his own hand, reportedly rejected in love.” Such a tragic end to a life, and it wedged itself forever in my brain.
What I learned from reading the book as a child was that the world was enormous, fascinating, varied, unpredictable, awe-inspiring, funny. And I never felt patronised or talked down to, as other kids encyclopaedias did. It’s something I’ve maintained – we aim the book at a slightly higher reading age.

[CraigGlenday]

@wetaugust

Hi Craig

If you could personally hold just one of the records in the book, which one would you choose?

I'd go for fastest woman (100 metres).

Richest man! And I’ve always said I’d like to be the first editor in space, but given the cost per kilo to get me there, I’d need to be the richest man! I was once offered the chance to join a team rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, which very briefly appealed to me, then I decided that I couldn’t afford the time or the inner thigh and politely declined! I have held a record: before I was the Editor in Chief, I was the Curly Wurly stretching champion – I stretched a Curly Wurly a record 0.9 m (3 ft) in three minutes without it snapping. I still have the certificate up at home!

[CraigGlenday]

@k8vincent

Thank you so much for our copy. DS1 is going to be thrilled with this for Christmas. DH loves all the crazy pictures.

Question for Craig Glenday: I was wondering whether, given that there is a clear appeal to the younger market, there might be a space for 'Youngest Ever' section. Is that something you have thought about?

We do monitor 'youngest' records, and occasionally run a whole spread of young holders. It’s definitely something that will appear in the books. We have to take a responsible approach to kids breaking records – for stressful or physically demanding categories such as mountaineering, marathon running or weight lifting we only accept claims from people aged 16 years or older.

[CraigGlenday]

@HazelDormouse

Thank you for our copy. Fabulous book. It is interesting for all the family and generates even more questions on the part of my young ds. I remember Record Breakers as a young child and Norris McWhirter in particular. My questions are:

What do you think Norris McWhirter would have thought of Guinness World Records as the global brand and entity that it has now become?
Do you consider being editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records as a job or a passion?

I think Norris would understand why we’re sculpting the business this way – you mustn't forget why The Guinness Book of Records was launched in the first place: to sell pints of Guinness! Norris and Ross were showmen who used their love of facts and stats, and also of language, to collect and curate compelling stories. It’s no different now, other than we've opened up the joy of record breaking to the entire world.
In the early days, Norris and Ross chose what they wanted to include, so the book was built on a classical foundation, not unlike the structure of a grand encyclopaedia such as Britannica. The twins always had an eye for the unusual and quirky, but the book was something of a closed shop and unsolicited claims were largely rejected. In the past 20 years, we've realised that we can open the world of record breaking to everyone, and as long as a record fulfils our key criteria – measurable, breakable, provable, etc – then we should monitor it. Of course, we still reject more than we get. A lot more. In fact, of the 50,000+ claims we get each year, less than 5% end up as official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles.
There’s also a commercial reality that Ross and Norris would understand: we’re no longer under the wing of an enormous brewer – we need to stand on our own two feet, and we’d be daft to ignore the potential of the brand to bring in revenue. The nature of publishing is changing too, and part of the success of GWR is being able to adapt. That’s why the book doesn’t look or read like it did in the 1950s. Because pretty much nothing from the 1950s is the same – the world moves on, and if you don’t adapt you get left behind. Like many of the old, traditional encyclopaedia publishers.
What Norris would also appreciate is the fact that we've maintained the integrity of the record keeping process, and that we still monitor the wide spectrum of topics you’ll find in the 2014 book. Yes, the weirder and wackier records get all the attention in the media, but we still monitor remarkable achievements such as mountaineering, human-powered circumnavigations and ultramarathons, to name but three categories. To get an idea of the current scope of GWR, just check out the index. Here’s a sample from the Gs: gardens, Garfield, garlic, gas industry, geckos, geese, gerbils, Giant’s Causeway, glass (eaten, smashed), gliding, globe of death, gloves, gmail, gnomes, goalkeepers, goals, goats, gold, goldfish, golf… A pretty wide-ranging set of topics!

[CraigGlenday]

@HazelDormouse

Thank you for our copy. Fabulous book. It is interesting for all the family and generates even more questions on the part of my young ds. I remember Record Breakers as a young child and Norris McWhirter in particular. My questions are:

What do you think Norris McWhirter would have thought of Guinness World Records as the global brand and entity that it has now become?
Do you consider being editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records as a job or a passion?

Being Editor-in-Chief is more than a 9-to-5 job for me – I find myself thinking about records all day, every day, and I love discovering new facts. (I always carry with me my Craig’s List notebook where I write down anything interesting I read or hear about, no matter how obscure.) I end up working at weekends, and if I go on holiday, which is rare, I can’t help rooting out superlative facts about the location or the people; I can’t read a newspaper without scanning it for “ests”. OK, tragic! We even have an in-house band – The Infamous Grouse – so when we do have spare time, we rehearse in the kitchen and play gigs at the local pubs!
For good or otherwise, I’ve effectively become defined by my job. Luckily, it’s a cool job, so I’m okay with this. It’s also a famous job, because people around the world know the brand and have expectations of the book. Not that I am famous – which is perfectly fine with me – but when you don’t have to ever explain who you are when you call or email someone (as I used to have to do in previous jobs) it makes getting on with them much easier.
So yes, it’s a definitely a passion, but then I couldn’t do a job if I didn’t feel passionate about it. It’s an old cliché but if you enjoy your job, you’ll never work a day in your life. Still, a proper day off once in a while – with no phone calls, no emails – would be nice...!

[CraigGlenday]

@Pinkbatrobi

Hi, we received our copy yesterday but I couldn't get a look at it until today as the children were always around! :-) Thank you so much for this. My son is only so happy to receive it! He absolutely loves it, and the last one we had was 2010 and he is still looking at it...I think that he knows some records my heart. This years edition is even more exciting with the 3-D feature, although I admit I only managed to have it work on the front page. That snake is scary! I am sure it's just me being technologically challenged and DS will be able to work it out no probs!! Lol I particularly like group achievements (I was one of the silly people trying to break the record fir the most people dancing the Macarena in Cambridge a few years back, and if I remember correctly there was something involving Groucho Marx!) but I know my son will go straight for the weird and gruesome. My bet is on the Bodification page. He's only 12, but I dread the moment he's going to come home with first tattoo/piercing, he seems to be fascinated by them. His favourite from old book was lady with longest nails. Eurgh!

My question for Craig is : who comes up with the ideas, and what is your criteria for choosing? I mean for instance, when the guy showed up with a coil going through his throat and nose, did you think 'right, this one is on the right side of crazy, let's see how he does?' Or do you have that as a category and that chap thought to himslf: yeah,I can do that...

And another question: what does it take to become one of the judges who go around to check for no cheating, ecc?

Thanks for reading my ramblings and thank you all at MNHQ even more for the book!!
R

Records are sourced in two main ways. The first is via a team of consultants who are experts in their fields and who provide us with records about everything from archaeology to zoology. The second is from claims made by the public through our website. These latter claims then take two forms: existing records that appear in the books, and new records suggested by the public.
New records are subject to an assessment by our Records Management Team, and perhaps by our consultants, if necessary. We have key criteria that a claim must fulfil if it's to qualify. One of them is that it must be a record! I know it’s obvious, but we get a lot of people telling us that they can lick their elbow. That’s all very well, but where’s the superlative?! This is why so many applications end up not being official records – because they’re not records! The rest are largely nonsensical ("longest drawing of an evil train"), irresponsible ("youngest person to perform a caesarean birth"), obscene ("[censored]"), illegal ("longest line of cocaine snorted"), jingoistic ("largest Union Jack") or just plain odd (“dog with the fewest legs”).

[CraigGlenday]

@Pinkbatrobi

Hi, we received our copy yesterday but I couldn't get a look at it until today as the children were always around! :-) Thank you so much for this. My son is only so happy to receive it! He absolutely loves it, and the last one we had was 2010 and he is still looking at it...I think that he knows some records my heart. This years edition is even more exciting with the 3-D feature, although I admit I only managed to have it work on the front page. That snake is scary! I am sure it's just me being technologically challenged and DS will be able to work it out no probs!! Lol I particularly like group achievements (I was one of the silly people trying to break the record fir the most people dancing the Macarena in Cambridge a few years back, and if I remember correctly there was something involving Groucho Marx!) but I know my son will go straight for the weird and gruesome. My bet is on the Bodification page. He's only 12, but I dread the moment he's going to come home with first tattoo/piercing, he seems to be fascinated by them. His favourite from old book was lady with longest nails. Eurgh!

My question for Craig is : who comes up with the ideas, and what is your criteria for choosing? I mean for instance, when the guy showed up with a coil going through his throat and nose, did you think 'right, this one is on the right side of crazy, let's see how he does?' Or do you have that as a category and that chap thought to himslf: yeah,I can do that...

And another question: what does it take to become one of the judges who go around to check for no cheating, ecc?

Thanks for reading my ramblings and thank you all at MNHQ even more for the book!!
R

Everyone who joins GWR – from the receptionist to the company president – has the chance to sign up for our adjudication training programme. This gives staff who've been here longer than three months the opportunity to learn about measuring, documenting and presenting record attempts. There’s lots to learn, from using equipment such as sound meters and trundle wheels to handling the media and knowing what to do when things go wrong – as they often do! We've also started recruiting adjudicators in far-flung places, such as Ralph in Paraguay, who used to work here full time but who moved to South America to escape the British weather. It helps if you can speak more than one language, and if you're calm, level-headed and comfortable speaking in front of big crowds!

[CraigGlenday]

@meerkatmumma

Hi Craig,

What is the most competed for record of all time?

The record that changes hand more often than any other is 'Oldest living woman'. This is because of the nature of the record – candidates tend to accede to the title towards the end of their life, and don’t hold it all that long. You could also say that half of the world’s population are striving for this record!
In terms of more proactive claims, we get a lot of interest in 'Longest marathon playing ice hockey' (broken 18 times since 2001) and 'trending'/fashionable records such as 'Most Mentos and soda fountains' (eight times since 2007).

[CraigGlenday]

@outragednotme

Thank you for sending me this book! My 8 year old son adores it, initially his favourite bit was about prisons

Then I loaded the app which was quick and easy to do...

Hold phone over pictures that have the 3D symbol and dinosaurs, goats and the shortest lady plus loads more all lift off the pages and 'come to life'. This has the potential to keep my sons amused for hours! (And I have three, aged 8, 14 and 16). DD not quite so enthralled as the boys.

Youngest son's question to Craig "which 3D video is your favourite?" (So far his favourite is the smallest lady as she speaks).

However, so much more to explore so he could have a new favourite soon.

I love the Spinosaurus – the largest carnivorous dinosaur – because you can move it around and make it roar or bite. If asked, most people would say that the biggest meat-eater of them all was the T-Rex, but this massive 17-m-long (56 ft) monster is a third bigger than T-Rex, and has an awesome 'sail' along its back.
I also think the folding world map is really cool, because it uses the map projection designed by the famous architect and philosopher Richard Buckminster Fuller (see, I told you we aim for a higher reading age!). This amazing map projection divides the globe into 20 triangular faces which, when unfolded, creates a vision of the Earth that’s not encumbered with political significance. There’s no right way up, no country gets distorted out proportion, and it’s arguably the most accurate map projection available. I was fascinated when I first encountered this map as a kid, so it’s been a real pleasure to introduce it to the GWR book and share it with our younger readers in Augment Reality form, which allows us to show the folding/unfolding action. I hope they enjoy it and are as intrigued by it as I was at their age.

[gazzalw]

Thanks for answering my questions Craig - what a fab job you have!

[rosesuzhan]

Would just like to say a big thank you for our copy of the Guiness Book of World Records - never received a free book ever! This is amazing. We have not put the book down since receiving it - a fabulous Christmas present to us all x

[julesofdenial]

Very pleased to win this book. Has been put away for Christmas, but I know the kids - 12 and 9 are going to love it. We have an older copy and they love looking through it finding the most weird and wonderful facts.

[AliceMumsnet]

Hello!
We know many of you received this book in our giveaway, a lot of which were saved as Christmas presents. We hope you and your DC enjoyed reading the book, and we would love it if you could leave a review and/or post a question from your children to editor-in-chief Craig Glenday

Many thanks
MNHQ
x

[mysticvicky]

Thanks for the copy. It was lovely to reminicse over this , I used to read all of my grandparents copies when i was little..
Still a fascinating and informatice read, thanks so much . Gioing to pass on to my mum so she can see what has changed,

[vanbandi]

Thank you for the free copy. It is always so interesting to know these facts and how mad people could be :) Pictures are also great.
We have a copy in the dental surgery where I work and this is the favourite book for the children. they are amazed.