Why are the records Guinness?
From guinnessworldrecord.com
The ultimate authority on record-breaking achievements, started out as an idea for a book of facts to solve arguments in pubs. The idea came about in the early 1950s when Sir Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, attended a shooting party in County Wexford. There, he and his hosts argued about the fastest game bird in Europe and failed to find an answer in any reference book.
In 1954, recalling his shooting party argument, Sir Hugh had the idea for a Guinness promotion based on the idea of settling pub arguments and invited the twins Norris and Ross McWhirter who were fact-finding researchers from Fleet Street to compile a book of facts and figures. Guinness Superlatives was incorporated on November 30, 1954, and the office opened in two rooms of a converted gymnasium.
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