Original photo by PA Images/ Alamy Stock Photo
Of all the world records to hold, “most world records” might be the most impressive. That title belongs to American Ashrita Furman, who has set more than 600 world records and currently holds more than 200. He first became smitten with Guinness’ famous book as a child in the 1960s and made it his lifelong mission to set as many records as he could. Among his many feats are the longest continuous distance somersaulting (12 miles and 390 yards), most hopscotch games completed in 24 hours (434), world's largest popcorn sculpture (20 feet, 10 inches), most apples cut midair with a samurai sword in one minute (29), and translating and reciting a poem in the most languages (203).
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factHis pursuits have indeed taken him to every continent — including Antarctica, where he set both speed and distance records for pogo stick jumping.
His first attempt in 1978 ended in disappointment when he failed to break the record for most consecutive jumping jacks, but he persevered and broke it the following year by completing a whopping 27,000 in 6 hours and 45 minutes. He has since gone on to break hundreds more records and regularly works to reclaim titles that have been taken from him by other record-breakers.
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Furman holds the record for most ______ caught with chopsticks in one minute.
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Furman holds the record for most Ping-Pong balls caught with chopsticks in one minute.
Guinness has more world records than it can print.
The company tracks a total of around 65,000 records, which is far more than can fit into the annual book. It makes a number of editorial decisions to whittle that number down to about 4,000, and the rest are featured online. Some record-holders have been unhappy with the promotion (or lack thereof) their feats have achieved, which led one of them, Dean Gould, to launch his own registry of world records, Record Holders Republic, in response. Other Guinness critics include former adjudicators such as Anna Nicholas, who told USA Today the company’s current output is “a far cry from the book [she] worked on” in the late 1980s, and that the current version places too much emphasis on sensationalism. Guinness nonetheless remains synonymous with world records, an association that’s unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
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