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29 - Largest Water Balloon Fight
Filmed as a music video for Kyle Andrew's "You Always Make Me Smile", this mammoth wet-fest consisted of 3,927 students of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA.
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28 - Longest Fingernails
Chris "The Dutchess" Walton has a total of 601.9 cm (19 ft 9 in) worth of fingernails, as measured in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Read more about Christine's record-breaking nails here
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27 - Loudest Purring Cat
Smokey the cat, of Northampton, UK, recorded a peak volume purr of 67.7 dB, measured at distance of 1 metre. Owner Lucinda Ruth Adams, coaxed Smokey to purr his way into the record books with a lot of stroking by hand, and a few pieces of ham as a treat!
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26 - Largest Bikini Parade
Australian GWR adjudicator Chris Sheedy was gutted to have to verify this attempt in person, at which 357 bikini-clad participants paraded along the beach in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Read more about this sun-soaked record here
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25 - Longest Ears on a Dog
Harbor, a 7 year old black and tan Coonhound, has the longest ears of any living dog, with left and right ears measuring 31.1 cm (12.25 in) and 34.3 cm (13.5 in) respectively. A coonhound's larger than average ears help it funnel in scents to the dog's sensitive nose, making them an excellent breed for hunting. Find out more about Harbor here!
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24 - Largest Afro
Aevin Dugas, a 36 year-old social worker from New Orleans, USA, is the proud owner of the largest natural afro in the world with a circumference measuring an incredible 4 ft. 4 in (1.32 m). Aevin says her huge hair does cause a few problems though, getting in the way when driving, or serving as a hiding place for remote controls for her sister! Read more about Aevin's enormous afro here
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23 - Longest Tongue (female)
Chanel Tapper's enormous tongue measures 9.75 cm (3.8 in) from the tip to the centre of lip. Chanel is happy to say it causes her no trouble speaking or eating - in fact, she boasts it enables her to eat a pot of yoghurt without using a spoon at all! Find out more here!
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22 - Most Skips in 30 Seconds
On our recent Japanese TV show, Megumi Suzuki achieved 162 skips in just 30 seconds!
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21 - Largest Anamorphic Painting
The largest anamorphic pavement art measures 1,160.45m2 (12,490.93ft2), and was created by Joe Hill of 3D Joe and Max, and unveiled at West India Quay, London, UK. The piece was created as part of the annual Guinness World Records Day celebrations - You can read about all the other records set on the day here.
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20 - Most Pierced Man
Rolf Buchholz, from Dortmund, Germany, has 453 piercings, making him the most pierced man in the world. These include 16 in his right ear, 15 in his left ear, 25 in his eyebrows, 8 in his nose, 94 in and around his lips, 2 in his tonue, 8 in the rest of his body, 3 in his nipples, 4 in his navel and 278 in the genital area. Ouch!
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19 - Shortest Cat
Fizz Girl, a 2-year-old female munchkin cat hailing from San Diego, USA, measures just 15.24 cm (6 in) from the floor to the shoulders! Munchkins are a breed of cat with abnormally short legs, caused by a naturally occurring genetic mutation. There's more info on Fizz Girl available here.
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18 - Most Tattooed Person
Chainsaw juggling, unicycling, sword-swallowing Lucky Diamond Rich has had over 1,000 hours worth of body modification work by hundred of tattoo artists. After a full-body coverage of colourful designs, he next opted for a 100% coverage of black ink, and is now in the process of having white ink designs layered on top of the black, and further coloured designs on the white!
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17 - Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Wally/Waldo
At the Street Performance World Championship in Dublin, Ireland earlier this year, the largest gathering of people dressed as Wally/Waldo was 3,872!
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16 - Fastest "Three Poles" Completion (female)
The shortest time taken by a female to reach the three extreme points of the Earth: Mt Everest, the North Pole and the South Pole is 1 year, 336 days. Cecilie Skog's achievement set another exploration record along the way, that of unsupported North Pole trek by a female.
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15 - Furthest Distance Limbo Skating Under Cars
Rohan Ajit Kokane limbo skated 38.68 metres (126 ft 11 in) under cars at the Juhu Aerodrome in Mumbai, India, as a part of our first Indian TV series, "Guinness World Records: Ab India Todega" (now India smashes).
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14 - Highest Shallow Dive
Serial record-breaker Darren Taylor breaks his own record for the 13th time here, diving into a regulated depth of 30 cm (11.8 in) of water from a height of 11.05 m (36 ft 3 in) on the set of our Italian TV show. Darren has since broken his record again, with a 11.20 m (36 ft 8.94 in) dive in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China.
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13 - The Great British Inventors Race
West India Quay, in London, UK, saw 3 of Britain's quirkiest inventors race their creations against one another, as part of the annual Guinness World Records Day celebrations. Taking part were Perry Watkins in the smallest roadworthy car, "Wind Up", Edd China on the fastest toilet, "Bog Standard", and race-winner Colin Furze on the fastest mobility scooter. The inventors also demonstrated their stunt driving abilities, performing donuts and driving on two wheels of their crazy vehicles!
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12 - Shortest Woman
Standing at just 2ft 3in (69 cm) tall, 22 year old student Bridgette Jordan of Sandoval, Illinois, USA, is the world's shortest living woman. Bridgette is a very active student, is on her school's cheerleading squad, and hopes to become a model. Together with her 98 cm (38.6 in) tall brother Brad, she also holds the "shortest siblings" record. Read more about Bridgette here.
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11 - Most Dogs Skipping
Uchida Geinousha's 'Super Wan Wan Circus' based in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, offers a unique act for its audience; the incredible sight of 13 dogs skipping on a rope together!
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10 - Highest Basketball Shot
Kyle Nebel of the 'How Ridiculous' basketball trick shot team made a basket from a height of 66.89 m (219 ft 5 in), at the WACA ground in Perth, Australia. Nebel and three teammates spent more than two and a half hours attempting shots from the top of a light tower before the successful shot was made.
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9 - Highest Cable Car Walk
Switzerland's Freddy Nock failed to break his own record of "longest cable car walk", but still set this record for the highest, at 3,303 m (10,836 ft 7 in) above sea level. Nock's attempt was cut short by severe weather conditions 572 metres into the 1600 metre walk, with - 15 degree winds battering him as he walked along the wire, which was angled at around 45 degrees, making his attempt all the more difficult. Oh, and we forgot to mention one little detail - all of this was done with no safety line!
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8 - Fastest Guitar Player
John 'Dr Hot Licks' Taylor played "The Flight Of The Bumblebee" without error at a record-breaking 600 BPM at The Guitar Centre, in Westminster, Colorado, USA. John made several attempts at incresing speeds, starting at 350 BPM, and gradually increased to 380 BPM, 450 BPM, 500 bpm and then the amazing final speed of 600 BPM. Read John's story in his own words in this blog post.
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7 - Most Stairs Climbed on the Head
Sun Xi Zhong of China managed to climb an incredible 15 stairs while balanced on his head the entire time! This popular record video comes from our recent Japanese TV series, "Bikkuri Chojin Special #3", filmed in Tokyo, Japan.
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6 - Largest Mining Truck
Westech's T282C Flow Control Body is the largest mining truck body, with a volume of 470.4 cubic metres at a coal density of 0.86 tons/m3. Here it is at work in the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, Wyoming, USA.
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5 - Largest Pizza Commercially Available
Big Mama's and Papa's Pizzeria in Los angeles, California, USA sell this culinary behemoth, a 1m 37cm (4ft 6in) square pizza for $199.99 (plus tax), the largest commercially available. Each pizza is reported to feed 50 to 100 people, and is even available for delivery! You must give a minimum of 24 hours notice to order one though, so be sure to call in advance!
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4 - Longest Domestic Cat
At 123cm (48.5in) long, Mymains Stewart Gilligan (Stewie for short), a 5 year old Maine Coon, is the longest domestic cat in the world. In case you were wondering, yes he is named after the popular "Family Guy" character! There's more info on Stewie here.
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3 - Highest Blob Jump
Reto Zimmerli of Switzerland was launched to a height of 17m (55ft 9.29in) from an airbag, in Hirsgarten, Cham, Switzerland. Known as "blobbing", this is a popular outdoor water activity. Zimmerli was the 'blobber' and the three 'jumpers' were Adrian Baumann, Eric Baumann and Marlo Rigert.
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2 - Tightest Parallel Parking
Our most popular YouTube video this year was that of Ronny Wechselberger (a.k.a. Ronny C-Rock) of Germany, skidding his way into a parking space with just 26 cm (10.24 in) of clearance. Now, his record has been broken by Zhang Hua of China, how managed to slide into a space with a just 24 cm (9.45 in) to spare!
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1 - Shortest Man
Guinness World Records editor-in-chief travelled to Sindangan in the Philippines earlier this year, to measure Junrey Balawing on his 18th birthday, as he became the new world's shortest man. Little Junrey is just 59.93cm (23.5in) tall, avergaing 6 measurements taken over a 24 hour period. Here is the first part of our short documentary on Craig's trip to meet Junrey and award him his official Guinness World Records title. Top 10 facts about Junrey, the world's shortest man!
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It's all in the book!
Many of these fantastic world record achievements, and thousands of others, are chronicled in our latest book, Guinness World Records 2012, available online and in stores now.It's the perfect gift for the holidays!
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