world record 1

Largest Handprint Painting:

On 25 July 2009, a large handprint painting broke a Guinness World Records™ record in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China. The handprint painting measured 3,195.2 m² (34,392.71 ft²), beating the previous record of 2,944.62 m² (31 695.63 ft²), which was set in Turkey in 2008.

The event was organized by China Communist Youth League Dongguan Committee and GuanShan BiShui Richwood in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China. The participants were from all walks of life from Dongguan. The painting showed a number of symbols, including the five stars, the number 60 and doves. The participants enjoyed creating the painting as a gift to celebrate China’s 60th anniversary.

Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Angela Wu attended the event and presented the certificate to the organizer.

Having a 'ball' while setting records...

On 9 August 2009, at the York University Campus Track in Jamaica, Queens, New York City, Abraham Munoz – aka the Soccer Freestyler – set out to establish two Guinness World Records™ titles!

Officiated by Guinness World Records™ Adjudicator Jennifer Gilmour, his first attempt on the hot, windy day was for the greatest distance travelled balancing a football on the head. The record was previously set at 1,773 m (5,817 ft).

After Munoz checked the track distance and reviewed all of the guidelines with the Adjudicator, he balanced the football on his brow and was off! Battling the laws of gravity and the obstacles set forth by Mother Nature’s wind gusts and strong breezes, Abraham made it successfully around the track more than 11 times. In 59 minutes, he shattered the previous record, travelling 4,444 m (14,580 ft).

But Abraham wasn’t done yet; he had one more record to set: the fastest 100 m juggling a football. As advised by Ms Gilmour, the guidelines are strict: no hands, no arms and no travelling outside your lane. Additionally, the ball cannot touch the ground... or the attempt is over. Using his feet, Abraham charged down the track, keeping the ball moving and above ground while staying in his lane. His accomplishment? He set a new record at 17.53 seconds.

Most people eating potato chips simultaneously:

One, two, three strikes and you’re out… on a breezy July evening at Citi Field, New York City, USA, to help set a new Guinness World Records™ record for the most people eating potato chips simultaneously!

In the middle of the second inning, Guinness World Records™ Adjudicators Danny Girton Jr and Jennifer Gilmour observed as 33,756 fans opened their 0.75-oz (23.2-g) bags of Wise Potato Chips to eat and participate in the attempt – bags had been distributed to fans upon entry to the stadium.

The Guinness World Records™ record attempt was part of the Big City Crunch, the finale of a two-month New York City promotional campaign developed by Wise's sports marketing agency, Source Communications.

With one salty summer-time success established, how about an aptly sized soft drink to wash it down?

Founded in 1921, Wise Foods, Inc. is a privately held company based in Berwick, PA, that makes and sells salty snacks.

Established in 1983, Source Communications is a privately held, full-service advertising agency based in New Jersey, with offices in New York and San Diego.

Over the moon with lunar achievement:

Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday joins Science Editor Dave Hawksett on a trip to the home of astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to unveil the largest digital lunar mosaic...

Sir Alfred Patrick Caldwell Moore, CBE, HonFRS, FRAS, is every bit the eccentric English gentleman – impeccably dressed, monocle squeezed securely up to his right eye, gin and tonic in his hand. A childhood hero of mine, the amateur astronomer is the only living person who can claim to have met one of the Wright brothers and Neil Armstrong. A mean xylophonist, he's also played a duet with Albert Einstein (Patrick on the piano, Albert on the violin)!

Sir Patrick's other claim to fame is his Guinness World Records™-recognized achievement of hosting the TV same show – The Sky at Night (BBC) ­ – since 1957. I had the chance to meet Patrick recently, when he invited me to his home in Selsey, on the south coast of England. There, our Science Editor David Hawksett and I had the honour of presenting the old gent with his certificate, which he immediately hung on the wall beside countless other awards, diplomas and plaudits.

The main event of day, however, was the unveiling of the world's largest digital lunar mosaic. The impressive image – a richly detailed snapshot of the Moon on the ninth day of its cycle – is 87.4 megapixels in size, and was pieced together from 288 shots taken on 4 April this year by a team of amateur astro-imagers. A total of 1.1 terabytes of data were collected and painstaking pieced together to create the most detailed Earth-based image of the Moon.

Inspired by their tutor Patrick, ­ who allowed the team to use his garden-based observatory, ­ the image was created to mark the anniversary of the Moon landings, and to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

"This is a monumental image, worthy of the International Year of Astronomy 2009," said Nick Howes, who is part of the imaging team, and who came up with the original plan for the record attempt. "It's also our way of honouring Sir Patrick's incredible work in mapping the Moon for the Russian and American Moon missions in the 1960s, on this, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing."

Congratulations to Nick Howes, Damian Peach, Bruce Kingsley, Dave Tyler, Trevor Little, Nick Smith, Pete Lawrence, Mark Irving, Leanne Irving, David Mason and Ninian Boyle (all UK).

Largest group hug:

The city of Alba Iulia sits in the heartland of Transylvania, about an hour's drive from the nearest airport at Cluj Napoca, which in turn is an hour's flight from the Romanian capital, Bucharest. It's a hugely pretty city, surrounded by lowland hills; quiet without feeling sleepy, relaxed without feeling dull. The air is country-sweet, the traffic is polite and co-operative. You stretch a little as soon as you arrive.

In the centre of the city there is a walled citadel, a former fortress with seven bastions in a stellar shape. The citadel's history is tumultuous – a section of one wall dates back 2,000 years to the Roman Empire; the Roman Catholic Cathedral was built in the 13th century; there is a university now, and a library of priceless mediaeval documents. On 1 December 1918, the treaty that unified Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania was signed. Kings have been crowned here. Conquering heroes have ridden in, returning from war. Clearly there's more to Alba Iulia than first meets the eye.

In 2009, what's clearest is the very deep and abiding pride that the local residents have in their city which is why, on Friday, 29 May, nearly 10,000 citizens of Alba Iulia and its surrounding townships gathered in a circle stretching over 3.4 km (2.1 miles) and literally embraced their city. It was the largest group hug ever recorded by Guinness World Records™, and I had the honour of attending.

The execution was flawless: weeks of advance television promoting the event; a white line painted on the ground around the outside of the walled area; hundreds of volunteer marshalls shepherding the arriving people into sections around the outside of the walls, and feeding their numbers back to a centralized counting station. Even the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, took part among a mass of media and fans.

At the given signal, fireworks were sent into the air, the bells of the cathedral were rung, and I was on my bicycle (with a police escort on a motorbike in front, lights and siren going) to ride a lap around the citadel, ensuring that everyone was in formation and the hug was complete. So many people – young kids, high-school students, elderly folk, a group of policemen – in a circle nearly 3.5 km long all standing proud in support of their home.

Friends laughed when I told them I was going. The largest group hug sounded somehow twee, or vaguely childish. But that's the beauty of Guinness World Records: what you think you're going to experience invariably turns into something very different. This was a symbol of something very special – home, pride, national identity, call it what you will – and it was as moving and as wonderful an event as I've ever been part of.

Guinness World Records Adjudicator Paul Kenny attended and verified this record.

largest duck race:

On 28 May 2009, the river in Zhangjiabang, Pudong District, Shanghai, China, was alive with scores of yellow plastic ducks. In fact, this was a Guinness World Records™ attempt for the largest duck race. And by the end of the event, a new record had been set, with 200,000 plastic ducks – or 30,000 more than the previous record.

The attempt for this plastic duck race was organized by Arthur Loo Chow Leng from the Baby Gym Training & Education (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. In the event, entitled “Happy Duckling, Lovely China”, the plastic ducks were “adopted” before they took part in the race. It was hoped that these happy plastic ducks could bring happiness to everyone who saw them. Guinness World Records Adjudicator Angela Wu officiated at the event and presented a certificate to the organizer.