1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,130 Back in 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, the Managing Director of Guinness, was desperate to come 2 00:00:05,130 --> 00:00:08,300 up with an idea that would make him famous enough that people would stop making fun of 3 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:09,809 him for being named Hugh Beaver. 4 00:00:09,809 --> 00:00:15,849 And one day, Hugh did the richest, whitest, most British thing anyone has ever done: got 5 00:00:15,849 --> 00:00:20,130 into an argument at a shooting party about what was the fastest game bird in Europe––the 6 00:00:20,130 --> 00:00:22,090 red grouse or the golden plover. 7 00:00:22,090 --> 00:00:26,060 The answer, by the way, is nobody cares, but Hugh decided that there should be a book to 8 00:00:26,060 --> 00:00:30,919 settle arguments about records, and so he made one: the Guinness World Records Book, 9 00:00:30,919 --> 00:00:35,180 which began as a small bar book and ultimately grew into the definitive lifestyle guide for 10 00:00:35,180 --> 00:00:37,829 bored 8-year-olds across the globe. 11 00:00:37,829 --> 00:00:42,100 But this video isn’t about the records that are in the Guinness World Records book. 12 00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:46,300 If you want to hear about those, you can read about them in some book whose name I forget. 13 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:50,940 This is about the records that Guinness refuses to put in their precious little book. 14 00:00:50,940 --> 00:00:55,910 Now, the main category of unrecognized records is also the least interesting, and the one 15 00:00:55,910 --> 00:00:59,789 you probably already kind of knew: overly specialized records. 16 00:00:59,789 --> 00:01:04,760 You see, in addition to being standardizable, verifiable, and breakable, records must also 17 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,810 be interesting, and despite what the 100% real record for “most canned drinks opened 18 00:01:08,810 --> 00:01:12,310 by a parrot in one minute,” would have you believe, Guinness typically won’t accept 19 00:01:12,310 --> 00:01:14,619 a record if the criteria are overly specific. 20 00:01:14,619 --> 00:01:18,500 That’s why there aren’t records for things like “most jokes about bricks on a semi-satirical 21 00:01:18,500 --> 00:01:21,700 educational YouTube channel” or “most jokes about Brian from Real Engineering on 22 00:01:21,700 --> 00:01:25,500 a semi-satirical educational YouTube channel” or “most bricks thrown at a semi-satirical 23 00:01:25,500 --> 00:01:28,810 YouTuber by Brian from Real Engineering” which is a shame, because otherwise I’d 24 00:01:28,810 --> 00:01:30,610 hold all of those records. 25 00:01:30,610 --> 00:01:34,479 Another major reason Guinness won’t accept a record is if they feel it’s too dangerous, 26 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:38,880 but the specific rule is worded in a pretty interesting way: “Guinness World Records 27 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,079 will not monitor any records involving unsuitable activities or those which could cause potential 28 00:01:43,079 --> 00:01:47,580 harm or danger to spectators,” which raises the question: what is an “unsuitable” 29 00:01:47,580 --> 00:01:48,580 activity? 30 00:01:48,580 --> 00:01:52,310 I mean, Guinness still monitors the record for “most live rattlesnakes held in mouth 31 00:01:52,310 --> 00:01:56,710 for 10 seconds,” despite the fact that when I tried to break it, both my doctor and my 32 00:01:56,710 --> 00:01:58,720 rattlesnakes found it pretty unsuitable. 33 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:03,180 It turns out, Guinness seems to have decided that “unsuitable” activities are not necessarily 34 00:02:03,180 --> 00:02:07,561 the most dangerous records, but instead records that normal-ish people could be tempted to 35 00:02:07,561 --> 00:02:11,860 actually try, and thus hurt themselves, whereas if you can manage to find a rattlesnake and 36 00:02:11,860 --> 00:02:15,540 get it in your mouth, you’re probably qualified to be doing that. 37 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:21,050 One famous example of this sort of too-dangerous-for-normies record is “longest time gone without sleep,” 38 00:02:21,050 --> 00:02:23,180 which Guiness discontinued in 1989. 39 00:02:23,180 --> 00:02:29,010 Now, this was really bad news for Tony Wright, who stayed awake for 264 hours to beat the 40 00:02:29,010 --> 00:02:33,700 record set by high schooler Randy Gardner in 1963, only for Guinness to respond that 41 00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:36,770 they didn’t do that record anymore, but also that he hadn’t even broken the real 42 00:02:36,770 --> 00:02:41,440 record which was actually set by a Finnish man named Toimi Soini in 1964. 43 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,970 The danger rule is also why Guinness won’t accept records regarding medically-invasive 44 00:02:44,970 --> 00:02:49,990 procedures, speeding on public roads, or endurance records by those under age 16. 45 00:02:49,990 --> 00:02:53,670 Around the same time in the late 1980s, Guinness started to become more concerned with their 46 00:02:53,670 --> 00:02:57,880 influence on society, and also with their influence on how often they got sued, so they 47 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:03,150 began to crack down on a third category: records that promoted broader societal ills that they 48 00:03:03,150 --> 00:03:04,970 didn’t want to be in the business of promoting. 49 00:03:04,970 --> 00:03:09,840 Perhaps the most notable of these are “gluttony” records, which they also discontinued in 1989. 50 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,090 While they still monitor records for eating the most food in a short period of time—like 51 00:03:14,090 --> 00:03:18,890 the current record for eating a 12-inch pizza in 23.62 seconds—they will no longer record 52 00:03:18,890 --> 00:03:23,460 longer-term eating records like the famed 1880 meat-eating record of consuming an entire 53 00:03:23,460 --> 00:03:25,480 roast ox in 42 days. 54 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:30,460 In a 1989 Associated Press article, Guinness editor Donald McFarlan explained their reasoning 55 00:03:30,460 --> 00:03:35,540 as “we now regard these records as unhealthy and outmoded, in the light of growing concern 56 00:03:35,540 --> 00:03:39,830 about health issues worldwide,” going on to say “if you have witnessed one of these 57 00:03:39,830 --> 00:03:44,140 competitions, they are simply gross”––an absolutely flawless quote coming from a guy 58 00:03:44,140 --> 00:03:48,450 whose book still actively monitors the record for “most milk squirted out of an eye.” 59 00:03:48,450 --> 00:03:53,890 But it’s not just eating: Guinness discontinued all alcohol-drinking records in 1991 due to 60 00:03:53,890 --> 00:03:58,020 concerns about rising alcoholism rates, which may have hurt book sales, but was fortunately 61 00:03:58,020 --> 00:04:02,560 offset by additional Guinness beer profits thanks to the rising alcoholism rates. 62 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,920 In the same vein, they no longer monitor any records relating to tobacco, cannabis, or 63 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,260 nicotine, because they’re total narcs. 64 00:04:09,260 --> 00:04:13,260 After putting the kibosh on human gluttony, Guinness eventually decided to tackle animal 65 00:04:13,260 --> 00:04:17,420 gluttony as well—they discontinued all of their “heaviest pet” records in 1998, 66 00:04:17,420 --> 00:04:21,650 as they feared it was encouraging owners to overfeed their pets in search of the enormous 67 00:04:21,650 --> 00:04:25,070 fame and fortune that comes from the title “owner of the world’s heaviest ferret.” 68 00:04:25,070 --> 00:04:29,620 But they still maintain records for height, length, and age for most animals, because 69 00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:32,880 I’m not sure if I’d be able to go on living if I didn’t know that the world’s tallest 70 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,970 donkey is named Romulus. 71 00:04:34,970 --> 00:04:39,290 In that same socially conscious vein, Guinness also discontinued “environmentally unsound” 72 00:04:39,290 --> 00:04:43,930 records, mainly as a result of the hilariously colossal failure of Balloonfest ‘86, when 73 00:04:43,930 --> 00:04:48,430 Clevelanders released about 1.5 million balloons into the air, clogging the land and waterways 74 00:04:48,430 --> 00:04:52,340 of Northeast Ohio, forcing Burke Lakefront Airport to shut down, and interfering with 75 00:04:52,340 --> 00:04:55,100 a Coast Guard search for two missing boaters who ended up dead. 76 00:04:55,100 --> 00:04:58,652 But hey, it was the 80’s: how was anyone supposed to know that releasing one and a 77 00:04:58,652 --> 00:05:02,050 half million latex bags into the sky could possibly harm the environment. 78 00:05:02,050 --> 00:05:06,580 That’s the type of reasoning that could only come from a real expert in scientific 79 00:05:06,580 --> 00:05:07,580 thinking. 80 00:05:07,580 --> 00:05:10,610 And if you want to be the type of genius who can suss out that balloons that go up must 81 00:05:10,610 --> 00:05:14,210 also come down––or you want to understand the world around you better, and 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