Yuma, Arizona - The first Guinness Book of World Records was published in 1955 but now it is called simply the Guinness World Records book, says the Association of Mature American Citizens. But the idea for the book dates back to 1951 when the managing director of the Guinness Brewery at the time, Sir Hugh Beaver, was on a hunting trip.
The members of the hunting party wound up trying to guess what was the fastest game bird. It came to Beaver that people on such outings, but more important, the patrons of pubs were always getting into friendly disagreements about such things as “the oldest,” “the fastest,” “the strongest.” It didn’t take him long to produce and distribute the first Guinness book, which ultimately became a worldwide sensation that, some say, deserves of an award of its own. The folks who put the book together in recent years have expanded the categories they cover to include off-beat accomplishments.