In 1951 Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of Guinness Breweries was hunting and missed his shot at a golden plover. The argument that followed was intense, and could not be resolved. Sir Beaver argued that the golden plover was the fastest game bird in all of Europe. His hunting partners argued that he was a bad shot.
Scanning the current reference material on the subject, Sir Beaver could not find any comparison between the various game fowl of Europe and an employee put him in touch with two university students that had been running a fact-finding agency. The rest is history.
The first edition of the Guinness Book of World Records was published on August 27, 1955. It turns out the golden plover is the fastest game bird in Europe and Sir Beaver’s errant shot while providing no meal for his family, began one of the most well known compendiums of world records that the world has ever seen. I assume the book holds the Guinness world record of world record books.
I had always assumed that Grumpy Cat must be the most viewed cat in all of YouTube history, but I was wrong. Maru holds that honor with a whopping 325,704,506 views and growing daily.
Her owner started documenting his journey as a kitten and Maru’s ability to shove himself into small cardboard boxes quickly went viral. He is the most viewed animal on all of YouTube. Sorry Grumpy Cat, we still love you.