Guinness Book of World Records : Origin

“]

Image courtesy wikipedia

In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of Guinness Breweries, was involved in a drunken argument about which of Europe’s many game birds could fly the fastest. Unable to settle the argument even after consulting a well-stocked library, he commissioned a new reference book that would be filled with the sort of facts that people routinely argue about over beer — the fastest, furthest, most expensive, largest, and so forth.

Thus was Guinness World Records born, and it has continued to this day.

[src of the above article]