10 Unbreakable Guinness Records

The Guinness Book Of World Records was first published August 27, 1955, and has compiled an incredible list of achievements in almost every category imaginable.

Over the years, the editors of the book have removed some categories because they chose not to encourage or promote certain activities such as bullfighting and excessive drinking.  They once published records for the world's heaviest dog but discontinued that because they didn't want to see a pet owner abusing an animal just so they could be listed in the book.

Some records remain on top even sixty-eight years after the first edition was published.  Guinness has declared them to be 'unbreakable' but admits they might be broken some day.

Here's Guinness' list of ten unbreakable records.

1)  TALLEST MAN:  At 8' 11", Robert Wadlow holds the record for the tallest man.  When he died in 1940 at the age of twenty-two, he was still growing.

2)  LIGHTEST WOMAN:  Lucia Zarate was 21.5" tall and at the time of her death at age twenty-six in 1889, she weighed a mere 4.7 pounds.

3)  LOUDEST SOUND:  The volcanic eruption of the island of Krakatoa on August 26, 1883, sent shock waves reverberating seven times around the globe and were heard 2,200 miles away in Perth, Australia.

4)  MOST PROLIFIC MURDERESS:  Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory allegedly killed more than six hundred people, mostly young woman, in the late 1500s/early 1600s.  She was finally convicted of 80 counts of murder and locked away until her death in 1614.

5)  LARGEST DIAMOND:  Found in South Africa in 1905, the Cullinan diamond was 3,106 carats.  It was eventually cut into 105 pieces including the 530.2 carat Great Star of Africa and the 317.4 carat Lesser Star of Africa.  Both are now part of the British crown jewels.

6)  GREATEST WINGSPAN:  Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose weighs more than 40,000 pounds with a wingspan of 319 feet which is longer than a football field.  It flew only once, in 1947, for about one mile at just seventy feet in the air.

7)  BIGGEST PANDEMIC:  From 1347 to 1351, bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed seventy-five million people.

8)  BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER:  When adjusted for inflation and converted into today's dollars, Gone With The Wind is by far the champ with an estimated take of $5.4 Billion since it's 1939 release.  In comparison, Titanic's worldwide blockbuster box office Gross is $1.84 Billion.

9)  LONGEST POLE-SITTING:  Guinness' oldest record is held by St. Simeon the Stylite who spent thirty-seven years atop a pillar at Syria's Hill of Wonders.  He died in 459 and for the last 1,550 years his record remains unchallenged.

10)  YOUNGEST DOCTORATE:  In 1814, 12 year old Karl Witte of Austria became a doctor of philosophy at the University of Giessen in Germany.  He spoke five languages.

And as a grand finale … Ashrita Furman holds the world's record for holding the most records – he has 245 world's records.