THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS PHENOMENON: THE STORIES BEHIND SOME OF THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE RECORDS ON "20/20"
Airing Friday, November 23
A man who sat in a bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes. A woman with nails 33 inches long. A man who did somersaults for
10 ½ straight hours. A man who stands 8 feet 5 inches tall. What could all of these people possibly have in
common? They are all Guinness World Record holders. For the last 53 years, the Guinness World Records books records
feats and oddities from the ridiculous to the sublime. The book, which is matched only by the Bible for popularity,
attracts people from every country in the world to attempt to set Guinness World Records. Who are these people and
what motivates them? “20/20” reports on amazing stories behind some of the unbelievable
records, airing on FRIDAY, November 23 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network
World TV Day!!!
Believe it or not, today is World TV Day a day when nations are encouraged to share their cultural programming on
the topics of peace, security and economic and social development. There are so many TV records we couldn’t
possibly fit them all on the page, but here’s some of the best small screen record breakers:
Earliest public TV service
The earliest daily TV service began on 30 September 1929 when programmes by John Logie Baird (UK) were transmitted
by the BBC from the Long Acre Studio, UK
Fastest TV animation production - script to screen
The fastest production of an animated TV show from script to screen was six hours achieved by KliK Animation of
Montreal, Canada, which produced and aired a topical one-minute animation entitled Le JourNul de
François Pérusse, on the same day. It premiered on 8 February 1999 after the 6pm news on TVA,
Canadian national television.
Largest TV sculpture
Gintaras Karosas created a sculpture entitled "LNK Infotree" using 2,903 individual television sets,
spanning 3,135 sq metres (33,744.85 sq ft) at the Open Air Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania
Longest TV quiz programme
The longest TV quiz programme lasted for 52 hr 45 min, finishing on 1 September 2003. The show was broadcast on
9Live and co-hosted by Thomas Schürmann, Anna Heesch, Alida-Nadine Kurras, Robin Bade and Jörg Draeger
(all Germany) from the studio in Ismaning, Germany.
Longest TV talk show marathon
The world record for the longest TV talk show marathon is 36 hr 15 min, held by Kristijan Petrovic (Croatia) who
continuously interviewed and presented from 27-28 August 2007 on VTV Television in Varazdin, Croatia.
Most game show contestants - single TV show
The greatest number of participants was 80,799 in the All-Japan High-School Quiz Championship televised by NTV on 31 December 1983.
Youngest TV presenter
The youngest TV presenter of his own show was Luis Tanner (Australia, b. 9 May 1998) who hosted the first episode of
the weekly show Cooking for Kids with Luis on Nickelodeon, which aired on 25 October 2004 when he was 6
years 168 days old.
21 November 2007