We’re up to September in our look back over 2013, and the month that saw Microsoft purchase Nokia's mobile device division for $7.2 billion, Rockstar Games released its fifth installment of the Grand Theft Auto series Grand Theft Auto V, and Miley Cyrus released the controversial video to her track Wrecking Ball.
The closing of the football transfer window across Europe was marked with Real Madrid’s signing of Tottenham Hotspurs midfield star Gareth Bale for a whopping , record-setting ($132.9 million) transfer fee, making him the most expensive footballer ever on a single transfer.
The fee for the Welsh international moved him past new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, for whom Real paid out £80 million ($131.86 million) to Manchester United in 2009. Click here to find out 11 other ways Real Madrid could've spent the incredible transfer fee.
There was sad news with the passing of the British broadcaster Sir David Frost, who died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
Sir David played an important role in popularising Guinness World Records on television, as both a producer and host of the shows. To read Guinnessworldrecords.com’s obituary, click here.
The end of the summer saw Mexico’s city of Monterrey cook up a world record of its own when it played host to the largest barbecue by attendance, with a record-setting 45,252 attendees basking in the sun-kissed, mesquite-tinged air.
The month also saw us catch up with television icon Betty White, who we honoured with an official Guinness World Records certificate for "longest TV career for a female entertainer".
You can read our exclusive interview here.
Sticking with the world of entertainment, Scottish DJ/producer Calvin Harris cemented his reputation as one of music’s biggest megastars by leapfrogging ‘The King of Pop,’ the late Michael Jackson, to be officially recognised as having Most Top 10 hits on UK singles chart from one album.
The Scottish DJ/producer was given a private certificate presentation to celebrate his achievement in scoring an unprecedented nine Top 10 hits from his 2012 album “18 Months.”
Elsewhere, iconic AMC drama Breaking Bad was recognised as the “highest rated TV series,” thanks to its metascore of 99/100 on MetaCritic.com in the run up to its gripping conclusion.
The month also saw us take a guided tour of science fiction super fan Steve Sansweet who has the world’s largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia.
Steve’s museum in California houses an estimated 300,000 unique Star Wars items.
Equally out of this world was Leilani Franco who holds a trio of contortionism records.
The Londoner set records for the most full body revolutions maintaining a chest stand in one minute (25), performed the fastest human backbend walk (20 meters in 10.05 sec), and traveled the fastest 20 meters in a contortion roll (17.47 sec). You can see Franco's unique talents on display in our exclusive "Meet the Record Breakers" video below.
Custom car maker Austin Coulson always knew the one road sure to take him to record-breaking history.
It turned out in his case that the road was quite literal: Coulson entered the Guinness World Records database as the owner of the smallest roadworthy car, meaning he can legally take his mini-machine out on the road.
Coulson's car measures 25 inches (63.5 cm) high; 2 feet, 1.75 inches (65.41 cm) wide; and 4 feet, 1.75 inches (126.47 cm) long, and can be spotted by its Texas vanity license plates reading "IM BIG."
Equally impressive on four wheels was Happie, who holds the record for the farthest distance skateboarding by a goat t.
We caught up with Happie, who managed to hop on a board and travel 36 m (118 ft) to earn her title, in the video below.
We also met another four-legged record holder in September – albeit a robot.
Measuring 15.72 m (51 ft 6 in) in length, 12.33 m (40 ft 5 in) in width and 8.20 m (26 ft 10 in) in height, the world’s biggest four-legged walking robot was created by electronics maker Zollner Elektronik AG in Zandt, Germany.
The mighty mechatronic beast is radio remote-controlled and was created to feature in Germany’s longest-running folk play Drachenstich.
Creating a stir in New York City in September, was Jyoti Amge – the world’s shortest woman who visited the Big Apple to celebrate the launch of the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2014 book.
You can read all about her trip here.
Pocket-sized pets remain one of the most fascinating areas of the Guinness World Records database, with petite dogs arguably the most popular of all our animal records.
The smallest dog living, in terms of height, is female Chihuahua Miracle Milly, who measures 9.65 cm (3.8 in) tall and is owned by Vanesa Semler of Dorado, Puerto Rico. You can watch our video of our visit to see Milly back in September in the player below.
Finally, we end with Kenya's Wilson Kipsang, who, after coming agonisingly close two years ago, finally made his way into the history books in Berlin in September by breaking the fastest marathon world record.
Kipsang clocked a history-making time of 2:03:23 during the BMW Berlin Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
The 31-year-old’s time beat the previous mark of 2:03:38 set by fellow countryman Patrick Makau in the same race two years ago.
