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The Origins of Guinness World Records
Aug 23, 2025
Have you ever wondered how Guinness World Records came to be? On our 70th birthday, our editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday revisited Castlebridge, the spiritiual birthplace of Guinness World Records to tell you it's facinating origin story.
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0:00
This year, Guinness World Records
0:01
celebrates its 70th anniversary. And to
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mark the occasion, I've made the
0:05
pilgrimage here to Castle Bridge in
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County Wexwood Island, the spiritual
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birthplace of Guinness World Records.
0:11
Let's find out how it all began. The
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history of Guinness World Records can be
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traced back right here to the North Slob
0:18
in Wexford. It was here in 1951 that Sir
0:21
Hugh Beaver was invited to a hunting
0:23
party and got into an argument. What is
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the fastest game bird? Is it the grouse,
0:28
the plver, the tail, the woodcock? No
0:31
one knew the answer. So, here we are on
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the north slob. Slob is the Irish word
0:36
for mud. And these are giant mud flats
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where every November people come and
0:42
shoot game. At least they did back in
0:44
the 1950s. So, this is where the
0:45
argument actually happened. This is like
0:48
hallowed ground. Today, this is now a
0:51
wild fowl reserved funded partly by
0:54
Guinness.
0:58
[Music]
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Later that evening, Sir Hugh found
1:04
himself at dinner here at Castlebridge
1:07
House, the lovely property you can see
1:09
behind me, owned by Joshua Nun and his
1:11
family. There after dinner, the debate
1:13
once again arose, which is the fastest
1:15
game bird in Europe. So Hugh must have
1:17
been really irked by missing whatever he
1:19
was shooting at. And despite the library
1:22
being very vast and full of what Sir
1:24
Hugh described as very expensive books,
1:26
no one could find a solution to the
1:28
question. So Hugh then had his moment of
1:32
clarity and thought up and down the
1:34
country there'll be people arguing in
1:36
pubs and bars and what we need is some
1:38
kind of reference book that you keep
1:40
behind the bar that will solve the
1:42
problem, settle the argument and turn
1:44
that heat of argument into the light of
1:46
knowledge. Sadly, the house has fallen
1:48
into disrepair. But I've been given
1:50
special access to go inside and try to
1:53
find the exact place the Guinness World
1:55
Records book was born. Through there is
1:57
the house where it all began. So let's
2:00
find out where the Guinness World
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Records idea was born.
2:15
So you can imagine this in all its
2:16
grandeur busting with flowers and
2:19
blooms, oranges, fruits and you can see
2:23
the structures. So it would have been
2:24
covered cloch closure style horses would
2:28
have come in here. You could get off
2:31
your horse and go into the house without
2:33
getting wet. Probably at the pinnacle of
2:35
this kind of iron work. I would have
2:37
thought it's such a beautiful thing. But
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this is what we want to do. We want to
2:42
go inside the house. We need to find the
2:44
library where Sir Hugh had his light
2:47
bulb moment. So, let's let's uh see if
2:48
we can wander through.
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[Music]
3:00
I suppose if for them it's just a
3:01
functional space, wasn't it? I just, you
3:04
know, with a bit of tidying up, bit of
3:06
sweeping,
3:07
and obviously,
3:09
yeah,
3:13
yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? Just It's
3:16
so weird, but it's
3:20
You can see the light.
3:23
Is that daylight up there then? Yeah,
3:25
possibly.
3:26
Yeah. So, we are here. We have I've
3:28
finally made it. The pilgrimage to come
3:31
to Castle Bridge House has happened and
3:33
it's an amazing space. It's such a
3:35
beautiful You can see the potential of
3:37
it. Definitely. This is a really
3:39
important part of the Guinness World
3:40
Rebecca's history. Could this have been
3:43
the location where Sir Hugh had his
3:46
revelation, his
3:48
light bulb moment of we need a book that
3:51
can answer these questions cuz none of
3:53
the books in this expensive space, this
3:55
expensive house could solve the problem,
3:59
answer the question. It might have been
4:01
here. This might have been the very
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room.
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What's amazing is that we've got this
4:06
origin story and it's always been that.
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It's been like a myth or a legend to me
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all the years I've been in Guinness
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World Records. So, it's really special
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to be in the place where it happened. It
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is a It's a real thing. It's a real
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place, you know. Um, this is where the
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book was born, the idea was born.
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It feels like the in the in the movie
4:31
Titanic when they they cut from that
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scene of it being underwater and it
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becomes real and filled in and and full
4:39
of life. You can imagine it happening.
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Yeah, you could imagine the parties they
4:44
must have had here. The whiskey and the
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Guinness flowing. I would have thought
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it does feel like it's got life somehow.
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Weirdly, has this so
4:56
It's almost a crime really like how a
5:00
house as grand as this has got into such
5:02
a state cuz it's you know an important
5:05
place historically not just for us at
5:06
Guinness World Records but in the
5:08
community here and to see it this sad
5:12
state it's heartbreaking almost so much
5:16
history and the part it's played in our
5:19
story but also in the the area in the
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Guinness story as well. Yeah. How
5:24
important it is to Castle Bridge in
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Wexford.
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It's quite sad really.
5:32
So the Guinness World Records book is 70
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years now and over those years there has
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been that connection with the book and
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with the community here in Caster
5:40
Bridge. Every year there's a huge
5:42
festival in Ireland of traditional
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music. And we thought a couple of people
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here locally thought it'd be really good
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to connect into that festival and to see
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could we inspire local people as well to
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uh to get back playing traditional
5:56
music. So we connected up with uh the
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organizers of the FL Wexford which is
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the big event uh who had promised in
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their bid to come to Wexford and we set
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about then uh I suppose conceiving of
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the the plan then to do uh the biggest
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tin whistle ensemble uh in the world.
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The record to beat is 1,5 people playing
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simultaneously uh same tune for 5
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minutes. We know how many are
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registered, but we don't know how many
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are going to turn up on the day. Uh, so
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we're both nervous and excited at the
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same time. I think it'd be really
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important for Caster Bridge to feel like
6:34
almost like we have the Guinness World
6:36
Record coming home and the Guinness Book
6:38
of World Records that the story that
6:40
started here 70 years ago. Uh, that that
6:44
story is almost rekindled and everybody
6:46
who takes part will know the story and,
6:48
you know, be more invested in it. And
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the plan is then that people will be
6:52
inspired by this world record attempt to
6:55
harness that story. It is something that
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has both local, national and
7:00
international reach. And maybe Caster
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Bridge can be that center where people
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come, you know, to celebrate their world
7:06
records or to almost as a pilgrimage if
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you like uh to the place where the the
7:11
idea for the whole book actually began.
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Okay, Wexra, are you ready for your
7:16
official Guinness World Record attempt
7:18
for the largest pin whistle?
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It begins in three, two, one, go.
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[Music]
7:30
[Applause]
7:32
[Music]
7:35
[Applause]
7:36
[Music]
7:41
Not again.
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[Music]
7:49
[Applause]
7:49
[Music]
7:54
[Applause]
7:55
[Music]
8:01
You're walking.
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[Music]
8:20
[Applause]
8:27
Oh my god.
8:29
[Music]
8:30
[Applause]
8:35
So that sounded pretty awesome, didn't
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it?
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I was not quite sure what to expect, but
8:40
it sounded very good. So I would say
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that's professional standards. Yeah.
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Yeah. The stewards have given me their
8:46
counts. There was a couple that weren't
8:48
playing. So you've been discounted, but
8:51
that's okay because you know the figure
8:53
to beat was 1,05.
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Well, today Oh, and now drum roll. Drum
8:58
roll.
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[Applause]
9:04
You achieved 2,516.
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So congratulations.
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You are officially amazing on Rex.
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This is what you are.
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So congratulations.
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[Applause]
9:34
This is it,
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guys.
9:40
Yes.
9:43
You didn't touch it.
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