Ken Edwards of Glossop, Derbyshire, England ate 36 cockroaches in one minute on the set of The Big Breakfast, London, England on March 5, 2001. Ken is a retired ratcatcher and part-time entertainer who first took to the stage at age 18, but his talent for carrying out bizarre stage acts was unveiled on the British TV show Over The Top when he was 39. Ken's 47 rats-down-the-trouser trick caused such a stir that he became a celebrity overnight! His friends and family are now used to his freaky acts and Ken says, "If I were to actually do something normal then they would react!"
The Guinness World Record for the loudest scream by an individual is a thundering 129 decibels, set by Jill Drake, from Tenterden, Kent, in London in 2000. That's about 10 decibels lower than a jet engine. Mrs Drake, 52, discovered her unusual talent by accident on a trip to London. She entered a screaming competition in the Millennium Dome and was told her 129 decibel howl broke the world record.
Using a computer and four blank keyboards, and without looking at the screen, Michele Santelia (Italy) typed backwards 67 books (3,503,013 words, 19,760,936 characters , 23.198 pages, 263,931 paragraphs, 499,554 lines) in their original languages including The Odyssey, Macbeth, The Vulgate Bible, the Guinness World Records Book 2002, and the Dead Sea Scrolls in Ancient Hebrew. Michele put together a 4,05 mt (13 ft 12 in) high tower of the books typed. He completed typing backwards Etruscan scripts in Etruscan Language and The Million in Ancient Chinese on 16 November 2008.
The most spoons balanced on the face is 16 and was achieved by Joe Allison (United Kingdom), aged 9, in Devon, United Kingdom, on 1 April 2008. Joe used stainless steel teaspoons. He balanced 5 spoons on the forehead, 4 on the cheeks, 1 on the nose, 2 on his top lip, 1 on each ear and 2 on the chin.
Christian Adam of Lübeck, Germany, learned cycling at the age of 4 and started playing the violin in 1970. Since then, he has combined the two to set and break world records for cycling backwards. His current world record for cycling backwards with a violin is 60.45 kilometres (37.56 miles) in 5 hours, nine minutes
Long, luxurious hair has been valued since the days of Rapunzel. But few women have taken it to her lengths – until Xie Qiuping. Xie has the world's longest hair, at over 16 feet. Her hair is so long that she must wear it in a tiara on her head and travel with an attendant.
Xie has been growing her hair out since she was a child. She says that her last haircut was in 1973. "It's no trouble at all. I'm used to it. But you need patience and you need to hold yourself straight when you have hair like this," said Xie. While Xie has a strong lock on the title of world's longest hair, there is a challenger. Cheng Shiqiong has been growing out her hair since 1996. But Xe doesn't need to be worried – Cheng's hair is only half the length of Xie's, at nearly eight feet long
In 2004, Lluis Colet was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for longest speech. His 2004 speech lasted 48 hours. Since then, the record was beaten by an Indian man who delivered a 120-hour speech, so Colet won it again, this time by talking for an amazing 124 hours. The 62-year-old Catalan and local government worker spoke for five straight days and four nights to set the record in the southern French town of Perpignan. Three notaries were on hand to recognize the feat which allowed Colet to enter in the Guinness Book of Records.
Michel Lotito (aka Monsieur Mangetout) from Grenoble, France, has been eating metal and glass since 1959. Gastroenterologists have described his ability to consume 900 g (2 lb) of metal per day as "unique". Mangetout - Michel's nickname - literally translates as "eats everything". Michel says bananas and hard-boiled eggs make him sick. His diet since 1966 included 18 bicycles, 15 supermarket trolleys, seven TV sets, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a low-calorie Cessna light aircraft and a computer. He is said to have provided the only example in history of a coffin (handles and all) ending up inside a man. By October 1997, he had eaten nearly nine tons of metal
The Fastest time to escape a zipped suitcase was 7.04 seconds achieved by Leslie Tipton (USA) on 31 May 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA, during Book Expo America.
Cindy Jackson, aged 53, (USA) has had at least 47 cosmetic procedures, including nine full scale surgical operations since 1988. These have included three full facelifts, two nose operations, two eye lifts, liposuction, knees, waist, abdomen, thigh and jawline surgery, lip and cheek implants, chemical peels, chin bone reduction and semi-permanent make-up
