39 Strange and Intriguing World Records People Have Achieved

An Ethiopian Olympic runner named Abebe Bikila couldn't find a comfortable pair of shoes, so he ran the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome barefoot, finished first, and set a new World Record.

2. Samuel L. Jackson is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest grossing actor of all time. His movies had made more than $7.4 billion as of 2011.

3. In 1968, Olympic long jumper Bob Beamon's first attempt exceeded the limit of the official measuring equipment. It took over 15 minutes before a distance was posted, and only then did he realize he had broken the world record by nearly 2 feet (0.6m).

4. A New Jersey woman named Patricia DeMauro rolled a pair of dice 154 times continuously at a craps table without losing. Her 154-roll winning streak broke a world record. The probability of this occurring was roughly 1 in 5.6 billion.

5. The world record for eating a 72-ounce steak was obliterated by a 120lb woman (Molly Schuyler) in less than 3 minutes.

Members of the band "Good Charlotte" protested against KFC's treatment of chickens. Then in 2012 and 2013 appeared in a number of KFC commercials in Australia and even tried to set a world record for eating KFC on "Australia's Got Talent."

7. The Simpsons is not the longest running cartoon series of all time. The Guinness World record is held by Sazae-san, with more than 7000 episodes, which has been running since 1969 in Japan.

8. The Guinness World Record for longest note ever recorded on a saxophone, at 45 minutes and 47 seconds, is held by Kenny G.

9. In 1983, hundreds of workers broke a world record by building a 3 bedroom home in just 3 hours. It was later sold to buyers who weren't told about home's origin. The home was an instant nightmare: uneven slab, burst pipes, flawed roof, mismatched paint, buckled walls, crooked doors, faulty sewer, etc.

10. On January 22, 1943, the temperature in Spearfish, South Dakota, changed from -4°F to 45°F in just two minutes, setting a world record. The temperature eventually rose to 54°F before dropping back to -4°F. This was caused by a Chinook wind, which caused this extreme temperature fluctuation in such a short amount of time.

The Turkish F-keyboard was designed using studies on bone and muscle anatomy of the fingers and letter frequencies in the Turkish language. With this scientific preparation, Turkey has broken 14 world records in typewriting championships between 1957 and 1995.

12. Hydrogen bombs usually do not contain hydrogen because it is difficult to store. They instead use lithium that is split into hydrogen by an atomic bomb. It worked so well that the first bomb went off with 3 times the expected yield, set the world record, and still holds the US record for yield.

13. In 1945, 900 Japanese soldiers were forced to retreat through 10 miles of mangrove swamp, during which hundreds were to be eaten by the thousands of saltwater crocodiles lying wait, in what is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Worst crocodile disaster in the world".

14. Christopher Lee holds world records for tallest actor in a leading role, most films with a sword fight by an actor, oldest video game voice actor, and formerly, most connected living actor, and most screen credits for a living actor.

15. Lois Gibson, who after being assaulted and nearly died from her injuries, volunteered to draw police sketches for the Houston Police Department. She now holds the Guinness World Record as the most successful sketch artist ever, having helped solve over 1,000 crimes in her 30-year career.

Guinness World Records had to ban a certain type of paper aircraft after a guy flew it for 30 minutes straight.

17. Vanna White hasn't actually turned any letters since 1997, hasn't worn an outfit more than once on the show and holds the Guinness World Record for clapping.

18. A San Francisco teen survived a 220ft plunge off the Golden Gate bridge while on a class field trip with no major injuries. When asked why he did it he said, "for kicks". (The official world record for a free fall into water is only 193ft)

19. A budgie named Puck is listed in the Guinness World Book of Records as "The bird with the largest vocabulary in the world " with a vocabulary of 1728 words. Also, he wouldn't just mimic, he would often create his own phrases and sentences.

20. "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the hardest tongue twister in the world.

Thomas Silverstein holds the world record for being isolated from the rest of the world. He has been in solitary confinement since 1983 and is still going.

22. Jonathan Lee Riches got the Guinness world record for having filed the highest number of lawsuits in the world. When he heard of this, he sued the Guinness Book of World Records.

23. The world record for non-stop pushups is 10,507 by Minoru Yoshida.

24. A bomb went off in a commercial airliner, blowing it into several pieces and fell for 3 minutes before crashing on a frozen mountaintop. One woman named Vesna Vulovic survived and now holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute, at 33,330 feet.

25. Tim Storms hold the record for the world's deepest voice which goes lower than 20 Hz, the deepest possible sound that the human ear can hear.