The Guinness Book of World Records began in 1955 as a marketing project by Hugh Beaver. It contains human achievements and natural phenomena. It became a surprise international bestseller. The book and its spinoffs are still published today by Guinness World Records and Ripley Entertainment. Ripley's Believe It or Not franchise was founded in 1918 and includes books, comics, TV shows, and museums displaying strange facts and artifacts. Both franchises entertain audiences by documenting bizarre records and unusual facts.

3.  is a reference book published annually,
 containing a collection of world records,
both human achievements and the extremes
of the natural world.
 The book itself holds a world record, as the
best-selling copyrighted book series of all
time.
 It is also one of the most frequently stolen
books from public libraries in the United
States

5.  May 14, 1941 - Sir Hugh Beaver, then the
managing director of the Guinness Breweries,
went on a shooting party in the North Slob,
by the River Slaney in County Wexford,
Ireland.
 He became involved in an argument over
which was the fastest game bird in Europe,
the koshin golden plover or the grouse. That
evening atCastlebridge House, he realized
that it was impossible to confirm in
reference books whether or not the golden
plover was Europe's fastest game bird.

6. o Beaver knew that there must be numerous
other questions debated nightly in pubs
throughout Ireland, but there was no book in
the world with which to settle arguments
about records. He realized then that a book
supplying the answers to this sort of question
might prove popular.

7.  ChristopherChataway - recommended
student twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, who
had been running a fact-finding agency in
London.
 The brothers were commissioned to compile
what became The Guinness Book of
Records in August 1954.
 One thousand copies were printed and given
away. After founding the Guinness Book of
Records at 107 Fleet Street, London
 the first 197-page edition was bound on 27
August 1955 and went to the top of the
British bestseller lists by Christmas.

8.  the first 197-page edition was bound on 27
August 1955 and went to the top of the
British bestseller lists by Christmas.
 Itwas a marketing give away—it wasn't
supposed to be a money maker," said Beaver.
The following year it was launched in the
U.S., and it sold 70,000 copies.

9.  The book became a surprise hit, many
further editions were printed, eventually
settling into a pattern of one revision a year,
published in October to coincide with
Christmas sales.
 The McWhirters continued to publish it and
related books for many years.
 Both brothers had an encyclopedic memory—
on the TV series Record Breakers, based
upon the book, they would take questions
posed by children in the audience on various
world records and were usually able to give
the correct answer.

10.  RossMcWhirter was assassinated by
the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975.
 Following Ross's assassination, the feature in
the show where questions about records
posed by children were answered was called
"Norris on the Spot".

11.  Guinness World Records Limited was formed and
created in 1954 to publish the first book.
 Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the
Guinness book in the 1970s and under their
management, the book became a household
name in the USA.
 In 2006, Apax Partners purchased Hit and
subsequently sold Guinness World Records in
early 2008 to the Jim Pattison Group, which is
also the parent company of Ripley
Entertainment, which is licensed to operate
Guinness World Records' Attractions.
 With offices in New York City and Tokyo,
Guinness World Records global headquarters
remain in London, while its museum attractions
are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando,
Florida.

12.  In 2006, Apax Partners purchased Hit and
subsequently sold Guinness World Records in
early 2008 to the Jim Pattison Group, which
is also the parent company of Ripley
Entertainment, which is licensed to operate
Guinness World Records' Attractions.
 With offices in New York City and Tokyo,
Guinness World Records global headquarters
remain in London, while its museum
attractions are based at Ripley headquarters
in Orlando, Florida.

13.  Each edition contains a selection of the large
set of records in the Guinness database, and
the criteria for that choice have changed
over the years. The newest records are
added, and the records that have been
updated are added too.

14.  The Guinness Book of Records is the world's
most sold copyrighted book, thus earning it
an entry within its own pages.
 A number of spin-off books and television
series have also been produced. Again the
emphasis in these shows has been on
spectacular, entertaining stunts, rather than
any aspiration to inform or educate.

15.  In2005, Guinness designated 9 November
as International Guinness World Records
Day to encourage breaking of world records;
it was described as "phenomenally
successful".
 The 2006 version was dubbed "the world’s
biggest international event," with an
estimated 100,000 people participating in
over 10 countries. The promotion has earned
Guinness a whopping 2,244 all-new valid
records in 12 months, which is a 173%
increase over the previous year.

22.  Author(s) - Craig Glenday (ed.)
 Cover artist- Simon Jones
 Language(S) -
English, Arabic,
Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Croatian,
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish,
French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian,
Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian,
Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Slovak,
Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Bulgarian

23.  Series - Guinness World Records
 Subject(s) -- World Records
 Genre(s)- Information
 Publisher - Jim Pattison Group
 Publication date -1955–present
 Pages
288 (2011,2012)
287 (2010)
288 (2003–2009)
289 (2008)
 ISBN 978-1-904994-67-1

26.  founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in
bizarre events and items so strange and
unusual that readers might question the
claims.
 TheBelieve It or Not panel proved popular
and was later adapted into a wide variety of
formats, including radio, television, comic
books, a chain of museums and a book series.

27.  Ripley's Believe It or Not!- is a franchise
 ClaytonMark's planned worker community in
Northwest Indiana is included in Ripley's
Believe It or Not because the cars park on
the sidewalks and the streets serve as the
sidewalks.
 TheRipley collection includes 20,000
photographs, 30,000 artifacts and more than
100,000 cartoon panels. With 80-plus
attractions,

28.  TheOrlando-based Ripley
Entertainment, Inc., a division of the Jim
Pattison Group, is a global company with an
annual attendance of more than 12 million
guests.
 RipleyEntertainment's publishing and
broadcast divisions oversee numerous
projects, including the syndicated TV
series, the newspaper cartoon
panel, books, posters and games.

29.  Ripleyfirst called his cartoon
feature, originally involving sports
feats, Champs and Chumps, and it premiered
on December 19, 1918, in the New York
Globe.
 Ripley began adding items unrelated to
sports, and in October 1919, he changed the
title to Believe It or Not. When
the Globe folded in 1923, Ripley moved to
the New York Evening Post.

30.  Thatsame year, Ripley hired Norbert
included Lester Byck. Pearlroth as his
researcher, and Pearlroth spent the next 52
years of his life in the New York Public
Library, working ten hours a day and six days
a week in order to find unusual facts for
Ripley. Other writers and researchers

31.  Working on the syndicated newspaper panel
Joe Campbell 1946–1956
Art Sloggatt 1917–1975
Clem Gretter 1941–1949
Carl Dorese, Bob Clarke 1943–1944
Stan Randall, Paul Frehm 1938–1978

32. Paul Frehm - became the full time artist in
1949)
Walter Frehm (1948–1989)
Walter worked part time with his brother
Paul and became a full time Ripley artist
from 1978–1989.
Paul Frehm won the National Cartoonists
Society's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for
1976 for his work on the series.

33.  BobClarke - later created parodies
of Believe It or Not! for Mad, as did Wally
Wood and Ernie Kovacs, who also did a
recurring satire called "Strangely Believe It!"
on his TV programs.

34.  Atthe peak of its popularity, the syndicated
feature was read daily by about 80 million
readers.
 Duringthe first three weeks of May 1932
alone, Ripley received over two million
pieces of fan mail.
 Dozensof paperback editions reprinting the
newspaper panels have been published over
the decades.

35.  Other strips and books borrowed the Ripley
design and format, such as Ralph
Graczak's Our Own Oddities, Strange as it
Seems by John Hix and Gordon Johnston's It
Happened in Canada. Recent Ripley's Believe
It or Not! books containing new material
have supplemented illustrations with
photographs.

36.  Peanut Creator
Charles M. Schulz's first publication of
artwork was published by Ripley. It was a
cartoon claiming his dog was "a hunting dog
who eats pins, tacks and razor blades."
Schulz's dog Spike later became the model
for Peanuts' Snoopy.

37. Some notable books:
 Ripley's Believe It or Not (1929), reprinted in
2004
 Ripley's
Mammoth Book of Believe It or
Not (1955)
 Ripley's
Giant Book of Believe It or
Not (1976)

38.  Ripley's
35th Anniversary Believe It or
Not (1954)
 Ripley's
50th Anniversary Believe It or
Not (1968)
 Ripley's
Believe it or not Special edition
2012 (2011)

39. A series of paperback books containing
annotated sketches from the newspaper
feature:
 Ripley's Believe It or Not 1st Series (1941)
 Ripley's Believe It or Not 2nd Series (1948)
 Ripley's Believe It or Not 3rd Series (1954)
 Ripley's Believe It or Not 34th Series (1982)

40. • Ripley Entertainment produces a range of
books featuring unusual facts, news stories
and photographs.
 In 2004 Ripley Entertainment founded Ripley
Publishing Ltd, based in the United Kingdom,
to publish new Believe It or Not titles.
 The company produces the New York Times
bestselling Ripley's Believe It or Not! Annuals.

41.  The children’s fiction series Ripley’s RBI, an
educational series called the Ripley’s
Twists, the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Special
Edition in conjunction with Scholastic
USA and a number of other titles.
 Atthe height of his popularity Robert Ripley
received thousands of letters a day from the
public, and Ripley Entertainment continues
to encourage submissions from readers who
have strange stories and photographs that
could be featured in Ripley’s Believe It or
Not! books and media.

42.  Thefirst Believe It or Not TV series, a live
show hosted by Ripley, premiered March 1,
1949.
 Shortlyafter the 13th episode, on May 27,
1949, Ripley died of a heart attack and
several of his friends substituted as host,
including future Ripley's Believe It or Not!
president Doug Storer.
 RobertSt. John served as host from the
second season until the series ended on
October 5, 1950.

43.  Ripley's
Believe It or Not! aired from 1982 to
1986 on the American ABC television
network.
 Based on three pilots/specials
conceived, produced and directed by Ron
Lyon and Jack Haley, Jr. (1980–81) the series
was a Haley/Lyon/Rastar production in
association with Columbia Pictures. Featuring
film star Jack Palance who hosted the
popular series throughout its run.

44.  Theseries had three different co-hosts, who
appeared from season to season, initially
actress Catherine Shirriff followed by
Palance's daughter, Holly Palance, later
singer Marie Osmond.

45.  In 2006, the Philippines made a local
adaptation of Ripley's Believe it or Not! with
a local host.
 ABC-5 (now known as TV5) was the first to
make it with Raymond Bagatsing as host. The
show however was short-lived.

46.  In 2008, GMA Network bought the rights and
revived Ripley's in the Philippines. This
time Chris Tiu of the Ateneo Blue Eagles was
chosen as host. It is part of the "Bilib Ka Ba?
Nights" ("Do You Believe? Nights") Block of the
Network which premiered August 18, 2008.