A popular Christmas gift in its own right, the Guinness Book of World Records was first published in 1955 and by Christmas of that year had become the top selling book for that year. Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, got the idea one afternoon while hunting game birds. Which was faster, he argued with his friends -- a golden plover or the grouse? Sir Hugh then thought it would be kind of fun to gather up a list of world records and set about collecting them. The book was distributed to pubs that sold Guinness brews, which promptly became the official reference work to settle bets. The book now sells more than 100 million copies around the world and holds the record for the world's best-selling copyright book.
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