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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: I'm Imma June West Nights and I wrote The Strange

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Speaker 2: Survival of Guinness World Records for The Guardian and it's

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Speaker 2: the story of the week.

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Speaker 1: Before we get in today's story, I wanted to hear

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Speaker 1: a related story from you. Aj Jacobs, a constant guest on.

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Speaker 3: Our show You Can't Get rid of Me.

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Speaker 1: We're doing a show about the Guinness Book of World Records,

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Speaker 1: and I know that you have attempted or maybe succeeded.

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Speaker 1: I don't know in breaking a record.

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Speaker 3: I attempted and did not succeed in breaking.

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Speaker 1: Is this hard for me to bring up? Is it painful?

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Speaker 3: There's some scars, there's some mental scars, but I'll go

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Speaker 3: into it anyway. What happened was I was writing a

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Speaker 3: book about assembling the largest family tree in history. As

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Speaker 3: part of the book, I thought it'd be fun to

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Speaker 3: hold the biggest family reunion ever in New York City,

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Speaker 3: invite all eight billion of my cousins and try to

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Speaker 3: break the world record, which at the time was about

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Speaker 3: sixty five hundred people. So I looked into getting it

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Speaker 3: as a world record, and it seemed it's very complicated.

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Speaker 3: They didn't make me, but they really encouraged me to

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Speaker 3: hire an adjudicator for a lot of money.

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Speaker 1: Do you remember how much they were asking for.

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Speaker 3: Well, there were different levels, but one of the levels

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Speaker 3: was like ten thousand dollars and you could do it yourself,

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Speaker 3: but it seemed very discouraged to do it yourself instead.

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Speaker 3: At the time I hired a friend had come up

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Speaker 3: with sort of a scrappy alternative to Guinness called record Setters.

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Speaker 1: He took on Big Guinness.

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Speaker 3: He took on Big Guinness. So I hired him for

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Speaker 3: a much, much smaller amount. It was like fifty bucks.

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Speaker 1: How many people did you invite?

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Speaker 3: Well again, I invited eight billion because the premise why

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Speaker 3: I couldn't invite, well, you didn't look in the right places.

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Speaker 3: It was like, you know on my Facebook you were invited.

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Speaker 3: Believe me, it definitely.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: As an Ashkenazi, you're probably like my seventh cousin.

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Speaker 1: You should not marry.

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Speaker 3: Well, I have a section in the book about cousin marriage.

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Speaker 3: It's a complicated moral issue.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna end it there. Thank you, Thank you. Writing

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Speaker 1: is hard.

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Speaker 4: Who's got that kind of time when you're already busy

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Speaker 4: trying to be you all stanned, So it turns on

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Speaker 4: a Mike. Maybe the twitles en because a journalist trand

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Speaker 4: has got in that jugle job. Single story. Just listen

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Speaker 4: to smart people speak, conversation, film and information. It's a

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Speaker 4: story up for.

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Speaker 1: Imaging. West Knights investigated the Curious Survival of Guinness World

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Speaker 1: Records for The Guardian. Imagine how did you first get

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Speaker 1: interested in this story?

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Speaker 2: So it was kind of accidental in that I was

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Speaker 2: at the Guinness Storehouse, which is a sort of tourist

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Speaker 2: attraction in Dublin where you learn about the beer basically,

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Speaker 2: and there was this room that was out of bounds,

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Speaker 2: you know that the door was slightly open, and I

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Speaker 2: don't know, I just curiosity got the better of me

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Speaker 2: and I went in there and there was nothing in

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Speaker 2: there except a table which had three Guinness Book records

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Speaker 2: on it from nineteen ninety four twenty twelve. So I

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Speaker 2: went in there and I was looking at them, and

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Speaker 2: I had never thought about the connection between the brewery

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Speaker 2: and Guess World Records before. And it all kind of

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Speaker 2: went from there.

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Speaker 1: So how did the Guinness Book of World Records start?

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Speaker 2: So it began with an argument I suppose that took

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Speaker 2: place in nineteen fifty one where the then managing director

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Speaker 2: of the Guinness Brewery, a man called Sir Hugh Beaver,

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Speaker 2: was on a hunting party and he and his group

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Speaker 2: gone in this fight about which was the fastest game bird,

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Speaker 2: and then he had this brainway that this must happen

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Speaker 2: all of the time in pubs, people get into arguments,

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Speaker 2: and so if you could put together a book that

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Speaker 2: had all the facts in it and then put it

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Speaker 2: behind the bar, it would help them sell more beer.

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Speaker 1: Do you believe this story? The more I'm listening to

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Speaker 1: you say it? Sir Hugh Beaver on a hunting trip. Really,

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Speaker 1: and I'll trust these people at all. How did they

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Speaker 1: go about putting a book of records together?

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Speaker 2: So they did it remarkably quickly. I think he decided

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Speaker 2: he wanted to do this in nineteen fifty four and

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Speaker 2: the first edition came out the following year. And the

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Speaker 2: people that he went to to do this were a

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Speaker 2: pair of identical twins eccentrically enough, who ran a fact

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Speaker 2: provision service for Fleet Street's newspapers, which is like where

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Speaker 2: most of the UK's newspapers were based at the time.

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Speaker 1: So if you needed a fact, instead of googling it,

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Speaker 1: you would call these twins and then for your article exactly,

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Speaker 1: so what are these twins? Their names are Ross and Norris,

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Speaker 1: make murder. What are they like?

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Speaker 2: Very eccentric. They were a real pair of weirdos by

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Speaker 2: all accounts, I mean in a good way in some ways.

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Speaker 2: Although it became their profession to keep records, they were

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Speaker 2: doing it for fun since they were really little. They

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Speaker 2: used to keep these scrap books where they would write

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Speaker 2: down facts that they learned.

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Speaker 1: That seems adorable, like identical twins who were keeping a

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Speaker 1: book of facts. Yeah, it also sounds like a horror

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Speaker 1: movie though, doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I think you know. It's a little bit the

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Speaker 2: shining somehow. They were odd characters. One of them got

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Speaker 2: murdered by the IRA.

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Speaker 1: Murdered, yes, waited well on the murder please.

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Speaker 2: So he was shot in nineteen seventy five by the

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Speaker 2: Irish Republican Army because he publicly offered this reward for

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Speaker 2: any information leading to the conviction of terrorist bombers in Britain.

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Speaker 2: But Norris stayed on at the book until the nineties.

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Speaker 1: Wait. So he was sort of conservative.

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Speaker 2: Very conservative, and so was Norris. Like Norris was one

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Speaker 2: of the first people who was really anti the European

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Speaker 2: Union and went against sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Some

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Speaker 2: pretty unsavory.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and so were they conservative in their choices

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Speaker 1: of what records to put into the Guinness Book of

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Speaker 1: World Records.

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Speaker 2: There was absolutely no mention of anything to do with

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Speaker 2: sex in the book.

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Speaker 1: No sex records, which was horribly disappointing. I was so

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Speaker 1: into the Guinness Book of World Records when I was

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Speaker 1: like seven eight years old. I would look and I

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Speaker 1: was like, Oh, we have no idea how big the

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Speaker 1: world's biggest penis is. This is right, this is the

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Speaker 1: fact we need.

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Speaker 2: I know. You would think that the pursuit of fact

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Speaker 2: would come above his kind of conservative views in that way,

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Speaker 2: but it didn't. It didn't.

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Speaker 1: I probably couldn't have handled the biggest penis. That would

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Speaker 1: have just ended my whole social life.

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Speaker 2: No one could handled it.

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Speaker 1: So if there were no penises, what were the records

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Speaker 1: in these very early editions.

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Speaker 2: A lot of them are geographic records tallest mountain, deepest

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Speaker 2: depression in the Earth's surface, stuff like the highest lifetime

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Speaker 2: yield of a cow for milk.

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Speaker 1: Oh, what is the highest lifetime yield of a cow

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Speaker 1: for milk.

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Speaker 2: God, am I going to remember this? I remember the

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Speaker 2: name of the cow, Manningford faith Jan graceful.

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Speaker 1: You memorized the name of the cow.

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Speaker 2: How could you forget Maningford faith Jen graceful.

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Speaker 1: Well, I have it here. It was three hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty five one hundred and thirty pounds. That's a lot

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Speaker 1: of milk.

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Speaker 2: I can't even picture how much milk that is.

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Speaker 1: That's the wrong way to measure milk and pounds. No

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Speaker 1: one talks about how many pounds of milk they have gallons.

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Speaker 1: Who's running Guinness World Records now? Just Guinness still own it?

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Speaker 2: No? No, no, they sold it. I mean it's changed hands

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Speaker 2: many times. So the editor of the book is a

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Speaker 2: man called Craig Glende, who has been in that job

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Speaker 2: for over twenty years now, I think. So he's the

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Speaker 2: kind of headhunt show and he gets to say what

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Speaker 2: goes in the book and has all this experience over

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Speaker 2: the years and has adjudicated a load of records himself,

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Speaker 2: been all over the world. So he's the man in charge.

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Speaker 1: What's he like? What does he look like?

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Speaker 2: I want to make a comparison to something you won't

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Speaker 2: have seen, which is there was a cartoon in this

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Speaker 2: country called tom was the tank engine that had a character.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Yeah, my son had still probably somewhere has

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Speaker 1: a whole box full of time.

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Speaker 2: Okay, but did you have the TV show?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: We did, right, So there's a character in that called

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Speaker 2: the Fat Controller. Who is this like almost spherical man.

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Speaker 2: The human he Craig Glenday, looks exactly like him. Picture

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Speaker 2: that man, that's what he looks like.

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Speaker 1: And so where did you meet with him?

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Speaker 2: I met, well, actually I met him the first time

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Speaker 2: when I went to see my first record attempt that

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Speaker 2: I ever witnessed, which was someone trying to poe go

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Speaker 2: stick over the most consecutive cars.

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Speaker 1: You got to watch this?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great.

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Speaker 1: Was it frightening?

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Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah? I was really nervous for this guy. And

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Speaker 2: also I wasn't expecting Craig to be there necessarily. I've

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Speaker 2: just been told they were doing a record attention I

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Speaker 2: could go along and watch, but he was there. He

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Speaker 2: was doing the adjudicating himself.

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Speaker 1: Was this pretty serious? Like? Was it tense there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it was the strange atmosphere because obviously

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Speaker 2: pogo sticking is like one of the most ridiculous things

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Speaker 2: you can see some do and yet the atmosphere was

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Speaker 2: like very somber intense because this meant a lot to him.

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Speaker 1: Plus death is on the line.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's so. He was kind of bouncing

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Speaker 2: around in this big four court at the Olympic Park

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Speaker 2: practicing and he did fall over on one of the jumps.

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Speaker 1: So you get a couple of chances.

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Speaker 2: I think yes, I think he got three chances. Although

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Speaker 2: he did it in the first try. Every Guinness record

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Speaker 2: attempt gets three.

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Speaker 1: Goes like, what kind of adventures has the editor, Craig

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Speaker 1: Glenday had.

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Speaker 2: He has just been absolutely everywhere.

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Speaker 1: I mean that.

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Speaker 2: He said. He got stranded for a week in Punta Arenas,

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Speaker 2: which is like on the furthest southern Tip of Chili

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Speaker 2: with the band Fallout Boy. You remember fall out Boy.

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Speaker 1: I know the name.

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Speaker 2: I actually was a huge fan of them, but I'm

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Speaker 2: not going to get into it because it's embarrassing. So

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Speaker 2: he got stranded for a week with the band Fallout

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Speaker 2: Boy in punter Arnas and the Southern Tip of Chili

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Speaker 2: because they were trying to fly to Antarctica because they

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Speaker 2: wanted the record for the fastest time to perform a gig.

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Speaker 2: On every continent, but they couldn't fly because of weather conditions,

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Speaker 2: so he was just stranded there with this band, and

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Speaker 2: the locals thought he was a member of Fallout Boy.

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Speaker 1: And even though he looks like the top hat guy

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Speaker 1: from Thomas.

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Speaker 2: The Tankers, it could not look less like he was

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Speaker 2: in a popular EMAO band if he tried.

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Speaker 1: Has like Craig Glenday, had dangerous experiences he has.

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Speaker 2: He told me this one story about a time he

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Speaker 2: went to Moscow to adjudicate an attempt of the largest

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Speaker 2: pouring of concrete in history, and he was standing on

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Speaker 2: the side of this huge building site hole in Moscow

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Speaker 2: and they failed. They didn't get the record because it

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Speaker 2: was too cold, they couldn't pull the concrete, and he

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Speaker 2: was very hard to say no. He ended up having

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Speaker 2: to give the record and revoking it the next day

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Speaker 2: because he just thought, I actually don't know what's going

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Speaker 2: to happen to me if I'm standing here at the

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Speaker 2: edge of a basically a pre dug grave and they've

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Speaker 2: got lots of concrete and they seem very angry with me.

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Speaker 1: That's a smart policy to like give it to you

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Speaker 1: in person and then revoke it once you're.

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Speaker 2: On the plane right exactly.

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Speaker 1: After the break, Guinness will sell out to an evil dictator.

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Speaker 1: But first, our advertisers are going to try and set

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Speaker 1: a record for the least amount spent for an ad

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Speaker 1: on a podcast. So I'm assuming they can't sell many

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Speaker 1: books at this point. People just go online and look

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Speaker 1: at this for free. So how does this company make money?

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Speaker 2: So they twig this obviously with the advent of the

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Speaker 2: Internet that people could see sensational things, bright pictures, big facts,

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Speaker 2: big figures just by googling them. Giants, giant penises at

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Speaker 2: the touch of a fingertip exactly. That's a horrible phrase, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: but I've used it now. So they started to kind

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Speaker 2: of diversify, and one of the ways that they did

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Speaker 2: this was that they realized they could offer a kind

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Speaker 2: of pr brand consultancy type service, so they specifically started

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Speaker 2: catering to commercial clients for record breaking. So let's say

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Speaker 2: Ford goes to Guinness and says, we have a new car.

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Speaker 2: We want to put Ford's name in the press somehow,

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Speaker 2: and we'd like to do it by breaking a record.

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Speaker 2: Can you help us come up with a record that

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Speaker 2: would suit us to break.

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Speaker 1: How much does that cost?

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Speaker 2: It starts at eleven thousand pounds, which is roughly fourteen

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: This explains all of the crappy publicist emails I'm constantly

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Speaker 1: getting right, like this year Pizza Hut breaks the world's

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Speaker 1: largest pizza record. My email box is flooded with this crap.

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Speaker 2: Well, someone paid a lot of money for that.

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Speaker 1: Are there moral guide rails on this project? Like the

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Speaker 1: Guinness records? Like will they do healthiest cigarette? Or like

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Speaker 1: the person who can do the most shots of Jaegermeister,

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Speaker 1: or like a guy who can shoot the most holes

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Speaker 1: in a target shaped like a nun Like what are

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Speaker 1: there limits?

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Speaker 2: There's some interesting rules about this. You can do a

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Speaker 2: record that puts yourself in danger as long as you consent.

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Speaker 2: What you can't do is a record that puts anyone

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Speaker 2: else in danger. So like you can set yourself on

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Speaker 2: fire should you choose, you can't set yourself on fire

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Speaker 2: at the post office. And then there's things like they

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Speaker 2: retire records when they start to feel like, ah, we're

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Speaker 2: kind of dicing with some political things we don't want

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Speaker 2: to be doing anymore. Like they used to have one

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Speaker 2: which was largest terrorist organization, which is last awarded to

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Speaker 2: Al Chayeda in nineteen eighty nine.

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Speaker 1: Not physically, that's not fair because they.

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Speaker 2: Were never given a certificate.

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Speaker 1: Apparently they've really fallen by the wayside too. Al Kaeda

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Speaker 1: there they wouldn't hold that.

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Speaker 2: Now they're out on their ass.

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Speaker 1: So it's almost unfair that they still have the record.

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Speaker 2: Well it's been revoked. The record no longer exists. I

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Speaker 2: think they eventually were like, I don't think Guinness World

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Speaker 2: Records should really be saying what is and isn't a

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Speaker 2: terrorist organization like that doesn't feel like within our remit

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Speaker 2: so that one's been scrapped.

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Speaker 1: But don't they like work with dictators as part of

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Speaker 1: their consultancy gig where you can bring them in.

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Speaker 2: They have done. They did quite a lot of work

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Speaker 2: with the government of Tokumenistan between two thousand and seven

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Speaker 2: and last year, I think, and they have a pretty

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Speaker 2: shoddy human rights record. But as it happens, the dictator

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Speaker 2: of toke Meenistan, the then dictator whose name is gerb

295
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Speaker 2: and Gooli Berdie Mohammadov, so he is a big GWR

296
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Speaker 2: fan and he wanted to get them to awards the records.

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Speaker 2: So there were things like the city of Ashkeabat got

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Speaker 2: the record for the highest density of buildings with marble

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Speaker 2: white cladding, and.

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Speaker 1: Anotherwise such a dictator record.

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Speaker 2: Yes, isn't it. It's all like giant marble so much

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Speaker 2: they love marble. And another one was the largest architectural

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Speaker 2: image of a star. That means it's just a really

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Speaker 2: big star they built. And since then I asked Craig

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Speaker 2: about it and he was like, no, that was actually

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Speaker 2: a big miss step. We shouldn't be you know, we

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Speaker 2: want to look a little bit more carefully about who

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Speaker 2: it were with.

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Speaker 1: So corporations are paying money to get their dumb records

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Speaker 1: broken so that I get these awful emails from publicists.

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Speaker 1: But normal people like the pogostic guy are still doing

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Speaker 1: it too.

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Speaker 2: Right, yeah, yeah, No.

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Speaker 1: What kind of people are they who do this?

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Speaker 2: The adjudicators, I think they receive as many as like

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Speaker 2: one hundred requests every day from all over the world

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Speaker 2: about new record creations. And it is just normal people

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Speaker 2: who think they're really good at something. But then there's

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Speaker 2: this class of people who make it almost into a

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Speaker 2: sport in its own right. The person I met who

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Speaker 2: has the most ever had over seven hundred oh that's

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Speaker 2: too many.

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Speaker 1: That's like your life's work, right, Is that like your

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Speaker 1: full time job.

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Speaker 2: It's not his full time job. So this guy, his

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Speaker 2: name is Ashreyta Furman. His birth name is Keith, but

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Speaker 2: he renamed himself because he's a follower of an Indian

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Speaker 2: spiritual teacher called Schreitrin Moy and they all rename themselves.

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Speaker 2: But he's just a guy from Jamaica, Queens who runs

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Speaker 2: a health food shop.

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Speaker 1: And so how did he first get into this?

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Speaker 2: So he he started following this teacher when he was sixteen.

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Speaker 2: And as part of the teachings this teacher, they have

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Speaker 2: to do a lot of kind of physical exercises and

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Speaker 2: means of transcending the body and things like that. So

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Speaker 2: the teacher had signed up his followers for this cycling

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Speaker 2: marathon around Central Park, and Ashrita having actually signed up

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Speaker 2: because he was never very athletic and not into that

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Speaker 2: kind of thing. But he went to a meeting with

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Speaker 2: his teacher and the teacher was going around the circle

341
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Speaker 2: and saying, Okay, how how many miles is everybody going

342
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Speaker 2: to be in this race? You know, two hundred, three hundred,

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Speaker 2: And then the teacher turns to a treater and goes,

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Speaker 2: I you're a shreeter four hundred and he's like, oh

345
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Speaker 2: my god. He wants me to do this thing to prove,

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Speaker 2: you know, my worth. And he'd never trained. He had

347
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Speaker 2: a bike, but he'd never cycled any distance before. He

348
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Speaker 2: went straight home and wrote a will and left all

349
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Speaker 2: his welcome possessions to his roommate. And then the following

350
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Speaker 2: day he cycled four hundred and five miles around park

351
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Speaker 2: and he did it by meditating yes. And so he

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Speaker 2: got off this bike, legs jelly and was like, I

353
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Speaker 2: can break records. He immediately made the connection with the

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Speaker 2: book because he liked the book. I can get in

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Speaker 2: the book.

356
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Speaker 1: That's like twenty was it like fifteen twenty hours of second?

357
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Speaker 1: A long time to do it that many times?

358
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Speaker 2: It's unthinkable, and you know, with no training whatsoever. So

359
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Speaker 2: I think he must have the bill for these things naturally,

360
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Speaker 2: But he said it's not really physical at all. It's

361
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Speaker 2: all mental.

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Speaker 1: Oh I don't know, really, so he says, And so

363
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Speaker 1: he started breaking records just for fun or.

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Speaker 2: What was his He thought this was a really great

365
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Speaker 2: way that he could promote the message of his teacher

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Speaker 2: and to like promote the value of transcendental meditation to

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Speaker 2: a wider audience.

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Speaker 1: I think it's working. Our audience is finding out about it.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a good plan. Yet. And what's he

370
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Speaker 1: like as a person?

371
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Speaker 2: I actually really liked him. He's like, very warm to

372
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Speaker 2: be around, super enthusiastic. I went to see him at

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Speaker 2: his house in Queens and you know, he's sixty seven

374
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Speaker 2: or whatever he is, and he looks good. I think

375
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Speaker 2: the guy does a lot of exercise really, you know,

376
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Speaker 2: keeps himself in good health. And he just loves records.

377
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Speaker 2: He loves it. You know, his eyes light up talking

378
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Speaker 2: about it.

379
00:18:23,984 --> 00:18:25,344
Speaker 1: Wait, what kind of records does he have?

380
00:18:25,704 --> 00:18:28,104
Speaker 2: He's got everything. He's got some really odd ball ones

381
00:18:28,184 --> 00:18:31,824
Speaker 2: like rolling an orange a mile with your nose, the

382
00:18:31,864 --> 00:18:36,824
Speaker 2: fastest there's standing on a yoga ball for the longest time,

383
00:18:37,464 --> 00:18:41,944
Speaker 2: the fastest mile done like forward rolls. He's got that one.

384
00:18:42,344 --> 00:18:44,584
Speaker 2: A lot of balancing records, pint glasses on his chin.

385
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Speaker 1: I'm seeing he won a potato sack race against a

386
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Speaker 1: yakad he did.

387
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So he quite often likes to do them in

388
00:18:52,144 --> 00:18:55,104
Speaker 2: slightly flamboyant ways, because obviously of the point is to

389
00:18:55,104 --> 00:18:58,704
Speaker 2: create publicity. For this spiritual teacher. The more kind of

390
00:18:58,704 --> 00:19:00,064
Speaker 2: flashy it can be, the better.

391
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Speaker 1: So he's just looking for records that he can break,

392
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Speaker 1: or he's just has these weird hobbies that how does

393
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Speaker 1: this work?

394
00:19:07,304 --> 00:19:09,584
Speaker 2: So I think it's a bit of both. Its strategic

395
00:19:09,664 --> 00:19:12,224
Speaker 2: feat almost more than it is a physical one, and

396
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Speaker 2: that he's really good at identifying what he calls soft records.

397
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Speaker 2: So a soft record is a record that he thinks

398
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Speaker 2: hasn't yet been broken to the fullest extent of human capability,

399
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Speaker 2: or like a record that you or I, if we

400
00:19:26,104 --> 00:19:28,824
Speaker 2: had the time and the energy, we could break.

401
00:19:29,064 --> 00:19:32,384
Speaker 1: Oh. So he's looking around strategically for ones that like

402
00:19:32,504 --> 00:19:36,464
Speaker 1: a normal human can break. Yes, is he still breaking records?

403
00:19:36,984 --> 00:19:39,384
Speaker 2: He is, although less so than he used to. I

404
00:19:39,424 --> 00:19:42,664
Speaker 2: think partly because of his age and also he's I

405
00:19:42,664 --> 00:19:44,464
Speaker 2: think various things in his personal life. He's got to

406
00:19:44,504 --> 00:19:46,944
Speaker 2: focus more on this shot that he runs, but he's

407
00:19:46,984 --> 00:19:49,104
Speaker 2: still really invested in helping other people do it.

408
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Speaker 1: Do you try and help you break any records?

409
00:19:51,264 --> 00:19:54,144
Speaker 2: Well? Yes, in a manner of speaking. So when I

410
00:19:54,224 --> 00:19:57,384
Speaker 2: first went to the Guinness offices, they asked me if

411
00:19:57,424 --> 00:19:58,784
Speaker 2: I wanted to try and break a record. While I

412
00:19:58,784 --> 00:20:01,384
Speaker 2: was there, which I did, and the one that they

413
00:20:01,424 --> 00:20:06,864
Speaker 2: picked out was standing on one leg blindfolded, so oh, well.

414
00:20:06,744 --> 00:20:09,064
Speaker 1: That's just a prank. This is what they do to journalists.

415
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Speaker 1: Journalists command. They're like, would you like to break a record? Here?

416
00:20:11,864 --> 00:20:12,984
Speaker 1: Let me flip through and see what I.

417
00:20:12,944 --> 00:20:15,944
Speaker 2: Could fin They pushed me over on the floor, so yeah,

418
00:20:16,064 --> 00:20:18,344
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, cool, I'll do that. I mean, yes,

419
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Speaker 2: how long do you think the record stood at at

420
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Speaker 2: the time?

421
00:20:21,904 --> 00:20:23,384
Speaker 1: And then I guess like two hours.

422
00:20:23,624 --> 00:20:26,144
Speaker 2: The record at the time was thirty two minutes, and

423
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Speaker 2: so when I heard thirty two minutes, I was like,

424
00:20:27,904 --> 00:20:30,064
Speaker 2: holy shit, that's actually like not that much.

425
00:20:30,824 --> 00:20:33,104
Speaker 1: Maybe it sounds like too much though to want to

426
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Speaker 1: do it, should do?

427
00:20:34,864 --> 00:20:37,264
Speaker 2: I think I think I was very very foolish to

428
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Speaker 2: be like, yeah, great, I could. I could definitely get

429
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Speaker 2: like pushing.

430
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Speaker 1: You into it wasn't so.

431
00:20:42,264 --> 00:20:44,424
Speaker 2: You feel I gave this a go, it'd get.

432
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Speaker 1: Three chances any training that.

433
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Speaker 2: They were just like, off you go, because they knew

434
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Speaker 2: right that I wasn't gonna be able to break this record.

435
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Speaker 1: That's mean, it was mean.

436
00:20:51,704 --> 00:20:55,304
Speaker 2: So I tried, and I got up to thirty seconds

437
00:20:55,384 --> 00:20:58,744
Speaker 2: or something just terrible, really no good at all. So

438
00:20:58,984 --> 00:21:02,744
Speaker 2: I tried this record, failed, went home, didn't think about it.

439
00:21:02,744 --> 00:21:04,824
Speaker 2: But then I was talking to a Shredeferment about this record,

440
00:21:04,864 --> 00:21:06,544
Speaker 2: and he was and his whole face lit up, and

441
00:21:06,584 --> 00:21:09,304
Speaker 2: he was like, that's a soft record, classic soft record.

442
00:21:09,544 --> 00:21:11,544
Speaker 2: Thirty two minutes is not so long. You could do

443
00:21:11,664 --> 00:21:14,664
Speaker 2: that if you put in the time. So I was like, okay,

444
00:21:15,064 --> 00:21:17,664
Speaker 2: really fired up. Having met this guy, I go home

445
00:21:17,784 --> 00:21:19,984
Speaker 2: and I start practicing. You know, my housemates thing come

446
00:21:19,984 --> 00:21:23,104
Speaker 2: going in saying, and I get up to twelve minutes

447
00:21:23,144 --> 00:21:25,824
Speaker 2: and eight seconds, which is not that bad. I mean,

448
00:21:25,824 --> 00:21:28,464
Speaker 2: it's not the record, but it's like a lot better.

449
00:21:29,384 --> 00:21:31,144
Speaker 2: But it was at that point when I got up

450
00:21:31,184 --> 00:21:34,344
Speaker 2: to twelve that I thought to check because obviously this

451
00:21:34,384 --> 00:21:36,384
Speaker 2: is actually like almost a year after I first met

452
00:21:36,424 --> 00:21:38,744
Speaker 2: Craig and did this attempt. But then I checked whether

453
00:21:38,784 --> 00:21:40,504
Speaker 2: it had been broken, and it had been, so it

454
00:21:40,544 --> 00:21:41,264
Speaker 2: was now an hour.

455
00:21:42,824 --> 00:21:45,304
Speaker 1: Did it behind your back? I encouraged you to do it,

456
00:21:45,344 --> 00:21:46,584
Speaker 1: and then he broke it himself.

457
00:21:47,304 --> 00:21:48,704
Speaker 2: If it had been him, I would have been like,

458
00:21:48,744 --> 00:21:51,944
Speaker 2: fair play. It was wide open that well, yeah, he

459
00:21:52,024 --> 00:21:54,504
Speaker 2: deserves it, he knows what he's doing. But it was

460
00:21:54,504 --> 00:21:58,824
Speaker 2: someone else, someone in India broke it by loads doubled

461
00:21:58,864 --> 00:22:01,344
Speaker 2: it. It was like an hour and six minutes now, so

462
00:22:01,424 --> 00:22:03,424
Speaker 2: I was really demoralized. I was like, there's absolutely no

463
00:22:03,504 --> 00:22:05,784
Speaker 2: way I'll ever get up that high. So I stopped.

464
00:22:06,064 --> 00:22:07,864
Speaker 2: But yeah, he did inspire me to try.

465
00:22:08,304 --> 00:22:09,824
Speaker 1: How much time do you think you devoted to this?

466
00:22:10,624 --> 00:22:14,424
Speaker 2: Probably not that long. I mean ten hours maybe total.

467
00:22:14,864 --> 00:22:17,944
Speaker 1: That's a lot in a way for that task.

468
00:22:18,224 --> 00:22:19,984
Speaker 2: I mean just like a little bit every day for

469
00:22:20,024 --> 00:22:20,424
Speaker 2: a while.

470
00:22:21,064 --> 00:22:23,504
Speaker 1: And what are some of the things that like motivate

471
00:22:23,544 --> 00:22:26,104
Speaker 1: people to do these things? Like what are the great

472
00:22:26,104 --> 00:22:26,824
Speaker 1: stories you heard?

473
00:22:27,224 --> 00:22:29,904
Speaker 2: So I think that the one that I heard where

474
00:22:29,944 --> 00:22:33,064
Speaker 2: I kind of realized what the heart of my story

475
00:22:33,104 --> 00:22:35,344
Speaker 2: really was, like why it was worth writing about this

476
00:22:35,384 --> 00:22:37,544
Speaker 2: thing was the woman with the longest fingernails. Do you

477
00:22:37,544 --> 00:22:39,624
Speaker 2: remember seeing that picture in the book as a kid?

478
00:22:39,664 --> 00:22:40,024
Speaker 2: I do?

479
00:22:40,184 --> 00:22:43,104
Speaker 1: I do. I remember the longest nails, the most and

480
00:22:43,144 --> 00:22:45,824
Speaker 1: the longest hair and the tallest person because they were

481
00:22:45,864 --> 00:22:48,224
Speaker 1: all it all shook me a little bit.

482
00:22:48,864 --> 00:22:51,224
Speaker 2: Almost everyone I asked, and I asked everybody of my

483
00:22:51,224 --> 00:22:53,344
Speaker 2: acquaintance at the time, like, what's the one you remember?

484
00:22:53,384 --> 00:22:56,104
Speaker 2: They all said fingernails. I don't know why quite. I

485
00:22:56,104 --> 00:22:58,304
Speaker 2: think it's because if you've never seen that before. You

486
00:22:58,304 --> 00:23:00,584
Speaker 2: don't know a what fingernails look like when they grow

487
00:23:00,584 --> 00:23:02,264
Speaker 2: out that long until you see it and you're like whoah.

488
00:23:03,024 --> 00:23:05,904
Speaker 2: But then also, how do you live the questions posed

489
00:23:05,904 --> 00:23:08,144
Speaker 2: by that photograph, like how do you type? How do

490
00:23:08,144 --> 00:23:09,904
Speaker 2: you do? Less? There at things you do with your

491
00:23:09,904 --> 00:23:10,424
Speaker 2: hands every day?

492
00:23:10,464 --> 00:23:13,024
Speaker 1: You know the woman who does have the longest fingernails, Now,

493
00:23:13,064 --> 00:23:14,944
Speaker 1: why did she start this project?

494
00:23:15,224 --> 00:23:17,744
Speaker 2: So she started it because she used to get her

495
00:23:17,784 --> 00:23:20,744
Speaker 2: nails done every week with her daughter, and then her

496
00:23:20,784 --> 00:23:24,344
Speaker 2: daughter died when she was sixteen, and so she decided

497
00:23:24,384 --> 00:23:26,824
Speaker 2: never to cut her fingernails ever again. And I just

498
00:23:26,864 --> 00:23:28,864
Speaker 2: thought that I was just like I think with so

499
00:23:28,984 --> 00:23:32,824
Speaker 2: many of these records that seem really wacky and out

500
00:23:32,864 --> 00:23:36,344
Speaker 2: there and outlandish. In fact, I'd say with all of them,

501
00:23:36,384 --> 00:23:40,384
Speaker 2: you look behind and you find someone pursuing something that

502
00:23:40,464 --> 00:23:41,504
Speaker 2: is really meaningful to them.

503
00:23:42,024 --> 00:23:44,344
Speaker 1: So did you gain kind of a respect for record

504
00:23:44,424 --> 00:23:46,664
Speaker 1: keepers by the time you finished your story?

505
00:23:46,784 --> 00:23:48,864
Speaker 2: I think I kind of did. I feel like there

506
00:23:48,904 --> 00:23:50,464
Speaker 2: was this sort of easy version of this piece that

507
00:23:50,504 --> 00:23:52,464
Speaker 2: I didn't want to write, where it was like, look

508
00:23:52,464 --> 00:23:56,504
Speaker 2: at these freaks, they're so strange. I think I always

509
00:23:56,544 --> 00:23:58,384
Speaker 2: wanted to try and work out what it is that

510
00:23:58,504 --> 00:24:01,064
Speaker 2: motivated people to do this thing that seems really out

511
00:24:01,064 --> 00:24:04,064
Speaker 2: there to most people. And yeah, I think for a

512
00:24:04,064 --> 00:24:06,184
Speaker 2: lot of people, they're really proud of it.

513
00:24:06,864 --> 00:24:08,304
Speaker 1: I know I've kept you a long time, but would

514
00:24:08,344 --> 00:24:10,224
Speaker 1: you mind if I quickly just tried to stand on

515
00:24:10,224 --> 00:24:10,664
Speaker 1: one leg?

516
00:24:10,864 --> 00:24:13,704
Speaker 2: Of course? No? Please, I'm devastated you didn't do it.

517
00:24:14,024 --> 00:24:16,744
Speaker 2: Hold on, do you have something to rough around your eyes?

518
00:24:17,824 --> 00:24:18,664
Speaker 1: Can I just close them?

519
00:24:18,744 --> 00:24:19,144
Speaker 2: Or no?

520
00:24:19,144 --> 00:24:22,584
Speaker 1: No? Absolutely not? Whoa? Whoa? You became like an adjudicator.

521
00:24:22,664 --> 00:24:25,104
Speaker 2: Well, look, you know I'm the only person here who

522
00:24:25,184 --> 00:24:26,304
Speaker 2: knows what the guidelines are.

523
00:24:26,424 --> 00:24:28,184
Speaker 1: There's a video of me so you can see me. H.

524
00:24:28,224 --> 00:24:31,384
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've got this top perfectly all right.

525
00:24:31,624 --> 00:24:33,024
Speaker 1: Would someone start the timer?

526
00:24:33,464 --> 00:24:37,384
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, so countdown, three, two, one go?

527
00:24:40,504 --> 00:24:41,864
Speaker 1: Did you bounce around as much as I have?

528
00:24:42,064 --> 00:24:42,344
Speaker 2: Yes?

529
00:24:43,544 --> 00:24:50,064
Speaker 1: Oh, that didn't go well.

530
00:24:52,624 --> 00:24:55,784
Speaker 4: At the end of the show, what's next for joel Stein?

531
00:24:55,984 --> 00:24:59,344
Speaker 4: Maybe he'll take a napper poke around online.

532
00:24:59,824 --> 00:25:03,064
Speaker 1: Our Show Today was produced by Kate mccauliffe, Joey fish

533
00:25:03,104 --> 00:25:06,984
Speaker 1: Ground and nishaven Cut. It was edited by Lydia Jean Kot.

534
00:25:07,464 --> 00:25:10,624
Speaker 1: Our engineer is a man to Kay Wang, and our

535
00:25:10,624 --> 00:25:14,984
Speaker 1: executive producer is Catherine Ghirrado, and our theme song was

536
00:25:14,984 --> 00:25:18,504
Speaker 1: written and performed by Jonathan Colton and a special thanks

537
00:25:18,544 --> 00:25:21,824
Speaker 1: to my voice coach Vicky Merrick and my consulting producer

538
00:25:22,064 --> 00:25:25,864
Speaker 1: Laurence Alasnik. To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the

539
00:25:25,904 --> 00:25:30,264
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

540
00:25:30,864 --> 00:25:33,344
Speaker 1: I'm Joel Stein and this is the story of the week.

541
00:25:34,624 --> 00:25:36,184
Speaker 1: You were working on this story for a year.

542
00:25:36,424 --> 00:25:39,904
Speaker 2: Yeah, it took so long, partly because I was traveling.

543
00:25:39,664 --> 00:25:42,824
Speaker 1: At a record of some kinds the longest someone worked

544
00:25:42,864 --> 00:25:44,824
Speaker 1: on a story about the Guinness Book of World Records.

545
00:25:45,344 --> 00:25:47,344
Speaker 2: Finally, pretty sure you have Chief