Ideas and Fears of Tomorrow's Journalist

All new World Records

The new Guinness Book of World Records is out, which of course has hundred of interesting and random records for you to read about, and this blog is focusing on a couple of records which are being reported on.

Susan Boyle has featured three times in the book because; her ‘I Dream a Dream’ album was the fastest selling album by a UK female, the most successful first week’s sales of a UK debut album, and finally the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album

Boyle was 48 when the album went on sale, and she took the record from 35-year-old Jane McDonald in 1998. Her debut album sold 411,820 copies in its first week in the UK – almost 50,000 more than the previous record holder Arctic Monkeys.

A couple other singers mentioned include Sir Tom Jones who holds the record for the oldest artist to have a number one single, and Lady GaGa who is the most searched-for women on the internet.

In the bird world, there is another record breaker; there is a new oldest recorded Arctic Turn. One which was ringed as a chick is now at least 30 years, 2 months and 23 days old. The birds on average live for 13 years. This species also hold the record for the longest annual journey by any animal, as it migrates, 44,000 miles, pole to pole.

Finally there is the smallest cow which has entered the World Records book. Swallow, a Dexter cow from Cheshire, stands 33.5in (0.8m) tall from hind to foot – shorter than most sheep. The 11-year-old female is used for breeding and is currently pregnant.