I present the opening entries in The Rock’n’Roll Book of World Records
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
Sir Hugh Beaver loved to go hunting, and on Nov. 10, 1951, took a shot at a golden plover and missed. An argument arose within the hunting party: Was the golden plover the fastest game bird in Europe? If it was, Sir Beaver had his excuse. But someone else insisted that the true speed champion was the rest grouse, casting aspersions on Sir Beaver’s statement.
That night at the lodge, no amount of research could determine which bird was quicker. This was frustrating.
Returning to his position as the managing director of Guinness Breweries, he commissioned Norris and Ross McWhirter to compile a book that would settle all future debates about the fastest, slowest, biggest, smallest, highest, lowest, and all manner of superlatives of all time. Thus was born The Guinness Book of World Records.
I’ve had a similar idea for the world of music, but I don’t have an international brewery to finance it. Until such time, I present to you possible entries in my book, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Book of World Records.
