Guinness World Records

The "Guinness Book of World Records" has reached a milestone of its own: sales of 100 million. "The Guinness World Records book has and continues to inspire generations of record-breakers," Alistair Richards, chief operating officer of Guinness World Records, said Monday. Guinness will mark the occasion today with events around the world, including a gathering of 500 children in New York City for an attempted record-breaking "simultaneous balloon pop."

Bugatti and Guinness World Records have kissed and made up. After revoking the title of world's fastest production car last week from Bugatti's Veyron Super Sport because the car's speed limiter was deactivated during the tests, Guinness has announced the record will hold. The 1,184-horsepower Veyron Super Sport set the 267.86 mph record in 2010. Guinness recently revoked the record, saying in a statement that it needed to more carefully evaluate the validity of the claims.

The bull is named Bodacious, and a video clip shows what happens to someone who rides him. It's a violent but mercifully brief trip that somehow results only in a broken eye socket, a broken cheekbone and a concussion for the rider. "Great, great video," Eric Schotz enthuses. But Schotz, one of the executive producers of Fox's "Guinness World Records: Prime Time," has one question about Bodacious: "Is he really the world's worst bull?"

Just days after Guinness World Records pulled from Bugatti the title of world's fastest production car, the automaker said it's back in the record books. Bugatti announced Thursday that its Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse set the world record for fastest open-top production sports car. The automaker, which is owned by Volkswagen, said the car hit 254.04 mph at Volkswagen's proving grounds in Germany. The record was set with Chinese racing driver Anthony Liu behind the wheel. Bugatti said the independent German Technical Inspection and Certification Assn.

Bugatti and Guinness World Records have kissed and made up. After revoking the title of world's fastest production car last week from Bugatti's Veyron Super Sport because the car's speed limiter was deactivated during the tests, Guinness has announced the record will hold. The 1,184-horsepower Veyron Super Sport set the 267.86 mph record in 2010. Guinness recently revoked the record, saying in a statement that it needed to more carefully evaluate the validity of the claims.

A rice-eating chicken has laid a giant egg weighing nearly half a pound. Unfortunately for Easter-egg-painting Americans, the chicken is in Guizhou, in southwestern China. The fowl's owner told the media that the hen began laying the eggs about a week ago. When it struggled to lay its first gigantic egg, "she thought the hen was dying. " Now it has laid several such beastly eggs. When villagers cracked open one of the latest, they found two yolks inside - and another regular-sized egg. They cracked that one open and found ... no new surprises, thank goodness.  The owner said the only thing that distinguished this hen from her others was its diet.

Beverage company Diageo has agreed to sell its Guinness World Records business for $63 million in cash, the company said Sunday. The business, which compiles, accredits and publishes information on world records, would be bought by media company Gullane Entertainment. Although London-based Diageo owns the Guinness brewing business, Gullane, based in Eastleigh, England, would acquire the name for use with the world records title, which has sold more than 80 million copies.

A Wisconsin teenager who practiced stilt walking in a farmyard silo for safety set a world record for walking on the tallest stilts, said officials at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. "Tiltin' Travis" Wolf took 25 steps on stilts 40 feet, 10 1/4 inches tall, a Universal official said. He performed with a safety harness and handrails on stilts weighing 55 pounds each.

Motown's Frank Wilson wrote and produced hit records for such big names as the Supremes and the Temptations, but he was best known for a single recorded in Los Angeles that featured his own voice - and was never released. Copies of his "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" had already been pressed in 1965 when Motown founder Berry Gordy asked him to choose between being a performer or writer-producer, Wilson's family said. When he decided on the latter, almost all of the singles were destroyed.

A consumer's guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, heard, observed, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it's in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed. * What: "Guinness World Records 2003" Publisher: Gullane Entertainment Price: $27.95 The latest edition of "Guinness World Records," with more than 1,000 new entries, is available in stores.

A rice-eating chicken has laid a giant egg weighing nearly half a pound. Unfortunately for Easter-egg-painting Americans, the chicken is in Guizhou, in southwestern China. The fowl's owner told the media that the hen began laying the eggs about a week ago. When it struggled to lay its first gigantic egg, "she thought the hen was dying. " Now it has laid several such beastly eggs. When villagers cracked open one of the latest, they found two yolks inside - and another regular-sized egg. They cracked that one open and found ... no new surprises, thank goodness.  The owner said the only thing that distinguished this hen from her others was its diet.

Motown's Frank Wilson wrote and produced hit records for such big names as the Supremes and the Temptations, but he was best known for a single recorded in Los Angeles that featured his own voice - and was never released. Copies of his "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" had already been pressed in 1965 when Motown founder Berry Gordy asked him to choose between being a performer or writer-producer, Wilson's family said. When he decided on the latter, almost all of the singles were destroyed.

NEW DELHI — As a candidate in last month's municipal elections, Guinness Rishi didn't do any campaigning. In fact, he thinks the 30 votes he got were 30 too many. He suspects his wife voted for him out of spite. Rishi's real goal was to garner zero votes and become the world's most-losing politician, complementing the seven Guinness World Records certificates on his wall. There should be 22, the self-described record maniac grumbles, but Guinness has it in for him. Although every country has its share of glory seekers, India has really taken to this particular form of chest thumping.

Mexico is setting a record pace -- again. Hardly a month goes by without someone here breaking a world record, or claiming to. The world's biggest cup of hot chocolate. Most people kissing at once. Longest carpet of flowers. Biggest group haircut. Recently, people were flocking to the parking lot of a stadium in Mexico City to see what promoters called the World's Biggest Nativity Scene: a faux Bethlehem covering five acres and populated with 1,000 life-size figures. On Dec. 13 came recognition for the World's Biggest Soccer Tournament, with 12,000 teams and a player roster larger than the population of the city of Glendale.

The breakwater in Kamaishi, Japan, is in the Guinness World Records as the deepest on the planet, but when the tsunami hit this small city in Iwate prefecture, waves swelled over the barrier, engulfing buildings and cars and smashing everything in its path to smithereens in a matter of minutes. The images from Japan's Pacific coastline have been a scary reminder of nature's power. Kamaishi thought it had built just the thing to keep the forces of nature at bay. The concrete breakwater, nearly 207 feet deep, was designed to blunt an incoming tsunami.

Charlie Sheen has a new job: He's been hired to pitch products on Twitter. Just a day after starting up a Twitter account Tuesday afternoon, Sheen had amassed more than 910,000 followers the micro-blogging site, landing his user account among the fastest-growing the website has ever had. And then, Thursday morning, Guinness World Records said on its Facebook page that Sheen was in fact the fastest to ever hit 1 million followers on Twitter, which...

In what the organizer jokingly calls a case of his "Michael Jackson obsession gone wrong," a group of College of William & Mary students has won the world record for most people to dance to the singer's "Thriller" simultaneously in one place. The 242-person routine was organized by longtime Jackson fan Kevin Dua, who was notified Friday by Guinness World Records of the accomplishment. The previous record was 147 people in an event held last summer at a British secondary school. Dua, 21, spent the better part of the school year orchestrating the event, which was held April 19 at the college in Williamsburg, in eastern Virginia.

The 18th annual Pasadena Chalk Festival will celebrate Father's Day weekend with more than 500 artists from all over Southern California attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the largest display of chalk pavement art. There will be prizes for best murals, as well as activities such as face-painting and card-making for children. Paseo Colorado, 280 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Free. (626) 795-9100. http://www.pasadenachalkfestival.com.

PAPERBACKS Fiction -- Fiction Weeks on list 1. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $25.99) Harvard 2 professor Robert Langdon uses his symbology skills to find a missing Freemason in Washington, D.C. 2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives 17 of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 3. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf : $25.95) A 3 naive Midwestern college coed takes a job as a nanny for a recently adopted toddler.