Longest hair
With luscious locks measuring 257.33 cm (8 ft 5.3 in), Aliia Nasyrova from Ukraine was confirmed to have the world’s longest hair on a living person, taking the title from India’s Smita Srivastava.
Aliia, who now lives in Slovakia, has never had a proper haircut.
She washes her hair once per week – the task usually takes around 30 minutes, but it can take an additional two hours if she applies a hair mask.
Drying it takes a lot longer – up to 24 hours – as Aliia doesn’t like using heat on her hair.
Speaking about her record, she said: “I hope my story will inspire readers to love their natural beauty. I am a painter and I believe that every person is beautiful, even if they look ‘different’.”
Another hair-raising record set this year was the longest arm hair (female). Located on the bicep of Macie Davis-Southerland (USA), it measures an incredible 18.40 cm (7.24 in).
Oldest man
Following the death of 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez (Venezuela) in April, 111-year-old John Alfred Tinniswood from England became the oldest living man on the planet.
Born in Liverpool on 26 August 1912, John has enjoyed a full life. After serving in the Army Pay Corps during World War II, he had a daughter with his wife Blodwen and worked in accounts until his retirement in 1972.
John, now a great-grandfather, resides in a care home in the seaside town of Southport.
He is still able to perform his daily routine independently, which involves getting out of bed unassisted, keeping up with the news via the radio, and managing his own finances.
“Pure luck” is the reason John gave for his remarkable longevity.
He said: “You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it.”
In March, we also celebrated the 117th birthday of the world’s oldest living woman, Maria Branyas Morera.
Longest plank (female)
58-year-old grandmother DonnaJean Wilde (Canada) achieved the longest time in an abdominal plank position (female) with an incredible time of 4 hr 30 min – just over 10 minutes longer than the previous record.
The retired high-school vice principal said: “The last hour was the most challenging, just to stay focussed and keep my form.”
DonnaJean focussed on “breathing, staying calm, and not shaking” to get through the final 30 minutes.
Other impressive fitness records broken this year include the most pull ups in one minute (77) by Harvard Law School lecturer Adam Sandel aka “Professor Pull-Ups” and the most burpees in 24 hours (11,988) by Brian Reyelt (USA).
Heaviest blueberry
A behemoth blueberry weighing 20.4 g (0.71 oz) – almost 70 times more than an average wild blueberry – was confirmed to be the heaviest ever recorded.
It was grown in Australia by Costa Group horticulturists Brad Hocking, Jessica Scalzo and Marie-France Courtois at Costa’s berry farm in Corindi, New South Wales.
The blueberry is from their “Eterna” variety and took 12 months to grow.
“Eterna as a variety has a really great flavour and consistently large fruit,” Brad said.
“When we picked this one, there were probably around 20 other berries of a similar size.
“This really is a delightful piece of fruit. While the fruit is large, there’s absolutely no compromise on quality or flavour as would be expected when developing a premium variety blueberry.”
First multiple amputee to climb Everest
Missing seven fingers and both of his legs below the knee, former Para athlete Andrea Lanfri (Italy) conquered the world’s highest mountain to become the first multiple amputee to climb Everest.
His fingers and lower legs were amputated in 2015, when he was 29 years old, after he contracted fulminant meningitis with meningococcal sepsis.
Andrea summited Everest with his friend, Luca. The pair climbed it in the “classic” style by approaching on foot, acclimatizing, and preparing high-altitude camps. It took them two and a half months in total.
The mountain has always been part of me, even before the illness. Now it is my reason for living. – Andrea
Largest tongue circumference
Two tongue-tastic records have been set this year by people able to ‘inflate’ their tongues.
Sacha Feiner (Belgium) has the world’s largest tongue circumference (17 cm; 6.69 in), whilst Jenny DuVander (USA) was awarded the women’s record (13.25 cm; 5.21 in).
Sacha said it doesn’t hurt when he expands his tongue, but just like any other muscle, it does get tired after a couple of minutes.
Greatest height difference of a married couple
Jessica Burns-McDonnell is 86.36 cm (2 ft 9 in) taller than her husband Larry McDonnell, earning them the record for greatest height differential of a married couple (different sexes/taller woman).
Jessica at 177.8 cm (5 ft 10 in) is an inch taller than the average American man, whilst Larry has diastrophic dwarfism and stands at 91.44 cm (3 ft).
They first met in elementary school but it wasn’t until they became older that they developed a closer relationship.
They got married in December 2006, six months after starting dating, and now have four children together.
Responding to the stereotypical view that a man should be taller than his wife, Jessica said: “For me, if you’re so busy focussing on the outside, you’re probably not focussing on what’s really important and that’s who the person is on the inside […] I don’t think there’s anybody out there that’s taller than Larry that could come close.”
Widest wig
Nigeria’s Helen Williams, who last year made the world’s longest handmade wig, claimed the widest wigrecord with a hairpiece measuring 3.65 m (11 ft 11 in) wide.
That’s an inch wider than the length of a Mini Cooper car!
To achieve the record, Helen had to prove that it was wearable.
She said: “Putting the wig on my head was very tough because of the weight.
“But I am very happy I completed the project.”
Tallest dog
A three-year-old Great Dane named Kevin was recently announced as the world’s tallest male dog, measuring 0.97 m (3 ft 2 in) from his feet to his withers, 21 cm taller an average Great Dane.
Sadly, Kevin passed away a few days later during a surgery which he required after falling ill.
Kevin lived with a loving family in Iowa, USA. His owner Tracy described him as a “gentle giant” and “super-duper friendly”.
"We are so glad that he was able to break the record and have that light on him,” she said after his passing.
“He absolutely adored the attention. I wish these giant breeds, and all dogs, could live longer than they do. It’s never enough time.”
Smallest humanoid robot
Mitsuya Tatsuhiko, a Japanese postgraduate student who is researching the modularization of crawler robots at Nagoya Institute of Technology, built the world’s smallest humanoid robot.
Standing at just 57.67 mm (2.27 in), it’s slightly bigger than a golf tee and less than half the size of the previous record announced two months prior.
And that’s not the only record-breaking robot to come out of Japan this year; a team of engineers at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation built the fastest robot to solve a rotating puzzle cube– it took just 0.305 seconds.
