Guinness World Records Limited. - Awesome entertainers!: the stories behind the records

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2016 Guinness World Records Limited.

The words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS and related logos are trademarks of Guinness World Records Limited.

Cover design by Erica De Chavez.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: AWESOME ENTERTAINERS! 2016 Guinness World Records Limited. The words GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS and related logos are trademarks of Guinness World Records Limited. All records and information accurate as of December 1, 2015. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

ISBN 978-0-06-234169-3

EPub Edition May 2016 ISBN 9780062341709

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FIRST EDITION

Guinness World Records holders are truly amazing, but all attempts to set or break records are performed under controlled conditions and at the participants own risk. Please seek out the appropriate guidance before you attempt any record-breaking activities.

A nyone, anywhere, has the potential to be a record-breaker! For over 60 years, Guinness World Records (GWR) has timed, weighed, measured, verified, and documented thousands of the worlds record-breakers in every category that you can imagine. There are over 40,000 current records!

Record-breaking is free to do. If the GWR adjudicators (the official judges who confirm records) approve your idea for a new recordor if you can prove youve bettered an existing titleyoure on your way to becoming Officially Amazing!

Awesome Entertainers! features act after act of amazing artists who have earned a Guinness World Records titleover 100 of them. Swallowing swords, singing upside down, cheerleading, and morethese entertainers strut their stuff right into the record books!

Just think, maybe youor someone you knowwill be motivated to step into the spotlight to go after a record of your own after reading about these real-life record-breakers!

Remember, many of these record-breakers are trained performers with years of experiencealways check with an expert before attempting any dangerous records.

N o clowning around, the performers youll meet in these pages are some of the most impressive on the planet. Whether its a spectacular act thats part of a circus showor one that deserves to bethese world record holders have officially entered the entertainment big top!

At age 12, Norman Barrett from the UK joined the circus... and never left! This ringmaster for Zippos Circus holds the record for the longest career as a ringmaster, marking 57 years of entertaining the crowds in 2014. You could say the circus runs in his blood, as his father owned the circus!

Talk about flexible! Australian James Loughron, aka Aerial Manx, traveled in a backbend position over 65 feet in 7.81 seconds at the Venetian VIP Show on January 10, 2015, achieving the fastest human backbend walk.

A human backbend consists of only the participants hands and feet touching the floor, with the arms extended above the shoulders and head, and the back completely arched.

Thats not Jamess only talent either: he also holds the one-minute record for (gulp) the most backflips while sword-swallowing: 20!

Leilani Franco, a contortionist based in the UK, holds the record for the fastest time to travel in a contortion rollcovering 65 feet in 17.47 seconds. She started with her feet on the ground before arching her back and rolling forward on her chest. She also holds the record for the most full body revolutions maintained in a chest stand position in one minute29! In a chest stand, a person rests their body facedown on the floor, bending their legs over the head so that the feet rest on the floor in front of the face. In order to count as a full revolution, both legs must complete a 360-degree revolution before returning to the original starting position. Its no wonder that one of Leilanis nicknames is Bendy Girl!

Sliced apples are a great snackbut you might be surprised at how Johnny Strange slices them. The UK entertainer holds the record for the most apples held in ones own mouth and cut by a chain saw. His chain saw buzzed through eight apples in one minute and never once missed the target on October 12, 2013, at the Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire, UK. Now thats what you call a close shave!

Fellow UK daredevil Daniella DVilleaka Danielle Martinput her trust in Johnny Strange on October 12, 2013. That was the day that the two set the record for the most apples held in the mouth and cut by a chain saw, cutting through 12 apples. This slice of history also took place at the Doncaster Racecourse.

Can you imagine lying on a bed of nails with a concrete block placed on your torso? Not the most comfortable positionbut thats how