As children become more immersed in the digital world of iPads and other electronic devices, there's one book that can still get them turning pages.
The Guinness World Records has released its 2022 edition, the 67th book since the records first started in 1955.
Published annually in more than 100 countries and over 25 languages, Guinness World Records endures as a favourite of kids and adults alike because anyone anywhere can attempt one of the 53,000 records in the organisation's database.
Australian Guinness World Records adjudicator Pete Fairbairn pictured at the world's longest banana split record of 8.04km, set in Innisfail, north Queensland in March 2017
Mr Fairbairn also supervised the attempt at the world's largest Zumba class in the Philippines in May 2018
The world's tallest man at 251cm, Sultan Kosen of Turkey, with the world's shortest woman, 63cm-Jyoti Amge from India
That's the view of Pete Fairbairn, an Australian who is one of only 50 adjudicators of official Guinness World Records around the globe.
'Kids as they’re growing up and become more conscious of the world around them, they see things in Guinness World Records which really opens their minds and broadens their horizons to what the human body and humankind are capable of,' Fairbairn said.
'Every single one of us can have a crack at something in the Guinness World Records database and become the best in the world at it.
'That’s at the core of the enduring love of the World Records.'
Mr Fairbairn has travelled the world in his role as an adjudicator, though the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic means he has done a lot more online 'digital adjudications' of record attempts in the past 18 months.
Anthony Kelly from Armidale, NSW, who holds more than 50 Guinness World Records, including most targets hit with a blowgun in a minute while blindfolded in the new edition
World's longest banana split record of 8.04km, set in Innisfail, north Queensland in March 2017
His favourite Australian record in the new edition was achieved by Anthony Kelly, an Armidale, NSW resident who holds more than 50 other Guinness World Records.
'I've adjudicated a few of Anthony's attempts over the journey,' Mr Fairbairn said. 'He’s a ninja. He hit 11 targets with a blowgun in a minute while blindfolded.
Another Australian favourite is Graeme Denton aka Marty McBubble, who created the world’s tallest freestanding soap bubble measuring 10.750m in Adelaide in September 2020.
Other notable Australian records in the new edition include Australian Ninja reality star Olivia Vivian, who on January 8 this year set the record for farthest distance
