Skydiving magic, bungee dunk for Guinness World Records day

From the highest dunk of a biscuit into a cup of tea by a bungee jumper to the most magic tricks performed during a skydive, the adventurous and imaginative are marking Guinness World Records Day on Thursday with all sorts of feats.

Thousands of people around the world are attempting new records for the occasion, which was launched to mark the day when the 100th millionth copy of the Guinness World Records book was sold and is now in its 12th year.

In Britain, Simon Berry took the Guinness World Records title for “highest bungee dunk” after dipping a biscuit into a cup of tea from his 73-metre (239.5 ft) bungee rope.

Martin Rees did about 10 magic tricks while skydiving from roughly 15,000 feet to get his name into the record book.

In London, Paulo Gabriel da Silva Barros and Katyucia Lie Hoshino were crowned the new title holders for “shortest married couple” with a combined height of 181.41 cm (71.42 inches).

“We hope our new record will encourage the world to look past the physical differences in others and understand all people should be treated equally,” they said in a statement.

In California, Skipper, a blue and gold macaw, was awarded the “most rings placed on a target by a parrot in one minute” title, with a total of 19 rings.

Basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters also secured records, including the titles for the “farthest basketball shot under one leg” at 15.98 meters.

In Japan, Keisuke Yokota secured the record for “the most traffic cones balanced on the chin” with 26.

In Australia, fitness guru Kayla Itsines led a mammoth exercise class for the titles of “most people performing squats” with 2,201 participants, “most people star jumping” with 2,192, “most people performing lunges” – 2,146 – “most people performing sit-ups” – 2,005, and “most people running in one place” – 2,195.

Separately, at a ceremony in Beirut on Wednesday, former Lebanese racing driver Nabil Karam broke his own Guinness World titles when he was awarded two new records for having the largest collection of miniature cars, with 37,777 models, as well as 577 dioramas.