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Largest Japanese drum ensemble

The largest Japanese drum ensemble involved 2,778 participants and was organized by the Sanzennin-taiko Executive Committee at the Kumamoto Castle Ninomaru Park in Kumamoto, Japan, on 9 October 2011. 2,773 drums were used for the event, but some the big drums were played by two musicians (one at each extreme of the drum – these large drums are placed horizontally). Sansennin-taiko means 3,000 drum players, which was their goal, but they only got 2,778. 2,905 participants registered on the day, but due to the extreme Continue reading →

Largest exercise demonstration / class

The largest aerobics display involved 50,420 participants at an event organised by Instituto Distrital de Recreation y Deporte (Colombia) at Simon Bolivar Metropolitan Park in Bogota, Colombia, on 15 August 2011. The class lasted 62 minutes, including 12 minutes of warmup and 50 minutes of class time.

Highest earnings in a tennis career (male)

As of 13 August 2012, Roger Federer (Switzerland) has earned the most prize money in men’s tennis, with $72,918,077. Federer first gained an Association of Tennis Professionals’ (ATP) ranking in September 1997 and won his first ATP tournament in Milan in 2001. The second highest earner is Rafael Nadal (Spain), with $50,061,827, and third is Pete Sampras (USA), who retired in 2003, with $43,280,489. Born 8 August 1981.

First person to climb the seven summits

The first person to successfully climb the “Seven Summits” – the highest peaks on all seven continents, according to the Messner list, which recognizes the highest point in Oceania as being Puncak Jaya in Indonesia, as opposed to the Bass list, which instead states Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales, Australia – was Patrick Morrow (Canada) who completed the last, Puncak Jaya, Indonesia (Oceania), on 5 August 1986. Morrow climbed the Seven Summits and also Mount Kosciuszko. The Seven Summits are; Africa: Mt Kilimanjaro 5,894m Continue reading →

First manned spaceflight

The earliest manned spaceflight was by Cosmonaut Flight Major (later Col.) Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934-68) in Vostok 1 on 12 Apr 1961. The take-off was from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 6:07a.m. GMT and the landing near Smelovka, near Engels, in the Saratov region of Russia, 115 minutes later. Col. Gagarin landed separately from his spacecraft 118 minutes after the launch, by parachute after ejecting 108 minutes into the flight as planned. The maximum altitude during the 40,868.6 km (25,394,8 mile) flight of Vostok 1 Continue reading →