The record for the most desert races ran in one year held by Sandy McCallum (Canada) who ran 6 desert races, between 28 May 2006 and 31 March 2007. A list of the 6 races: 1.Gobi March, Gobi Desert, China, 28 May – 3 June 2006 2. Atacama Crossing, Atacama Desert, Chile, 23 – 29 July 2006 3. Sahara Race, Shara Desert, Egypt, 29 October – 4 November 2006 4. Grand Raid Sahara, Sahara Desert, Mauritania, 29 January – 3 February 2007 5. Libyan Challenge,
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Since 1947 a total of three descendants of the Nehru-Gandhi family have become Prime Minister of India. Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s Prime Minister when the country attained independence in Auguest 1947, and remained in power until his death in 1964. His daughter Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until she was assassinated by her own bodyguards on 31 October 1984. Rajiv Gandhi, Indira’s eldest son, became Prime Minister following his mother’s death and won the 1984 elections by
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Country: Bangladesh Population: 162,221,000 Area (km2): 55,600 Density (per km2): 2,918
The world’s most densely populated country is Monaco, with a population density of 15,685 people per km2 (40,624 per mile2) in 2010. The total estimated population of Monaco in 2010 was 30,586 with a total area measuring only 1.95 km2 (0.75 miles2). Monaco is a principality on the French Riviera and is perhaps most famous as a ‘playground’ for the rich and famous, with its casinos, marinas and the colourful lives of the Monaco Royal Family.
Audie Murphy (1924 – 1971) was the most decorated soldier in US history, winning 24 medals from the Congressional medal of Honor down. His expoloits were the subject of To Hell and Back (US 1956), in which he starred as himself. He personally killed 240 Germans. He starred in 27 films, mostly westerns, with the film version of his autobiography To Hell and Back holding the record as Universal’s biggest grossing picture for 20 years until the release of Steven Speilberg’s Jaws.
Scott Fraze managed to rip 13 decks of cards (52 plus two jokers) in 30 sec on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime on 21 December 2000.
Dave Farrow (Canada) memorized on single sighting a random sequence of 59 separate packs of cards (3,068 cards) at CTV Studios, The Daily Planet, Toronto, Canada on 2 April 2007. The attempt took 4 hrs 58 min 20 secs not including breaks. Dave made just one mistake during the entire attempt which he corrected unprompted.
On 10 May 1996, a severe blizzard on Mt. Everest claimed the lives of eight climbers and caused serious injuries to more than 20 others. The climbers, from the USA, India, Japan and New Zealand, were surprised by 145 km/h (90 mph) winds which sent temperatures plummeting to -40°C (-40°F).
The bacterium Yersinia pestis, caused the death of 25 million people in 14th Century Europe. Named after French scientist Alexandre Yersin, who identified it in 1894, it causes bubonic plague which inturn is transmitted by fleas and rats.
The ground-breaking natural world documentary, Planet Earth (BBC, UK), has the absolute record of any nature programme for the most days spent in the field recording footage – with over 2,000 days. The entire one-hour, 11-part series, first screened in the UK in 2006, was shot entirely using High Definition film, by 40 camera crews in 200 locations on every continent. Their successes included recording a snow leopard hunting for the first time on film – a few minutes of footage which, itself took over
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