The European badger Meles meles spends more than half of its life underground, and builds the largest setts of any badger species. The largest sett on record was estimated to contain a tunnel network 879 m (2,883 ft) long, with 50 underground chambers and 178 entrances.

The largest ball of string on record is one 4.03m (13ft 2.5in) in diameter and 12.65m (41ft 6in) in circumference, amassed by J.C. Payne of Valley View, Texas, USA between 1989 and 1992.

The largest breakdance was achieved by 528 dancers in an event organised by Mecenatpolis (South Korea), in Seoul, South Korea, on 1 December 2012. The record attempt took place in one of the biggest out-door shopping malls in Seoul. Professional dancers danced for 5.30 minutes to a tune specially composed for this event. 18 participants were disqualified because they didn’t adhere to the guidelines.

The largest Buddhist temple in the world is Borobudur, near Yogyakarta, central Java, Indonesia, built between AD 750 and 842. The 60,000 m³- (2,118,880 ft³-) stone structure is 34.5 m (113 ft) tall and its base measures 123 x 123 m (403 x 403 ft). In 1991, Borobudur was added to UNESCO’s World Hertiage list.

In May 1995 Paul R. Tidwell (USA) discovered 2 tonnes of gold, 228 tonnes of tin, 54 tonnes of raw rubber and 3 tonnes of quinine in a 108.8-m-long (357-ft) Japanese submarine. The sub, which had also carried 109 men, had been destroyed by a 226.8-kg (500-lb) US bomb on 23 June 1944. Tidwell is now working to recover the vessel, which is submerged at a depth of 5,180 m (17,000 ft), 1,931 km (1,200 miles) west of the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic Continue reading →

Twenty C-17 Globemaster IIIs from Charleston Air Force Base, South Caroline, USA, took part in a large formation exercise on 21 December 2006 to demonstrate the strategic airdrop capability of the US Air Force. The aircraft were assigned from the 437th and 315th Airlift Wings thus making it the largest formation of cargo aircraft from a single base.

The largest carillon (minimum 23 bells) in the world is the Hyechon College Carillon, Seo-ku, Taejon, South Korea, with 78 bells. A Carillon is an instrument that consists of brass bells fixed to a frame, played by keyboard and pedals. The bells for this example were made by Petit & Fritsen in The Netherlands, and have a range of five octaves. The instrument took two years to construct, and the heaviest bell, the Bourdonbell, weighs 10 tonnes.

The largest of all the carnivores is the polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Adult males typically weigh 400-600 kg (880-1,320 lb), and have a nose-to-tail length of 2.4-2.6 m (7 ft 10 in-8 ft 6 in). The male Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), a subspecies of brown bear found on Kodiak Island and the adjacent Afognak and Shuyak islands, in the Gulf of Alaska, USA, is usually shorter in length than the polar bear but more robustly built. The polar bear’s fur appears white because each Continue reading →

Rio de Janeiro’s annual carnival, normally held during the first week of March, attracts approximately two million people each day. In 2004, the carnival attracted a record 400,000 foreign visitors of which it was thought 2,600 were from the Queen Mary II. In 1998, the four day event generated £100million ($165million). A seat in the Sambadrome for one of the parades costs between £180 and £360 ($300 and $600).

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and vice-president of Time Warner, announced on 18 Sept 1997,that he was to give the United Nations $1billion (£580 million) of his own money in $100 million (£58 million) instalments over ten years to finance programmes for refugees, children, the environment and clearing landmines.