The Lockheed C-130 is the tactical airlift backbone to the world’s air forces. It first flew on 23 August 1954 and was introduced into service in December 1956. It has been in continuous production ever since with more than 40 different models serving with over 50 nations, it is the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history.

The longest reigning monarch in the world is King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, of Thailand. He ascended to the throne on 9 June 1946, although his formal coronation did not take place until 5 May 1950. He has reigned without interruption for over 63 years. He was born on 5 December 1927.

The longest reign of any European monarch was that of Afonso I Henrique of Portugal who ascended the throne on 30 April 1112 and died on 6 December 1185 after a reign of 73 years 220 days, first as Count and then (after 25 July 1139) as King. Contrary to press reports following the death of Ranier III, Prince of Monaco on 6 April 2005, he is not the longest-serving monarch in Europe, having become the ruling prince in 1949 – a total of 56 Continue reading →

Mt Etna is a stratovolcano on the Italian island of Sicily. With a summit height of around 3,329 m (10,921 ft 9 in) it is the largest active volcano in Europe. It is also one of the world?s most active volcanoes, and has erupted around 200 times since its first recorded eruption in 1500 BCE.

The longest reigning queen is Victoria (UK), Queen of Great Britain (1837–1901) and (from 1876) Empress of India, who reigned for 63 years 216 days. Victoria was the daughter of Edward, the Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. She was born in Kensington Palace in London on 24 May 1819. In 1837 Queen Victoria took the throne after the death of her uncle William IV. On 10 February 1840, Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Together they bore nine children: Victoria, Bertie, Alice, Continue reading →

The world’s largest living turtle, the leatherback sea turtle also holds the record for the longest migration of any reptile. Between 2006 and early 2008, a tagged leatherback was tracked by satellite as it made a 20,558 km (12,774 mi) journey from its nesting site on the beaches of Papua, Indonesia, to feeding grounds off the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. The journey, to the other side of the planet, took the intrepid turtle 647 days to complete.

Every 60 years or so – on a schedule determined by the position of the star Sirius in the night sky – the Dogon peoples of Mali, Africa, celebrate the Sigui, a mask festival which acknowledges the handing over of the cult’s secrets from one generation to the next. The ceremony takes many years to complete – the last Sigui ran from 1967 to 1973, with the next due to begin in 2032 – as rthe men-only initiates must learn a secret language (“Sigi So”) Continue reading →

The Ultima franchise is the longest-running RPG series, at 29 years. Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness was released in 1980 while the most recent entry to the series, Ultima Online: The Stygian Abyss, came out in 2009. GWR Video Gamer’s Edition 2008 record updated and featured in GWRGE 2010 It is beaten to the record of overall longest-running videogame franchise by Space Invaders, which was first released in 1978 and most recently updated with Space Invaders Extreme 2 in 2009.

EA has released an incredible 21 games in the main Madden series, as well as several special editions. The series began in 1988 with John Madden Football, which came without a league option and featured fictional teams.

The systematic name for the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the human mitochondria contains 16,569 nucleotide residues and is thus c. 207,000 letters long. It was published in key form in Nature on 9 Apr 1981.