The highest air on skis on a superpipe is 7.58 m (24 ft 11 in) by Peter Olenick (USA) at Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, Colorado, USA on 31 January 2010.

Undefeated in his professional career (his 41 wins include 25 knockouts), boxing sensation Floyd Mayweather, Jr (USA) can boast nine world titles in five different weight classes. He earned $65 million (£44.7 million) between June 2009 and June 2010. Born 24 February 1977.

Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp (USA) earned a treasure trove ­ $75 million (£51 million) ­ from June 2009 to June 2010.

The highest annual earnings for an actress is $56 million (£38 million ) achieved by Sandra Bullock (USA), who starred in ‘The Proposal’ and ‘The Blind Side’ in the 12 months leading to June 2010.

The largest confirmed audience for a game of ice hockey was 104,173 people at “The Big Chill at the Big House” between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University at Michigan Football Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, on 11 December 2010. An unofficial number of 113,411 was announced by the university as an estimate of all individuals present in the stadium for the match. Mike Janela adjudicated.

The greatest attendance for a winter action sports event is 83,500 at Winter X Games Four from February 3-6 2000 at Mount Snow, Vermont, USA.

The highest batting average achieved by a player during an Olympic tournament is 571 by Luigi Carrozza (Italy) at Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1996.

The highest wall ride on a mountain bike measured 62 cm (2 ft 1 in) completed by Jim DeChamp (USA) at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, USA, on 18 November 2008 for the MTV show ‘Nitro Circus’. The GWR episode will air January 2009.

Michael Patrick Buonocore (USA) (b. 19 May 2001), survived a blood sugar level of 147.6 mmol/L (2,656 mg/dl) when admitted to the Pocono Emergency Room in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA, on 23 March 2008. The normal blood sugar range is between 4.4 to 6.6 mmol/L (80-120 mg/dl).

Rising cinema ticket prices mean the all-time top-grossing movies are nearly all recent films. Although Gone with the Wind (USA 1939) took just US$393.4 million (then £88 million) at the international box office, in an inflation-adjusted list it comes top with a total gross of US$5,362,000,000 (£2,916,000,000). In the US alone, Gone with the Wind had 283,100,000 admissions compared with 130,900,000 for Titanic (USA 1997).