Liam hits right note to enter record
books
 By Niamh Hennessy
THE world’s fastest accordion player was in Dublin last week to
celebrate Guinness World Records Day.
Former Lord of the Dance star Liam O’Connor entertained the public
in Eason’s O’Connell Street store with his fantastic fast
fingers.
Liam set the record at 11.14 notes a second whilst playing Latin classic
Tico Tico.
And the youngster is just one of many Irish record-breakers in the latest
edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
U2 top the list this year coming in as the Highest-Earning Music Artist
in the world with an income of £146,371,252.
Not happy with this massive accolade the band is also in the book with
two separate records for the Most Wins By A Group record category —
not only have they won a record 22 Grammys, the most ever for a group,
but they have also won an astonishing seven BRIT awards.
Not to be outdone Westlife once again enter the record books, this time
for the Best British Chart Start when on March 4 this year they became
the first act to see their initial 20 releases all reach the British Top-Five,
with 13 of them reaching the top spot.
This is a total that’s not been matched by any other act launched
within the last 40 years.
Daniel O’Donnell also appears this year with a new record for the
Most Consistent Chart Artist having had at least one new British Top-40
album every year between 1991 and 2006.
It’s not just the music industry where the Irish are record-breakers.
On September 10, 2005, 7,664 dancers took to the streets of Cork to set
a new record for the Largest Irish Dance and the Titans Basketball Club
from Galway set a new Basketball Marathon record at 40 hours and three
minutes from September 23-24.
Editor of the Guinness Book of Records Craig Glenday said: “From
the 65,000 claims we’ve received in the last 12 months, we’ve
approved a whopping 2,244 all new records — that’s a 173 per
cent increase on last year.
“It’s clear that being a record breaker is more popular than
ever and Guinness World Records Day is our way of acknowledging this testament
to people’s desire to achieve.
“Whether you took part individually or as part of a team the important
thing is that you were involved,” he added.
“People tell us it’s a dream they’ve had since childhood.
It’s a fundamental thing about the human condition; people want
to push themselves further.
“It’s why people cross seas and climb mountains, it’s
how we travel into space and create cures for diseases.
“So everyone who had always dreamt of being featured in the best-selling
copyright book of all-time finally had their chance to make those dreams
a reality.”
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