Oldest Birthdays Celebrated Worldwide
July 5th, 2009 | Birthdays
By Natasha L. Kohlhoff Polak
There have been several people from various countries who have been known at one time or another as being the oldest person alive. Since the average person lives anywhere from 60-80 years, it is a rare thing indeed when someone surpasses those marks and hits the milestones of 90, 100, and beyond. Society has long been interested in keeping track of these birthdays because they are nothing short of amazing.
Since the first Guinness Book of World Records in 1955, these people have been documented each year. The first person ever to be recorded as being the oldest person alive was Betsy Baker from Nebraska, who died that year at age 113, just two months after it was published. She was born in the UK, which was where the great minds of Sir Hugh Beaver, along with twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter compiled the first edition of the book. Sir Hugh was the man behind the name, since he was the managing director for the Guinness Brewery. The McWhirter brothers were journalists who put their fact-seeking skills to the test and completed the task in time for the Guinness Book of Records to be considered a bestseller that Christmas.
For the next four years, Martha Graham from Virginia became the oldest person alive, setting a new record of 114 years in 1959. There have been other titleholders who have broken higher records, the oldest being Jeanne Calment from France between 1991-1997 at a whopping 122 years, followed by Shigechiyo Izumi from Japan between 1976-1986 at age 120.
The Guinness Book of World Records has surpassed all others in it notoriety, topping over 100 million copies today! Not bad for a little book of facts.
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