If you’ve ever headed down to the nearest bookstore at Christmas you’ve probably seen the Guinness Book of Records priced up at an amazing discount. You’ll usually see it marked up for £10 – £15 from a starting price of £25. Has anyone ever paid the full £25 for it, or are we all wise enough to know the headline price is there just so the discount seems even better? If you’re fortunate enough to live near a decent library, you don’t even need to pay a penny. Just remember to return it on time so you don’t incur library fines!
Anyone who has ever looked at the Guinness Book of Records will know there’s some quirky, weird, and even downright ridiculous records in there. Why anyone would want to be the world record holder in eating sweetcorn with a toothpick is anyone’s guess, but to be honest we do see the fun in holding a quirky and irreverent record.
Naturally, the page or two that dedicates itself to fireworks is the one that catches our eye.
Here’s a look at three of the previous record holders for the world’s largest fireworks display, before we finish with the current record holder.
The World’s Largest Fireworks Display on Madeira Island
New Year’s Eve is famous for its fireworks, with displays around the world being shown on our televisions from the moment New Year celebrations begin in locations like New Zealand and Australia.
Across a short time straddling midnight between December 31st 2006 and January 1st 2007, Madeira Island became the location for what was at the time the world’s largest fireworks display. A staggering 37 firing stations were set up throughout Madeira, with Guinness World Records inspectors visiting each to verify the size of the display. The announcement at 1:30am on January 1st 2007 that a new world record had been achieved added to what were already spectacular New Year celebrations.
This display was put together and executed by Macedo’s Pirotecnia, an internationally renowned fireworks brand who will be competing soon at Ignis Brunensis 2016.
Check out our recent blog looking ahead to Ignis Brunensis 2016 here.
The World’s Largest Fireworks Display in Kuwait
Kuwait’s old world record for the world’s largest fireworks display is unique within this list, as it is the only one that didn’t take place during a New Year celebration. Instead, Kuwait broke the world record for the world’s largest firework display over the weekend of November 10th and 11th 2012, while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s constitution.
The display featured 77,282 fireworks and cost estimates of a huge $15MILLION were reported.
Read about this world record here.
The World’s Largest Fireworks Display in Dubai
Kuwait’s world record stood until January 1st 2014, when it wasn’t just surpassed but smashed to smithereens in Dubai.
To get an idea of the scale of this display, the previous world record was broken just one minute into the show! The accolade of world’s largest fireworks display was well deserved for this one; it was ten months in the planning and took a staggering 5,000 man hours to install.
In total, this display used 479,651 fireworks, all of which were manually counted by Guinness World Records adjudicators, fired at a rate of 80,000 shells per minute, or 1,332 per second.
The World’s Largest Fireworks Display in the Philippines
The current world record holder, as of June 2016, is the Philippines, with a record set during the New Year celebrations bringing in 2016.
This display massively raised the bar once again in terms of the number of fireworks, using 810,904, and lasted just over an hour. What was also impressive was the thousands who braved conditions of driving rain to enjoy the display from start to finish.
Read about this world record here.
When will the Record Next be Broken?
It doesn’t need Nostradamus to tell you that there’s likely to be an attempt at the record heading into New Year 2017, though at present we’re unaware of anything in the pipeline around the world. If we do get wind of an upcoming attempt at the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest fireworks display, we’ll be sure to let you know.
