Weird and wacky world records tumble around globe

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Manjit Singh, a 59-year-old security consultant from Leicester, England known as the "Ironman", on Thursday pulled a double-decker bus weighing more than eight tonnes over a distance of 21.2 metres with his hair.

The new record was set in central London to coincide with the fifth annual Guinness World Records Day, which organisers said prompted thousands of people around the world to set some bizarre benchmarks of their own.

For Singh, his latest achievement makes up for the disappointment of 2007, when he failed to break the record for the furthest distance to pull a double-decker bus with the ears.

"I will never be discouraged by defeat, because I know that success can be waiting around the next corner," he said. "The only way to get there is to try again and stay positive."

Also in London, 112 commuters put aside their English rush-hour reserve to set a record for the most people hugging for a minute, while Shaun Jones won the title for the fastest hot water bottle burst at 18.81 seconds.

In Italy, a new fastest time was set for eating a bowl of pasta (one minute 30 seconds) and in Norway the largest ever gingerbread man was made weighing 651 kg (1,435 lb). In Finland, people from 76 nationalities fitted into a single sauna.

Not everyone was successful, however. In Australia, 228 people were not enough to break the largest bikini parade record. Guinness World Records is considered the authority on world records, and its book has sold over 100 million copies.

(Writing by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)