Harry Potter and XXL fish sandwiches: Top marks 2023

Records - Harry Potter and XXL fish sandwiches: Top marks 2023

Driving a bobby car around a race track at almost 150 kilometers per hour or keeping 80 hula hoops on the body in motion: Germans came up with a lot of ideas to set records last year - but people around the world also put in a lot of effort to set new records.

Giant fish sandwich

Fish, lettuce and onions galore - Usedom restaurateur André Domke claimed the world's biggest fish roll in October. At 6.68 meters, it was more than two meters longer than the previous record. "Kilos of Lollo Bionda lettuce, mountains of onions and barrels of Bismarck herring from the Baltic Sea" were used by him and his team, as Domke told the German Press Agency. The Record Institute for Germany (RID) confirmed his achievement with a certificate.

1758 times Harry Potter

Black cloak, round glasses and a lightning-shaped scar on the forehead: all this is essential for a successful Harry Potter costume. 1758 fans of the famous sorcerer's apprentice broke a world record in Hamburg in August dressed like this. That was a far larger group than the more than 997 people required.

Bobby car on the Hockenheimring

Also in August, Fulda student Marcel Paul set a world speed record for e-drive bobby cars at the Hockenheimring. According to the record institute, he reached a top speed of 148.45 kilometers per hour. This clearly exceeded the Guinness Book of Records and RID requirements of at least 70 kilometers per hour.

Lots and lots of tea ...

To mark the 200th anniversary of the town charter in Leer, Lower Saxony, the Bünting Tea Museum set an unusual record in July. For each year, a cup of East Frisian tea was prepared and served in front of the museum. It took the four participants around eleven minutes to make 200 cups, according to Celia Brandenburger, director of the tea museum. However, the record is not officially recognized.

... and even more Christmas trees

Just in time for the festive season, Thomas and Susanne Jeromin from Rinteln in the Weserbergland region put up 555 plastic Christmas trees in their house. The Jeromins were already the record holders: two years ago, they had 444 trees. "We've expanded and there are now 89 trees in the new room alone," the geriatric nurse told dpa. According to the couple, they have around 108,000 Christmas tree baubles, including some they have recently crocheted themselves.

A great memory

With 15,637 memorized decimal places of the number Pi, Frankfurt memory artist Susanne Hippauf set a German record in March. The policewoman recited the thousands of digits over two hours and 42 minutes at the sixth Pi competition in Emden, East Frisia, breaking the previous record of 15,320 digits set by a man from North Rhine-Westphalia in September 2018.

Well folded

Millions of paper hearts in front of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia: the Southeast Asian country has made it into the Guinness Book of Records with this campaign: a total of 3,917,805 origami-style hearts have been folded and erected. This means that the country has clearly overtaken the previous record from 2019, when 53,704 origami hearts were folded in the UK.

Mega hula hoop

With more than 80 hula hoops at once, Berlin-based Dunja Kuhn topped her previous world record in November. "It was exhausting, but it went well," she told dpa after the event in Dresden. The previous record was 70, which she set herself, but she is not yet satisfied: She wants to increase the number to 100 soon.

Eight-thousanders in a row

These two have also achieved top performances: The Nepalese Tenjen Lama Sherpa and the Norwegian Kristin Harila climbed to the top of all 14 eight-thousanders at record speed. It took them 92 days, according to a spokeswoman for the Guinness Book of Records. They set the record in the summer, most recently climbing Mount K2 in Pakistan. A few weeks later, Tenjen Sherpa had an accident on Shishapangma when two avalanches occurred there. Despite good equipment, the eight-thousanders remain dangerous.

Parachute jump at an advanced age

Just a few days before her death in October, American Dorothy Hoffner from Chicago broke the world record for the oldest female skydiver. A video showed the 104-year-old walking with her walker to an airfield near Chicago - in high spirits and full of anticipation. In the pictures of the tandem jump with an experienced skydiver from a height of thousands of meters, Hoffner also looked quite happy. After the adventure, she said: "It was beautiful, peaceful."