 One of these ideas came about when Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director, went on a shooting party in 1951.He became involved in an argument about which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the grouse, and he realised that a book, published by Guinness, that supplied answers to this sort of question might prove popular.Sir Hugh's idea became reality when the McWhirter twins, Norris and Ross, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London, were commissioned to compile what became the Guinness Book of Records.