DID YOU know that an Indian man called Anthony Victor has hair sprouting from his ear that measures 18.1 cms (7.1 ins)? Or that the most expensive bathroom in the world is in Hong Kong and cost just under €2.5 million to build, given that the toilet bowls, wash basins, mirror frames, wall tiles, floors and doors are all made of 24-carat gold? These are the kinds of nuggets, if you'll excuse the pun, to be found in the new Guinness World Records, which is hitting bookshops this week.

It’s being billed as the Book of the Decade, with all manner of noughties specials, including the top 50 record-breakers of the past 10 years, alongside the unbreakables – those endurable records that have stood strong over centuries, unbeaten.

Yet for every unbreakable record there are countless more being newly established every year, and one of the people who get to decide which ones should stand and enter the annals of history is Galway-born Katie Forde, Director of IT for Guinness World Records and one of its team of record adjudicators. “We have a few basic criteria for any record,” explains Forde of a job she doesn’t take lightly, particularly given the number of contenders involved. “We receive over 1,000 applications per week from people who want to set world records.”

A team of people go through each application to decide whether the proposed record fits the criteria involved: “Is this something that’s measurable? Can I take a tape measure to it? Can I count it? Can I put a stopwatch on it? Is it breakable?” These are all questions that have to be asked, according to Forde. “It has to be a standardised procedure so that someone can come along and attempt the same thing afterwards.”

The records also have to be of a global interest, Forde adds, given that the book is sold in 100 different countries, and is available in 26 different languages.

Applications, as a result, come from all over, and Forde’s job has brought to her to all manner of destinations to check up on potential record breakers. “I suppose, the furthest I’ve been is Taiwan in 2007, and that was to judge the record for the most couples hugging simultaneously,” she recalls. Coincidentally, she was back in Dublin last weekend to judge the same record again, and all under the same criteria. The guidelines, explains Forde, are strictly adhered to.

“We would set the minimum requirement: one steward per 50 people taking part in any event. I go through the registration procedure, how they have verified who’s there,” she explains. “The job of the steward is to witness that every one of those couples is holding the hug for ten seconds which is our requirement. Any couples that don’t hold it for ten seconds, or if it’s not a hug action, they will be disqualified.”

Alas, the Dubliners failed to beat the Taiwanese record but not for want of trying.

According to Forde, there’s been a notable increase in record breaking activity in Ireland this year, with several of the records set here making it into the new book, including the longest stand up comedy show by an individual, set by Tommy Tiernan. “He performed for 36 hours 15 minutes, taking a five-minute break every hour,” says Forde. “He was as entertaining for the last hour as he was for the first.”

Then there was the largest charity walk, a record recently established in Rathcoole, where 1,903 people showed up, not to mention the most combine harvesters working simultaneously – 175, to be exact – as occurred in Duleek earlier this year, witnessed, once again by Forde. All in a day’s work for this Guinness World Records employee, who clearly enjoys every minute of it.

“No matter how many I see, I still get a certain buzz out of each event,” she says. Even when she’s not travelling to adjudicate records, her office-bound days have their own surprises. “I was coming in one morning and knew I had a tough day ahead on my day job, and I went in to make a cup of tea, and sitting there in the office was the most-pierced man,” she recalls.

Her own favourite record? “A total of 1,953 schoolchildren joined hands for the largest ring-a-ring-o’roses at The People’s Park, Waterford, on April 20th, 2004,” she recalls.

“The song was repeated for six and a half minutes, with everyone falling down and getting up in unison.”

Another favourite, the longest Riverdanceline, which was originally set in Dublin's Stephen's Green, has since been broken by a line of dancers in Rockland, New York. Given Forde's own Irish associations, and that of the book itself – it was originally commissioned by the then managing director of the Guinness Brewery Sir Hugh Beaver after an argument at a shooting party in Wexford – she'd like to see such Irish-associated records being broken back on her home soil.

"We need to get that one back!" she says of the Riverdancerecord. Dancers of Ireland, start practicing your one, two, threes. . .

Tallest man ever:American Robert Pershing Wadlow at 8ft 11.1in (272 cm)

Longest fingernails:Melvin Boothe, whose nails measure 9.05m (29ft 8in)

Longest moustache:Ram Singh Chauhan, whose moustache was 3.5 m (11ft 6in long) when measured last November.

Highest average box office gross for an actress:Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame, though the most overpaid actress, according to the Guinness Book, is Nicole Kidman, with a box office gross of $1 for every $1 paid in salary.

Longest dog ears in the world:Tigger Jr from St Joseph, Illinois, has the longest dog ears in the world, measuring 34.9cms and 34.2cms, right and left, respectively