Guinness Records And Guinness Beer: 5 Companies You Never Realized Were Related
By June 9, 2022
Beer And Trivia
The Guinness World Records came about the way all great things do: from an argument about birds. In 1951, Guinness Brewery managing director Hugh Beaver got into an argument over whether or not a golden plover was the fastest game bird (it was) but had no way of proving he was right to his companion. Later, he told fellow Guinness employee Christopher Chataway that there ought to be some easily readable book with all the world records inside so that people would have ways to easily settle factoid squabbles. They took this idea to publishers, and thus was born the The Guinness Book Of Superlatives, later to be simply called Guinness World Records. More than 100 million copies of various editions have been sold through the years.
Tires And Taste
Not only does Michelin tell you the hottest spots to dine in town, they'll give you the wheels to get there, too! After a successful 11 years in the tire business, brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin came up with a great scheme to encourage people to drive more by creating guides to hotels and destinations and developing a star rating system for notable restaurants. If a restaurant got three stars, it was well worth the drive. Since then, the Michelin Guide has taken on a life of its own, with many world-renowned chefs struggling to maintain their high status. The three-star rating is so prestigious that Michelin inspectors remain completely anonymous in order to get a true feel of the restaurant and often require many visits before deciding on a ranking. As of 2022, there are only 135 three-star restaurants in the world.
Politics And Bananas
Stanford Dole is known for his infamous takeover of the Hawaii Islands, ousting the last monarch, Queen Liliʻuokalani, from her throne and serving as the President of the Republic of Hawaii until its annexation to the United States in 1898. Meanwhile, his cousin, James Dole, was getting busy on the islands establishing his Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which unsurprisingly experienced major success after the annexation, as food products shipped to the mainland were no longer taxed as imports. It was later renamed the Dole Food Company and is still one of the major suppliers of fruits to the United States.
Arms And Hammers
Armand Hammer was an extremely successful American businessman who was best known for his stewardship of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation, but according to him, he was named after the "arm and hammer" imagery that was popular in the iconography of the socialist world his family lived in. After getting tired of being constantly asked if he owned the Arm & Hammer baking soda company, he decided to buy a hefty amount of stock, which got him onto the company's board of directors. Actor Armie Hammer is Armand's great-grandson.
