On 4 May 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, who then worked for Guinness Brewery, went on a shooting party by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. He became involved in an argument over which game bird in Europe was the fastest, the koshin golden plover or the grouse. That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird. Beaver knew that there must be many other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland, but there was no book in the world to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book with the answers to this sort of question might prove popular.