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| Born | 4 May 1890 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Died | 16 January 1967 | Age 76 London |
Hugh Beaver - 1954
Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver together with brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter compiled the Guinness Book of Records in August 1954.Debate
Hugh Beaver was at the time the Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery. He was attending a shooting party in County Wexford, Ireland where he and his hosts got into a debate about which is the fastest game bird in Europe?
After a fruitless search for a reference for such facts, he had the idea that Guiness could provide a 'record' book for settling arguments in Pubs.
The Twins
A colleague, Christopher Chataway, recommended he involve some university friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London.
Norris was the timekeeper for Roger Bannister's sub four-minute_mile in 1954, while Ross helped locate the lost grave of rugby pioneer William Webb Ellis on the French Riviera in 1958.
Together they compiled what was to become the Guinness Book of Records.
Sad Departure
On November 27, 1975, editor Ross McWhirter was assassinated by two members of the Provisional IRA outside his North London home.
