Guinness to speed up verification of record Rayleigh artichoke

BBC News

4 days ago

Judges from Guinness World Records (GWR) have fast-tracked the process to get an artichoke measured after concerns the towering plant might not last the wait.Nathan Garnett, 49, says his 3.22 metre-tall (10.56 ft) sensation has turned the heads of many who pass his home in Rayleigh, Essex, but he had initially joined a three-month queue for an official adjudicator visit.The editor-in-chief at GWR, Craig Glenday, pressed the button to "fast track" his application live on BBC Essex, reducing the waiting time to two weeks."He'll get an email now that will say 'here's what you need to provide to us'. He needs a qualified person to say that it's actually an artichoke," Mr Glenday said.
Mr Glenday said he knew the vegetable-growing community well."I understand all the little tricks they can play and it's very competitive and people sabotaging their vegetables."It's a really interesting, slightly cut-throat world and so we have to be very careful."
'A thousand a week'
He said the process was essential because of scandals like "Dug" in New Zealand, which was touted to be the world's largest potato, until DNA testing found it to be a gourd."There's a few scandals with that topic (like) people filling crevices with mud to make the plants heavier."He added that it was common for a claim like Mr Garnett's to get lost in the "huge tsunami" of applications every year."We get about a thousand a week coming through the system," he said.However, if verified, he said this particular plant was "definitely" a record, with the current record being 2.5 metres (8.2 ft).
Artichokes are part of the thistle family, and according to the Royal Horticultural Society, can typically grow to between 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft). Nathan Garnett said his neighbours were very impressed."A few people have seen me measuring it, they've raised eyebrows and you get the odd glance. The postman loves it, he's commented on it," he said."We also have had people who are less of a fan. We had a councillor last year who called it a monstrosity."He didn't know who he was talking to, he happened to be talking to my mother-in-law."(They) didn't win my vote in the election."
Mr Garnett said he planted the artichoke in Billericay more than five years ago, but "it didn't do much"."Last year it took off and it got to maybe eight, nine feet and then this year's just gone another level."I've been looking into it a little bit it might be to do with the fact we've had two mild winters."I don't even water it... it's a self-sustaining artichoke, it needs very little TLC."I put a bit of horse manure on it, that's it."(Although) I've had to tie it up a little bit in the past, because it leans."
Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.