Teen knows 129 books by their first line Briton breaks Guinness World Record

IN late January, a 14-year-old in the UK broke a Guinness World Record by identifying 129 works of literature using only their opening sentences.

Monty Lord developed an interest in remembering and reciting texts after taking an online class on the psychology of memory. His father, a TV producer, suggested that Lord try to break a Guinness record, so the boy picked identifying books.

Lord memorised the opening sentences of 200 books over three weeks. On the day of the challenge, Lord went to his school and identified books with sentences read out by his father. Lord managed to pick out 129 books and got the Guinness certificate 11 days thereafter.