Up to speed
WE don’t know the full story. Did he have a hot toddy to hand? Was there a heap of damp labradors steaming in front of a gun-room fire? And were his friends ribbing him over a very obvious and witnessed miss? All that’s certain is Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver, managing director of the Guinness Brewery, was one of a party shooting the North Slob, by the River Slaney, Co Wexford, Ireland, on November 10, 1951, when the argument began: which was faster, the grouse or golden plover?
It was a good question—both are renowned for their pace, but how fast are they? Which is, indeed, quicker? No one knew. Nor could the answer be found in the house library. At that moment, Sir Hugh realised the world needed a handy guide to the fastest, biggest and tallest: The Guinness Book of now conceived.
