Zany bid for surreal immortality

LONDON (Reuters) - Share a bath with the most rattlesnakes. Join the longest bra chain. Marvel at the world's biggest underpants.

Zany record-breakers from around the world Thursday bid for immortality in the bible for the bizarre, seizing their chance to win an entry in Guinness World Records.

Last year, more than 100,000 people tried to set new records on Guinness World Records Day. "This year we expect twice as many," said Guinness editor-in-chief Craig Glenday.

First up in London's Hyde Park was Ironman Manjit Singh who attempted the fastest time to pull a red doubledecker bus 10 meters with his ear lobes. He could only drag it 3.7 meters.

No record is too surreal to contemplate.

The Australian city of Sydney is making the world's largest underpants. South Africa is creating the longest bra chain.

In Dublin, 150 Irish dance school pupils are taking to one of the city's main squares to attempt a record Riverdance Line.

Maintaining the musical theme, James Devine is taking a rest from a world tour to attempt in New York to surpass his own record for the most dance taps in one minute.

The world's tallest dog, a 107 centimeter (3ft 6inch) Great Dane called Gibson, posed proudly in Sacramento, California with the world's smallest canine, a Chihuahua called Boo Boo who is just 10.16 centimeters high.

China bids for Guinness glory with the steepest tightrope walk and the fastest time trying to escape from a straitjacket underwater.

Canada offers the largest game of Twister. Turkey the largest money box.

Guinness World Records have also now ruled that a church steeple in Germany and not Italy's famous leaning tower of Pisa is the most tilted tower in the world.

The accolade went to a 15th century church in the northwest German village of Suurhusen.

This decision may strip Pisa of its symbolic status but the German tower is less than half the Italian tower's height and boasts none of its ornate beauty.