The reasons why Slough features in the Guinness Book of Records

From the weird to the wonderful Slough and its residents have made the news on countless occasions.

In 2015, a Slough woman took the record for the youngest person with a full beard, while older records indicate that Slough was home to the very first zebra crossing.

Youngest person with a full beard (female)

Harnaam Kaur from Slough was just 24 years old when she became the youngest female with a full beard.

The award was given in 2015 and Harnaam still holds the record to date.

Harnaam first started noticing she was growing facial hair when she was 11 and was eventually diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that means she has much more testosterone than most women which is what causes hair to grow on her face.

She said: “I never really understood what role I had to play in this world as a bearded lady. As the years have gone on I have realised that I was born to stand up proud as a woman who promotes body confidence within both genders, I was born to show the world something else apart from the ‘societies norm,’ and I was born to help people become confident and comfortable with in themselves.”

Harnaam has been open in the past about how she was bullied because of her beard and as a result, she is an avid body confidence and anti-bullying activist.

Heaviest machine moved using a brain control interface

In 2011 The Gadget Show broke a world record in Slough for lifting 56.2 tonnes using a brain control interface.

The 56.2 tonne cranes were controlled using brainwave sensors manufactured by NeuroSky, with a control box designed by Loughborough University Design School.

The four presenters of The Gadget Show had to move the cranes using their brain waves in order to pick up and transport a two-tonne car with an electromagnet.

First zebra crossing

In 1951 Slough became the first location to see an official and permanent installation of a zebra crossing.

Prior to that, 1,000 experimental black-and-white striped zebra pedestrian crossings were installed across the UK in 1949 during a “Pedestrian Safety Week”.

Blue-and-yellow and red-and-white stripes were also trialled. 

First arrest as a result of telecommunications

In 1845 the first arrest as a result of an electric telegram was made in Slough.

On January 1, 1845, a man travelled to Salt Hill, near Slough, UK, and poisoned his mistress with a treatment for varicose veins called Scheele’s Prussic Acid.

On leaving the scene, he was spotted by a neighbour, who had heard screams and cries for help.

The man made it back to Slough station, where he boarded the train to London Paddington.

Both Slough and Paddington stations on the Great Western Railway had been fitted with a Cooke-Wheatstone two-needle telegraph system.

After the alarm was raised with the local vicar, the Station Master at Slough was asked to alert the police at Paddington by means of the electric telegraph.

At Paddington Station, a Sergeant was handed the message and arrested the man, who was subsequently convicted and hanged.