Youngest RMS Titanic Survivor
On the morning of 15 April 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sunk, causing the death of over 1,500 people. However, several people – especially women and children – were heroically rescued, and the youngest survivor, Millvina Dean, was only 72 days old!
Evidently, luck ran in her family, because her mother and brother managed to escape as well. Unfortunately, her father didn’t have the same fate, since he was one of the many passengers who lost their life. Twenty years later, Millvina became a cartographer and a civil servant.
Youngest Professional Drummer
In 2009, a little boy named Julian Pavone born and raised in Michigan, USA, became the youngest professional drummer in history. Can you guess how old he was? You won’t believe it: four years and 319 days old! Before his fifth birthday, Julian delivered his 20th concert, which is the minimum amount required by Guinness.
According to his parents, Julian began playing the drums when he was three months old, and at first, he did it while sitting on his father’s laps. By the age of 15, he had already played in the famous night club Whiskey A Go-Go and in the Grammy Museum. Impressive!
Youngest U.S. President
You probably need a whole lot of experience and influence in order to become the president of the most powerful country in the world, right? Theodore Roosevelt is usually remembered for many of his career accomplishments but seldom do people remember that he is also the youngest U.S. president in history.
In 1901, president William McKinley was assassinated, and after this tragic incident, 42-year-old Roosevelt was sworn into office. Will anyone ever beat this record? 36-year-old Pete Buttigieg is sounding like one of the possible candidates for 2020’s election, but who knows!
Youngest NBA Player
In 2005, Andrew Bynum set an amazing record. This Los Angeles Lakers star became the youngest NBA player in history. He was 18 years, 6 days old when he played his debut match, and at such young age, he was already 7 feet tall!
Bynum played for Los Angeles Lakers for seven seasons in a row, but unfortunately, he retired at a very young age. The problem was that he suffered lots of injuries in his legs, and he had no choice but to put an end to his successful career.
Youngest To Walk On The Moon
Setting foot on the moon isn’t something that happens every day, right? Well, in 1976, Chalie Duke became the youngest person to ever walk on the moon. When he embarked on the Apollo 16 mission, he was only 36 years and 201 days old. Impressive, right?
Charlie had a very impressive career. By the time he retired, he had spent over 4,000 hours of flying time, which to be precise, included 3,632 hours inside a jet aircraft and 265 hours cruising through space.
Youngest Formula 1 Driver
In 2015, when he was just a teenager, Max Verstappen became the youngest Formula 1 driver in history. Believe it or not, he was just 17 years, 180 days old when he debuted at the Australian Grand Pix.
But this doesn’t end here! One year later, Verstappen also became the youngest person to ever win the Spanish Grand Pix. It’s needless to say that he has a very promising career ahead of him, and he continues surprising the world year by year.
Youngest Chief Scout
Here’s a crazy record you probably didn’t expect! Edward “Bear” Grylls is one of the most famous survival experts in the world. In fact, many of you may know him thanks to his numerous appearances on TV in the show Man Vs. Wild
But even though many people all the gross animals that he ate on camera, little do they know that he actually set a world. At 34 years and 334 days old, he was named Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories, becoming the youngest Chief Scout in the world. Beat that!
Youngest Billionaire
In 2018, American teenager Alexandra Andresen became the youngest billionaire in the world, at the age of 19 years and 236 days. She achieved this after being granted a 42.2% stake in her father’s company. Even though her fortune was pretty much inherited, it’s still striking.
As of 2019, young Andresen has a net worth of $1.4 billion. However, they say that she isn’t much of a spender. For example, instead of going for a last-model Mercedes Benz, she opted for a second-hand car.
Youngest X Games Athlete
We all know that extreme sports are only for the brave. Therefore, it’s hard to picture a young teenage X Games athlete, right? In 2012, Jagger Eaton surprised the whole world after competing as a skateboarder at the age of 11, becoming the youngest X Games competitor in history.
He only came out 12th in that competition, but two years later, he obtained his first gold medal after winning the Tampa AM. Eaton became a positive role model for children, and he even had his own reality TV show, called Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life. What a star!
Youngest Professional Soccer Player
In 2011, a video of a Dutch one-year-old baby kicking a couple of soccer balls against a toy chest went viral. This boy’s name was Baerke Van Der Meij, and according to his family, he spent each day playing with footballs. Soon after the video was uploaded in Youtube, the Dutch soccer team Venlose Voetbal Vereniging reached out to him.
Crazily enough, this club signed him a symbolic contract for ten years. Thus, this baby became the youngest professional football player in history, and we doubt anyone will ever beat this. To make things even more bizarre, he signed the contract with a crayon and celebrated with a glass of orange juice.
Youngest To Climb The Seven Summits
Every year, tens of thousands of people from all over the world travel to Nepal in an attempt to climb Mt. Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. But can you picture a little teen reaching the peak of this 8,900-meter mountain? Well, believe it or not, at the age of 13, Jordan Romero became the youngest person to ever climb not only Mt. Everest, but the 7 tallest mountains in the world.
So before turning 14, he had already climbed Mts Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, and Puncak Jaya. Two years later, at the age of 15, he reached the peak of Vinson Massif, the highest mountain of Antarctica. Once an adult, he wrote a novel for children named No Summit Out Of Sight.
Youngest Oscar Winner
Shirley Temple was a very talented American actress that started acting since the age of 4. By the age of 6, she had already starred in more than a dozen movies, including classics like The Littlest Rebel and Captain January
In 1935, at the age of 6, Temple was awarded a Juvenile Oscar for her contributions to the Golden Age cinema. Therefore, she became the youngest Oscar winner in history, since up to this day this record remains unbeaten.
Youngest Male Olympic Gold Medalist
On the 1932 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, USA, a young Japanese teenager named Kusuo Kitamura broke an amazing world record. At the age of 14, he became the youngest male Olympic gold medalist in history, and almost a century later, this record still hasn’t been beaten.
Kitamura was one of the youngest competitors of the Olympics, and he won the gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle swim. But strangely enough, he didn’t pursue a career in the athletics field. On the very contrary, right after winning his medal, he retired and joined the Japanese Ministry of Labor several years later. Now, for another Olympic record, slide to #2!
Youngest Solo Artist With A N1 Hit Song
There is no doubt that Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest musicians of all time. After all, we’ve all sang Superstition in the shower at some point, haven’t we? But did you know that he also has the world record for being the youngest solo artist with a #1 hit?
When Wonder released his 1963 album Recorded Live: The 12-Year-Old Genius, his song Fingertips became a nationwide hit. By the time the song had topped the charts, Wonder was barely 13 years, 103 days old. Beat that!
Youngest Solo Row Across Any Ocean
Crossing an ocean requires years and years of professional experience. What I’m saying is pretty obvious, right? Well, apparently it’s not so obvious, because a few years ago, British student Callum Gathercole became the youngest person to solo row across an ocean.
With just 20 years and 219 days, Gathercole completed a 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean, starting from the Spanish island of La Gomera and finishing at the Caribbean island of Antigua. “It was a brilliant challenge that I thoroughly enjoyed taking on“, Gathercole claimed in an interview.
Youngest Professional Singer
Stevie Wonder became the talk of the town after having his own number one hit at the age of 13, but there’s a Nepali girl who boasts an even more impressive record. In 2011, young Atithi Guatam K.C. released a music album at the age of three, thus becoming the youngest professional singer in history.
Atithi was so young at the time, that she couldn’t even read the letters of the alphabet! But this is not her only admirable achievement. At the age of 2, she performed live on television for the first time. Impossible is nothing for this child!
Youngest Professional Director
OK, a six-year actress receiving an Oscar is impressive enough, but it’s something that sounds believable. But how can a little kid become a director? That’s just pure science fiction! Believe it or not, at the age of 7, young Saugat Bista became the youngest professional director in history.
In 2014, 7-year-old Bista released his first feature-length film, Love You Baba The movie stars Bistas’ father, and it was shot in slightly less than a month. But not only did he break the world record, but he also received an “Appreciation for youngest director” award. Not bad, not bad at all!
Youngest Nobel Peace Prize Winner
This one here is probably the most admirable record in this list. In 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person in history to ever win a Nobel Peace Prize. Often referred to as the “most prominent citizen” of her native country, Pakistan, Yousafzai was only 17 years, 90 days old on the occasion.
But why did she win the prize? Yousafzai became famous all over the world for protesting and speaking out against the Taliban’s oppression towards women and children. She is still regarded as one of the most prominent advocates for human rights throughout the world.
Youngest Individual Olympic Gold Medalist
Young Kitamura sure left the world baffled when he won his gold medal in the LA Olympics at the age of 14, but believe it or not, there’s an American woman who boasts an even more impressive record. At the age of 13, Marjorie Gestring became the youngest individual to win a gold medal in the Olympics.
On the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Marjorie came first thanks to her performance in the 3-meter springboard. But unlike Kitamura, she didn’t retire after her amazing conquest. To the very contrary, she obtained medals in practically every national championship she competed in, from 1936 to 1948. Bravo!
Youngest To Visit Every Nation
In 2004 and at the age of 28, travel writer Maurizio Giuliano set the world record for the youngest person to ever visit the 196 countries in the world. But just a couple of weeks ago, on May 31, 2019, a young girl claimed to have beaten his record.
Last month, at the age of 21, Lexie Alford visited the Demilitarized Zone in North Korea, which was the only country missing on her visit-list. She submitted her airline tickets, receipts, and photographs to the Guinness World Records, and although the entity hasn’t confirmed it yet, it all seems that she’ll soon become the youngest person on Earth to ever visit the world’s 196 existing countries.