Hundreds gathered in Canberra's centre in Australia last night to watch a new world record for most lights on an artificial Christmas tree.
The crowd was thrilled when a Guinness World Records representative confirmed that David Richards had broken the record that had been held for five years by Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
The 22-metre tree set the new record with a total of 518,838 twinkling lights, beating the 36-metre Japanese tree that had set a new benchmark of 374,280 lights last month, local media reported.
Mr Richards, a lawyer and businessman, brought together various volunteers including an electrical engineer, structural engineer, welders, carpenters, masons and steel fixers to put together the tree display, topped with a 1.5-metre star filled with 12,000 glowing bulbs, said local media.
“Tonight went better than my expectations, I was a little nervous, we weren't whether we would get the record,” Mr Richards said.
“Guinness World Records flew in just to adjudicate our record tonight, everything went according to plan and I was so relieved when the lights went on and the Guinness World Record representative said we have the new world record,” he added.
Mr Richards created the display to raise money for Canberra's Sudden Infant Death Syndrome charity SIDS and Kids after he lost one of his own children to the illness.
