Britain’s Largest Diary Is 66-Years-Old, 21,000 Pages Long, And Totals 4 Million Words

John Gadd has been keeping a diary since 1947, and it has now become the largest in Britain, and is eight times the length of War and Peace.

Gadd’s daily writing is 21,000 pages longs, and consists of 151 volumes. It also has 33,000 photos, weighs around half a ton, and also features cuttings and illustrations from newspapers and everyday household items such as food wrappers, and wine labels.

Gadd, who is 83-years-old, has spent 20 minutes a day for 66 years writing his journal, plus he also spends two hours every weekend arranging the images inside the book.

He also claims that he can find anything inside the book within minutes, because every Christmas he spends two weeks indexing that year’s diary.

To put it in hindsight, Gadd’s diary is four and a half times the size of Shakespeare’s complete work, is eight times bigger than War and Peace, and almost matches the total size of Dickens.

Gadd, who lives in Dorset, England, in the small village of Fontmell Magna with his wife Barbara, discussed his diary with The Telegraph.

He remarked, “The volumes document everything. You name it, it’s in there. It would be a shame to look back in so many years time wishing we knew what had happened, or how something had happened.”

Gadd added that it also helped in disputes too, remarking, “It settles family arguments too, my wife Barbara and I are always arguing about who we met, when we met them and how old they are. She has a wonderful memory and I have a very bad memory, but I have my diaries – although I have to say she is nearly always right.

Gadd doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon too, confirming, “I can’t stop now, when you’ve kept it up as long as I have you need to keep going.”

[Image via Ollyy/Shutterstock]