(AFP) — A British sommelier Saturday smashed the world record for the number of wine glasses held in one hand, according to organisers of the event, handling 51 glasses to surpass the previous record of 39. Philip Osenton, a 43-year-old wine consultant based in Beijing, began handling dozens of glasses at a time early in his career working at major London hotels the Ritz and Savoy, which he said laid the groundwork for the feat. "The carrying of glasses is a sommelier thing. When I was head sommelier at the Ritz hotel, I've had a 140-cover restaurant to set up in the morning between breakfast and lunch, so basically with two glasses per setting I had got 280 glasses to put out with a very short amount of time," Osenton told AFP. "You have a lot of pressure to get the room ready."