there's
one world record that i can guarantee
that you've got
no chance of achieving in fact i'm so
confident that no one will ever beat
this record that i'm prepared to put up
one
thousand pounds of my own money on it
and this is the man you've got to beat
the incredible
eight foot 11.1 inch robert
pershing wadlow the tallest living
person
of all time i'm craig glenn the
editor-in-chief at guinness world
records
and over the past 18 years i've probably
measured more
of the world's tallest people than
anyone else on the planet
but i've never yet met anyone who comes
close to the phenomenal height
of the alton giant robert wadlow his
statue was
so unprecedented and so far beyond
anyone else ever
measured scientifically that i doubt
we'll ever see his likes again
so here's why i'm confident that
waddler's record will never
be beaten and why my thousand
pounds will be staying right here in my
pocket
to begin with we can write off at least
half
of the world's population that's because
there's never been a time in history
when a woman has been the tallest ever
human
in fact there's only one woman who's
ever held the record for tallest living
human being
than that zhang jin yan of china xing
was born in hunan
province in south central china and
reached a peak height
of a rather exalted 8 foot 1
or 246.3 centimeters
so this makes her the only woman to
exceed
eight foot tall impressive for sure
but still 10 inches shy
of robert wadlow's record even women who
were supposedly taller
but never officially measured came up
short
like the circus performer giant amazon
queen mariano veda
of germany who was promoted as being
eight foot
four inches as was katya van dijk
of the netherlands oh and by the way if
you are going to lie
about being 8 foot 4 don't be
photographed
standing in a doorway or next to someone
of average height
oh and don't think that wearing a fancy
hat is going to help you measure up
either
we can also discount everyone who's
simply
genetically tall some people are just
blessed
or cursed depending on your point of
view like the zegwart family
of the netherlands here mum dad and
three siblings
currently average six foot seven inches
making them the tallest family in the
world
and when you meet tall twins it's
usually because they share this genetic
trait
take the american sisters clear and
unwrecked for example
they both stretched to six foot seven
inches or just over
two meters tall the tallest genetically
tall person i've ever met and measured
was neil fingleton who for a while at
least was the uk's tallest
living man back in 2008 neil who
played u.s college basketball was an
imposing
seven foot seven and a half inches or
two meters 32 centimeters
his grandfather was six foot eight his
sister was six switch four
so you know tall you probably wouldn't
recognize neil but he played
magma or mag the mighty king of the
giants
in the tv show game of thrones where he
was scaled up using
cgi to an even taller height of 12
feet the reason for this by the way is
interesting if you've ever hung out with
an extremely tall person
you'll notice that they just walk
differently
their biomechanics are just different
using cgi to make an
average height actor look tall just
doesn't cut it
it's not authentic hence the use of
actual
giant and yes if you're wondering
tall people are likely to make tall
babies the largest ever infant was born
to canada's anna swann
and her husband martin van buren bates
of kentucky
both of whom towered upwards of seven
foot eleven
inches their baby measured an
unprecedented
28 inches from head to toe at
birth ouch the current tallest living
married couple
is the basketball player sun ming ming
and volleyball players zoo
yan both of china although they haven't
yet started a family
when he was active sun was the tallest
basketball player
in the world at seven foot nine inches
and zhu
is six foot one and three quarters so
between them they reached 13 foot
10 inches if they do have children the
chances are high that the kids will be
well high but sun ming ming's height
didn't just come from his genes he
is pathologically tall which means his
extreme
stature is a result of a medical
condition
it was discovered in 2005 that sun ming
ming's extraordinary height
was most likely caused by an
overproduction
of growth hormones to understand the
role of
growth hormones we need to go back
to puberty the pituitary gland
sets off the process of puberty by
increasing the secretion of that hormone
which controls the rate of growth
of the body therefore puberty is
introduced by a rapid spurt of growth
meet sultan kosan of turkey currently
the world's tallest living human being
hello
how are you
for the average person the growing pains
of puberty come to an end
when chemical signals are sent to our
bones
telling them to stop growing but in
sultan's case
something went wrong and the growth
hormones kept on surging
the result is that his bones kept on
growing
to find the cause of sultan's excessive
growth
we need to dig around inside his skull
within the brain just in line with the
ears and the middle of the forehead
lies a tiny organ called the pituitary
gland
it's no bigger than a garden pea but
despite its minuscule size
it's the thing that makes most giants
giant
this is the organ that regulates the
production of
growth hormone and when it malfunctions
as it did with sultan
it can release too much growth hormone
sultan was just 10 years old when he
experienced a sudden
explosion in his growth the reason
it was a tumor on his pituitary gland
sadly
it wasn't properly diagnosed until he
was in his 20s
and it wasn't until he reached the age
of 28
that it was finally surgically removed
only then did sultan stop growing
at the incredible height of eight foot
three inches
but what then about robert wadlow how
did he reach the heady heights
of eight foot eleven inches a whole
eight inches taller
than sultan well in robert's case his
pituitary gland
was also compromised at an early age
not from a tumor but from a condition
known as hypertrophy
or as the greeks would have it excessive
nourishment which just means it was
big just much bigger than expected
robert was born in alton illinois in
1918
and his astronomic growth began from the
very start
by the age of just six years old he was
already
five foot seven i mean that's my height
at six years old by the end of the
following year
he was taller than his father and he
crossed the eight foot mark
at the age of 16. that was shortly after
his 21st
birthday at the height of eight foot
nine inches that he was recognized
without any doubt to be the tallest
human to be ever scientifically
measured robert's doctors diagnosed a
pituitary gland
as hypertrophic and the cause of all of
his problems
but they advised the family to avoid any
attempts at removing it
surgically the risk of death they said
was simply
too high so robert soldiered on
and made the most of his unique
condition initially at least enjoying or
coping with the adulation he traveled
thousands of miles each year
making personal appearances he became a
nationwide superstar in fact
but he also came to the attention of
doctors
a number of whom jostled to be the one
to document this unrivaled
medical mystery wadlow's family were
reluctant to take part
in two probing an investigation robert
just wanted to get on
with his life but finally they gave into
pressure put on them
by dr charles humbert as they feared
though
dr humbert was a little too intrusive
for their liking
and his paper published in the
prestigious journal of the american
medical association
seemed more like an attack on the poor
wadlow
the family felt that much of what was
written was inappropriate
and just wrong particularly in reference
to robert's mental state and personality
the family even went as far as trying to
sue dr humberd
for a libel but they ultimately failed
in their lawsuit
in 1940 robert became seriously ill
he would embark on long promotional
tours for the peter's
shoe company and it was during one of
these trips
to manistee in michigan that robert
first noticed something wrong
with his leg for a while now he'd been
wearing a metal brace
to support his ankle and leg whilst
walking
but his lack of feeling in his
extremities meant that robert didn't
notice the brace
rubbing against his skin it quickly
became infected
and robert was confined to a hotel
unwilling or unable
to go to hospital there he was spread
out
on two beds pushed together and a
makeshift hospital
was set up around him despite
transfusions
robert finally succumbed to the
infection and on the 15th of july
1940 at the age of just 22 years old
robert died it's tragic to think
that a minor inconvenience like an
infected ankle
you know something that can be treated
quickly and easily today with
just antibiotics was 80 years ago
a death sentence but ultimately
this is precisely the reason why i think
we'll never see the likes of robert
wadlow again
developments in medicine and surgery are
now sufficiently advanced
to nip these kinds of problems in the
bud long before they become
life-threatening we can slow or halt
excessive growth and
deal with the complications of a giant
life long before anyone reaches
anywhere close to wadlow's perilous 8-11
stature
even the side effects of extremely rare
chromosomal disorders
such as the one that plagued the
record-breaking teenager brendan adams
can be mitigated once doctors know what
they're dealing with so if we discount
women and those who are just genetically
tall and
those who have a pituitary gland or
chromosomal disorder
that can't be dealt with by medical
science then we're left
with well no one we're all becoming ever
more
connected globally and the world
continues to shrink every day
so the chances of a child even in the
most remote part of the planet
growing up with a pituitary issue that's
more extreme than robert wadlow's
and yet not treated by doctors is rare
in fact so rare that i don't believe it
can ever
happen again and that my friends
is why my thousand pounds is safe
i'm pleased to be holding on to my money
not particularly because i don't want to
lose a grand i mean
who does but because i'm genuinely
relieved that no one will have to endure
the challenges
and the pains faced by robert wadlow
the gentleman giant who took it all it
was very
very long stride