World’s tallest man meets his 55cm counterpart for world records day
PUBLISHED : Friday, 14 November, 2014, 11:02pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 15 November, 2014, 3:03am
Agence France-Presse in London
The world’s shortest man, Chandra Dangi, and the tallest, Sultan Kosen, in London. Photo: Reuters
The world's tallest and shortest men came face to shin to celebrate the 10th annual Guinness World Records Day, as people across the globe set several new benchmarks.
Turkey's Sultan Kosen, who stands 2.51 metres tall, met on Thursday with Chandra Bahadur Dangi from Nepal, who measures just 55cm.
Kosen, a 31-year-old farmer, stooped down to shake the world's biggest hands - measuring 28.5cm - with 74-year-old Dangi in London.
"I was very interested in how tall he was going to be, about how far up my legs he would go, and of course once I saw him I realised how tiny he was," Kosen said.
He said meeting Chandra was "amazing", although he admitted bending the long, long way down for photographs was difficult. "I do have problems with my knees, so if I stand too long I do get tired," he said.
Kosen added: "Even though he is short and I am tall, we have had similar struggles throughout our lives and when I look into Chandra's eyes I can see he is a good man."
Meanwhile Dangi, a primordial dwarf who makes place mats, is the shortest adult ever certified by Guinness World Records. "I was very pleased to see the tallest man in the world. I was curious to meet my extreme opposite."
In China, 25,703 people joined the largest line dance in Hangzhou .
Meanwhile, the record for the most people eating breakfast in bed went to 388 people at Shanghai's Pudong Shangri-La hotel, spread across 202 beds in the hotel's grand ballroom.
At the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris, dancers set a new benchmark for the "most simultaneous demi-grand rond de jambe can-can kicks by a single chorus line in 30 seconds", with a total of 29.
In Japan, 19-year-old Katsumi Tamakoshi set a new record for the fastest 100 metres on all fours, finishing in 15.86 seconds.
In Armidale in Australia, 320 pupils rocked their way into the record books for the most people headbanging simultaneously, thrashing out to AC/DC's It's a Long Way to the Top.
Brewing firm Guinness launched its famous records book in 1955 to settle disputes among drinkers.
