The world's tallest and shortest men met for the first time this morning to commemorate Guinness World Record Day.
Sultan
Kösen, who is 8ft 1in. tall, and Chandra Dangi, who measures just
21.5ins., posed for photos outside the Houses of Parliament to mark the
book's 60th anniversary.
The two men
join hundreds of others who are taking part in a number of record
attempts across the world to celebrate the occasion.
The
annual broke a record of its own in 2004 when it became the world's
best-selling copyright book. Guinness World Record Day was set up to
commemorate the date.
Mr Kösen,
31, from Ankara, Turkey, became the world's tallest living man in 2009,
when he took the title from 63-year-old Xi Shun, from China, who
measured 7 ft 8.95 ins. in 2005.
Mr Kösen, a
part-time farmer, was the first man over 8ft to be measured by the
company in over 20 years - and one of only 10 people on record to break
the height barrier.
Mr
Kösen also holds the record for largest hands of a living person, each
one measuring 11.22 in from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger.
And
he previously held the record for largest feet on a living person, with
his left foot measuring 1 ft 2 ins and right foot measuring 1 ft 1.98
ins.
Speaking at
the time of his entry into the Guinness World Records, he said: 'I
never imagined I would be in the book, I dreamed about it, but it was
still a huge surprise'.
Mr
Dangi, who lives in the isolated Nepalese village of Reemkholi, some
335miles southwest of Kathmandu, is the shortest adult human to have
their height verified by Guinness.
At
just 21.5ins, Mr Dangi is the same size as six cans of baked beans
stacked on top of each other. He beat the benchmark set by Gul Mohammed,
from New Delhi, India, who measured 22.5ins.
Three of his five brothers were less than four feet tall, while his two sisters and two brothers are of average height.
