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The world's tallest and shortest men came face to shin on Thursday to
celebrate the 10th annual Guinness World Records Day, as people across
the globe set several bonkers new benchmarks.
Turkey's Sultan Kosen, who stands 2.51 metres (eight feet, nine
inches) tall, met with Chandra Bahadur Dangi from Nepal, who measures
just 55 centimetres (21 and a half inches).
Kosen, a 31-year-old farmer, stooped down to shake the world's biggest
hands — 28.5 centimetres (11.22 inches) — with 74-year-old Dangi
opposite the Houses of Parliament in London.
"I was very interested 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 told AFP.
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 placemats, 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," he told AFP.
– Records smashed at Moulin Rouge –
Around the world, participants were having a go at setting all sorts
of weird and wacky new world records.
NBC weatherman Al Roker was attempting the longest uninterrupted live
weather report, with only a five-minute break per hour permitted. He
was still going strong more than 14 hours in.
At the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris, dancers set a new benchmark for
the "most simultaneous demi-grand rond de jambe cancan kicks by a
single chorus line in 30 seconds" with a total of 29.
Frenchman Nicolas Pihiliangegedara also secured the record for most
spinning splits in 30 seconds with 36, while Greece's Adonis
Kosmadakis got his leg behind his head 30 times in 30 seconds.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Harlem Globetrotters star Thunder Law set a new
record for the farthest basketball shot made backwards, netting from
25 metres. It did not even touch the backboard.
"Everyone around the world is trying to break the records and it's an
unbelievable experience," he said.
In Japan, 19-year-old Katsumi Tamakoshi set a new record for the
fastest 100 metres on all fours, finishing in 15.86 seconds.
And more than 750 students in Ibaraki Prefecture set a new record for
the most paper aircrafts made in five minutes — 4,880.
– Headbangers and high heels –
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 track "It's A Long Way To The Top".
And Anthony Kelly added yet another world record to his list: most
spears caught from a spear gun underwater, catching 10 in a minute.
Records tumbled in China, where 25,703 people took part in 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.
And in Changhua City, Taiwan, record-breakers cooked up the
largest-ever rice mosaic, measuring 1,798 square metres.
In London, 373 people have waddled their way to a new record for the
largest gathering of people dressed as penguins.
US fashion house Kenneth Cole set a record for the world's largest
high-heeled shoe, at 1.85 metres tall.
Brewing firm Guinness launched their famous records book in 1955 to
settle disputes among drinkers.
The books have sold more than 132 million copies in more than 100 countries.
All the record attempts are assessed by adjudicators from the organisation.
