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Thursday 2 April 2015

Giant

Goliath was a giant Philistine warrior defeated by the young David, the future king of Israel.The oldest manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Samuel, the 1st century historian Josephus, and the 4th century Septuagint manuscripts—all give Goliath's height as "four cubits and a span" (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 metres.

David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osmar Schindler (c. 1888)

Frederick William I ((1688 – 1740), the father of Frederick the Great, had a famous private guard company called the Potsdam Grenadiers. He would bribe, buy or even kidnap any man close to seven feet high to get them for the Grenadiers. Frederick made the giant men marry giant woman so he could “raise” his own giants.

William Bradley known more commonly as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant, was born on February 10, 1787. By 18, he had shot up to 7ft 8in (234 cms). His teachers punished naughty boys by making Bradley lift them up and put them on high ceiling beams in the classroom until they learned their lesson.

William Bradley aged 18 and half years. Wikipedia Commoms

7 ft 11 in (2.41 m)  Canadian Anna Swan (August 6, 1846 – August 5, 1888) toured in a circus with 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) Martin Bates. They fell in love and married. The Bates' home and furniture was built to their specifications, with 8ft doorways and 14ft ceilings.

Anna Swan and Martin Bates were not only the tallest couple ever but also gave birth in 1879 to the largest baby ever. He weighed 23 pounds 9 ounces (10.7 kg) and was nearly 30 inches tall (75 cm) with each of his feet measuring six inches(152 mm) long. Tragically the baby only lived 11 hours.

Adam Rainer (1899-1950) is the only person ever to be both a dwarf and a giant. At 18 he was measured as 4 ft 0.25 in (122.55 cm) . Then, likely as a result of a pituitary tumor, he had a dramatic growth spurt so that by 1931 at the age of 32 he had reached a height of 7 ft 2 in (218 cm).

The tallest man of all time in the world, Robert Wadlow, was 8 feet eleven inches tall (2.72 meters).  He was asked if it bothers him that people stare, and he answered "No, I just overlook them."

Wadlow died at the age of 22, on July 15, 1940, due to an infection caused by leg braces he needed to be able to stand on his feet.


The tallest woman ever Zeng Jinlian was born on June 26, 1964. Jinlian was from Yujiang village in the Bright Moon Commune, Hunan Province, China. She measured 246.3 cm (8 ft 1 in) and suffered from both scoliosis and diabetes.

American Sandy Allen (June 18, 1955 – August 13, 2008) was 7 feet 7 inches (231 cm) tall. She never married saying that she was "an old fashioned girl" and would not date a man shorter than her.

André René Roussimoff (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993), best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler, actor and giant who grew to the height of 7 ft 4 in (224 cm).

André the Giant grew so fast that his own parents didn't recognize him. He left home at 14 and returned at 19, having already become a professional wrestler. As he explained his career choice, they realized they had seen him wrestle on TV under his alias, without knowing it was their son.

In 1965, Andre the Giant received a draft notice for the French peace time army, but was unable to join as there were no shoes big enough, bunks long enough, or trenches deep enough to accommodate him.

André the Giant walking to the ring in the late 1980s By John McKeon 

The guy who played the Xenomorph in the 1979 science-fiction horror movie Alien was a 7’2” man from Nigeria named Bolanji Badejo. He was discovered by a member of director Ridley Scott’s casting team by chance in a pub in Soho London. His role as the Xenomorph was his only film credit ever.

7ft tall people are so rare that if you know an American man between 20 and 40 who is 7ft tall, there's a 17% chance he's in the NBA.

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