GIANTS IN REAL LIFE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 34, 16 February 1940, Page 34

GIANTS IN REAL LIFE

(From a talk by

Ebor

in the 2YA Children’s Hour)

AM not going to tell you any myths about giants, but true stories of people who actually lived. It appears that the average height of human beings is 5ft Sin. The tallest of our real giants was 61 inches taller than this. Until the beginning of last century it was believed everywhere that giants, of a size far larger than any exhibited in shows, lived on earth in the olden days.

In the museum of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a skeleton of a man over 8 feet in height. The skeleton is that of Charles Byrne who was born in Ireland in 1761 of ordinary sized parents. He died at the age of only 22 through worry and vexation at having lost £700. There are a few points about giants that are worth knowing. They are rarer than dwarfs, they are of a very delicate complexion, have no energy, are often

deformed, and almost always badly proportioned. Their muscles are flabby, their voices are weak, and they don’t live very long. Topsy Turvy In the 17th century the Empress of Austria suddenly decided that all the giants and dwarfs in the Germanic empire should be gathered together in Vienna. They had all to be lodged in one big building, and it was thought

that the giants’ appearance would rather terrify the dwarfs. Arrangements were made, therefore, for the freedom and safety of the little people. But it was the dwarfs who teased, insulted, and even robbed the giants to such an extent that the big folk, with tears in their eyes, complained, and sentinels had to be placed on guard to protect the giants from the dwarfs! Among the giants who were éight feet high and over was Chang-Woo-Goo, the Chinese giant, who was seen in London last century and died in 1893. Chang was 8 feet 6 inches. Loushkin, the Russian giant, and drum-major of the Imperial Guards, was eight feet five inches, Emperor Maximinus The Roman Emperor, Maximinus, was eight feet six inches high. He was a monster also in appetite and cruelty, and when about twenty years old he became a soldier in the Roman armies. He was a good fighter, and was promoted by the Emperor Alexander. He played the traitor, plotted against Alexander’s life, and had him murdered by the soldiers. Maximinus was then proclaimed Emperor. After a time he became so hated by his own soldiers for his tyranny that they served him as they had Alexander before him. The strength of this brute was extraordinary -he could break the leg of a horse with a kick. He could eat up to forty pounds of meat a day, and drink seven gallons of wine. He could move a loaded waggon, crumble stones in his hand, and tear up small trees by the roots. The Lancashire giant, John Middleton, was born in the reign of James I. His hand was 17 inches long and eight and a-half inches broad. Goliath Where does Goliath come in? He was eight feet six inches high. In the town of Ware in the county of Hertfordshire, at the Saracen’s Head Inn, there used to be a bed that was twelve feet long by twelve feet wide. The bed is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Twelve people (ordinary, of course) could sleep in this bed in more or less comfort. It was supposed to have belonged to Warwick, the King-maker. In 1895 it was shortened by three feet. It is made of oak and bears the date 1463. Trousers Six Feet Long A Russian peasant, Fedor Machnov, had a waist measurement of 55 inches, the length of his sleeves was the same, his chest measured 60 inches, and the outer seam of his trousers was six feet long. This last measurement shows that he followed the ordinary run of giants in having very long legs even for his great height. He was very, very thick in the neck and very broad-shouldered. Like most big men he had huge hands, but his feet were very small indeed for his great size-he took a No. 22 shoe -15%%4 inches long by 6 inches wide. And again, like all giants, he was on the light side for his size-he weighed, when in good health, just under 26 stone. Fedor was a great success at the Hippodrome in London. No one who had seen him standing in the stalls and shaking hands with people in the dress

circle needed anything else to talk about for a week. He afterwards visited America, and then dropped out of public notice. Although this talk has been all about tall people there is no tall talk abdut it. I have given just the true facts, and the giants in real life you have heard about all lived and walked on earth and all had strange stories-but true.