Stephen Moss
Saturday August 25, 2007
The Guardian

I am 6ft 4in, which yesterday made me one of the shorter men in the Wotton House Hotel, near Dorking, Surrey, the suitably spacious venue for the annual convention of the Tall Persons Club of Great Britain and Ireland. “I bet you don’t often feel like this,” says club director Jim Briggs (6ft 9in), as he and fellow director Stuart Logan (6ft 8in) peer down at me.The three-day convention is the climax of National Tall Awareness Week, which highlights discrimination against tall people.”Airlines don’t make you pay more if you are blonde, so why should they be allowed to charge you more for being tall?” says Mr Briggs, a British-based American whose transatlantic twang bears an uncanny resemblance to Loyd Grossman.

“We’re living in a heightist world,” he says, complaining that recently he was barred from sitting in the exit row of a plane because he was not deemed “able bodied”. “The stewardess was accusing me of being disabled because I am tall. But I’m not a disabled person. This is what we are fighting against.”

Karsten Mathiesen (7ft 2in), a visitor from Denmark, demonstrates just how far he has to bend to enter the room. Mr Briggs launches another salvo. “The world just doesn’t seem to cater for the taller, larger person. Take the average 6ft 6in doorway. That standard was set in 1865, so we are using 100-year-old technology here. We’re gaining a couple of inches in each generation, so why are we using 100-year-old standards on these doors?”

Competition for the king-sized beds at the hotel must have been ferocious.

The club, which was founded in 1991, campaigns, provides information to its 600 members on suppliers that specialise in larger-than-average clothes and furniture, and offers help and support to people who have suffered psychologically because of their size.

“It can be isolating to be very tall,” says Gill Hebb (a mere 6ft ½in). “Sometimes you are literally on a different plane. One of the nice things about going out with people from the Tall Club is that, when you go into a nightclub, you can hear what everyone is saying because they can talk straight into your ear. I don’t think you can describe how comforting it is to walk into a room and have to look up to everybody.”

Today the 90-strong group of delegates is planning a ramble around Guildford, and they know they will attract unwanted attention.

“When we walk around together, people stop and stare, nudge each other and giggle, ” says Ms Hebb. “Karsten and I once went into a pub in Edinburgh and I just couldn’t believe how impertinent people were, staring at us and making comments.”

Trying to change public attitudes is a key part of National Tall Awareness Week. “For some reason,” says Mr Briggs, “it’s OK to walk up to me in the street and say ‘My God you’re tall, how tall are you? But would you walk up to a large-breasted woman in Tesco and say ‘My God you’ve got big tits, what’s your bra size?’ Of course you wouldn’t. So why is it OK to come up to me and say ‘What kind of freak are you?’ ”

The club emphasises the problems faced by teenagers and the prevalence of bullying.

“It’s hard enough as a teenager of average height growing up,” says Jackie Timbs (6ft 1in), “but when you’re head and shoulders above everybody else, as I was as a teenager, you’re not just dealing with the everyday teenage issues. You do get picked on.”

But the convention is not just about campaigning. There’s plenty of partying, too. Finding a partner if you’re close to 7ft can be a tall order, and this is a good place to size up possibilities. Briggs says the club has so far brokered 40 marriages.

Above all, the delegates are pleased, for once in their lives, not to stand out in a crowd or be defined by their tallness. In one corner of leafy Surrey this weekend it will be the men of 5ft 10in and women of 5ft 6in who look out of place. Bending to enter rooms and struggling to get knees under tables will be the norm, and height will not be the sole topic of conversation, as it too often is in the wider (and shorter) world.

Not much Fits says congratulations to Britain’s tallest couple!

Recently reported in The Sun Newspaper:

LOVED-UP Hilary Roberts and Ross Sambridge are high on romance – as Britain’s tallest couple.The lovestruck pair tot up a combined total of 13ft 7ins, with Hilary standing at 6ft 3ins and Ross 7ft 4ins.

Hilary, 27, a scientific researcher from Bristol, met Londoner Ross four years ago at a meeting of the Tall Persons Club of Britain.

She said: “People can’t believe it when they see us together, but I’m so excited to be with Ross. He’s absolutely perfect.”

Film-maker Ross, 27, is just two inches shorter than Britain’s tallest man, 7ft 6ins Chris Greener.

Also reported in The Daily Mail:

Hilary Roberts had been looking down on her dates for years.

But at first glance she knew Ross Sambridge was the man to meet her high expectations.

At 7ft 4in, he was hard to miss. And Dr Roberts, 27, had a pretty good view from her 6ft 3in vantage point.

“Ross is perfect,” said the scientific researcher.

“I’d always been looking for a tall handsome man to be my boyfriend. And Ross is certainly the tallest and most handsome man I’ve met.”

The couple, who have a combined height of 13ft 7in, were introduced at a meeting of the Tall Person’s Club of Great Britain.

Hilary was attending the club for the first time after struggling to meet men who were not intimidated by her height.

She said: “The first thing I noticed was that I wasn’t the tallest woman in the room.

“I quickly started chatting to people easily because I didn’t have to worry about stooping down to hear them.

“Then I looked over to where a very tall man was. I couldn’t believe it. He looked like a giant.

“We hit it off immediately. I’d always found it quite strange talking to new people, but Ross and I just clicked.”

Dr Roberts, and Mr Sambridge, a film maker from East Ham, East London, swopped phone numbers at the next meeting, and soon began dating.

Four years later, they are looking to set up home together in London. The club believes they are the country’s tallest couple.

Dr Roberts, of Bristol, added: “Ross has really made me feel more confident. I love walking hand in hand down the street with him. And I can certainly look up to him.”

Mr Sambridge thinks he is still growing. One day he may become Britain’s tallest man – a record held by 7ft 6in Chris Greener.