He Towers Above Us

The news that David Cameron is picking the wings from Brown like a ruffianly boy with an insect at PMQs does not improve my mood as the odour of mendacity permeates everything while this toxicity infects the country.. You almost start to believe anything can be good and true.....I `m sick of it


I did, however, see a really heart-warming programme last night, about the oddly unlikely subject of tall people . Chris Greening has been the tallest man in the UK for about 40 years , or at least until recently he was, and he was just one of those delightful characters that restores your faith in Televisions ability move and entertain.


There are now 25 people over 7 ft in the UK but when Chris hit his colossal top out, in the 60s , there were none except him . He suffered from a tumour on the pituitary gland which has hurt his health and bones as well as supercharging his growth ; life must have been difficult . When you saw this giant smile ruefully at his inability to get out of a car you immediately warmed to him.
He has turned his difficulties to his advantage and has made a living from adverts .A lonely life in some ways, but he had a marvellous gentle self effacing sense of humour about it.

The day came when his agent , himself a “ small person” of similar vintage turned up to reveal his tallest man title was gone . He took the news with equanimity and the two friends wandered off into a wood chatting about the future.

The sight of this most odd of couples was straight from Tolkein , and their obvious liking for eachother informed one of the most affecting scenes I can recall. The agent hopped on crutches enthusing, while the gentle giant boomed lugubriously down at him .An elegiac picture of extraordinary and surprising beauty

What a nice bloke . Good luck Chris a big man in more ways than one .