World’s tallest man meets his 55cm counterpart for world records day

The world's tallest and shortest men came face to shin to celebrate the 10th annual Guinness World Records Day, as people across the globe set several new benchmarks.

Turkey's Sultan Kosen, who stands 2.51 metres tall, met on Thursday with Chandra Bahadur Dangi from Nepal, who measures just 55cm.

Kosen, a 31-year-old farmer, stooped down to shake the world's biggest hands - measuring 28.5cm - with 74-year-old Dangi in London.

"I was very interested in 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 said.

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."