TRIALS OF A GIANT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21258, 12 February 1931, Page 6

TRIALS OF A GIANT.

TWO BEDS TO SLEEP IN. TARGET OF STALE JOKES. A taxicab drew up at Olympia, London, one day last month. Inside was a man folded up like a jack knife, his knees tucked under his chin. The taxi cabby opened the door and stood with a look of dazed wonder on his face, A foot emerged clad in an enormous hoot (size 22, as a matter of fact). It was followed a second later by its fellow. Then, joint by joint, Mr Jack Earle, of Texas, reputed to be the world’s tallest man, eased himself out of the tiny door and stood on the pavement. Mr Earle is Bft 6in in his socks, weighs 3301 b, and is aged 24. As he gazed up at the tall Texan, the driver remarked innocently: “Blime, guv’nor, ain’t it cold up there? ” The giant looked annoyed. “Do you know,” Mr Earle said to a press representative, “that man’s the fiftieth person who’s said to me since I left America: 4 Isn t it cold up there?’ Honestly, it’s move than flesh and blood can stand.” That’s only one of the drawbacks of being the world’s tallest man —there is also the question of beds. 44 The ordinary hotel bed,” said Mr Earle, “ is just over 6ft long. At home, of course, I have a special one. What I do when I am travelling is to arrange for two beds. I put them together aud sleep diagonally across them.

“The only article of personal apparel that hasn’t to be specially made for me is a pocket handkerchief. My overcoat has 18 yards of cloth in it. But the one thing that anuoys me is the man who makes wisecracks I’ve heard over and over again.”