Longtime readers might recall a story that we posted in September 2008 about a photo promotion staged by Guinness Book of Records that month. It was a publicity event held in London to promote the upcoming release of the 2009 edition of their popular tome. The feature of the event was the appearance of the World’s Smallest Man alongside the woman who has the World’s Longest Legs. I’m sure you’ll remember the story as soon as you view this photograph from the event:
Firegeezer wrote at the time:
THE 2009 EDITION OF THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS is scheduled to be released soon. As a means to promote the release, the publishers held a publicity stunt in London’s Trafalgar Square Tuesday where they displayed the world’s smallest man, He Pingping from Outer Mongolia, along with a Russian woman who holds the record for having the longest legs of any other woman in the world.
He Pingping stands 2 ft.-5 inches tall, just barely half the length of Svetlana Pankratova’s legs which have been measured at 4 ft.-4 inches in length.
Back home, Pingping operates a restaurant with his sister and Pankratova, well ….. the 6′-4″ lady stands around a lot.
This video report from AP was included in the story:
This morning we are passing along to you the sad news that He Pingping died Saturday in Rome after a 2-week hospitalization. He was only 21 years old, but had suffered from heart complications and having been born with a rare ailment, primordial dwarfism that caused his diminutive stature. BBC News reports:
Pingping was in the Italian capital to take part in the filming of a television programme called The Record Show. According to the TV production company Europroduzione, he had already filmed two episodes of the programme when he complained of feeling unwell.”He started to feel slightly ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He entered hospital two weeks ago and had all kinds of tests, being a very special person he had to go though all sorts of tests. He went into intensive care three days after he was admitted,” said Marco Fernandez de Araoz, communications director for Europroduzione.
Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief and the man who measured Pingping in Inner Mongolia to confirm his status as the world’s smallest man, issued this statement:
”From the moment I laid on eyes on him I knew he was someone special – he had such a cheeky smile and mischievous personality, you couldn’t help but be charmed by him. He brightened up the lives of everyone he met, and was an inspiration to anyone considered different or unusual.”
In closing, we’ll add this brief video clip from the London appearance where the videographer caught He Pingping violating Rule #1: “Don’t look up”
Ok, look back down here now and let’s get this equipment checked out. I’m going to get some more coffee started (it doesn’t really stunt your growth).
