The twins then named Robert Wadlow as the tallest man "of whom there is irrefutable evidence". When last measured on 27 June 1940, the mild-mannered American stretched a staggering 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.

Perhaps surprisingly, Robert entered the world no differently from most babies. He was born on 22 February 1918 to two regular-sized parents, weighing an unremarkable 3.85 kg (8.7 lb).

But he rapidly started to shoot up, reaching an incredible 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) by the age of five, by which time he was already wearing clothes intended for teenagers. Robert passed the 2.45 m (8 ft 0.5 in) mark by the age of 17, making him – unsurprisingly – the tallest teenager ever.

Sadly, it was Robert's legs that caused his premature death, aged just 22 years old. He died at 1:30 a.m. on 15 July 1940 in a hotel in Manistee, Michigan, as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier.