CEBU, Philippines – The world’s tallest woman was ZengJinlian from China. She was eight feet, two inches tall. The record for the shortest man in the world used to be held by William E. Jackson, known as “Major Mite,” who died in New York on December 9, 1990. He was 27 inches tall.
Recently, however, a poor Filipino blacksmith’s son, who stands less than two feet tall, was declared the world’s shortest man by Guinness World Records on his 18th birthday. The title was bestowed on Junrey Balawing of Sindangan in the southern Philippines, with his parents, villagers and officials showering the coastal town’s newly famous resident with a feast of roasted pigs and seafood, cake, balloons and cash gifts.
(Reference: They Had Two Brains By Tracy Stephen Burroughs)