Fyodor Makhnov
Russian giant 2,85 (1878–1912)
Fyodor Andreevich Makhnov (Russian: Фёдор Андре́евич Махно́в, also written as Feodor Machnow in contemporary sources) claimed to be the tallest person in the world, although his exact height and weight is unconfirmed.
Biography
Fyodor Makhnov was born in 1878 at a khutor near the village of Kostyuki Vitebsky Uyezd, then part of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) to a poor peasant family.
As a young man in his twenties he toured Europe to exhibit his great height. After having spent time in Berlin he visited London in 1905 where he joined the Hippodrome accompanied by his wife and young child. He then toured the United States in 1906 where he met President Roosevelt as well as actor and fellow giant George Auger. Throughout his tour his promoters exaggerated his height, and he was usually accredited with a considerably inflated stature as high as 9 feet 3 inches (282 cm) and billed as "The Russian Giant." On the obelisk it is still possible to read: «Фёдор Андреевич Махнов. Родился 6 июня 1878 года. Умер 28 августа 1912 года. Самый высокий человек в мире. Ростом был 3 аршина 9 вершков» ("Fyodor Andreevich Makhnov.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fyodor Makhnov” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.