When you are the tallest man in the world, some family chores are easier than others. “They use my height to change light bulbs and hang curtains,” Sultan Kösen explained.

At 8ft 1in (2.5m), however, popping out to the shops is a little harder. “I can’t fit in a normal car,” Mr Kösen said. “I can’t go shopping like normal people. I have to get clothes made specially and I don’t always get what’s fashionable. And going through doors I always have to bend down.”

But, newly crowned by Guinness World Records as the tallest man in the world, Mr Kösen, from Mardin in southeast Turkey, is hoping that life will become a little easier. “The first thing I want is a car I can fit into,” he said. “More than that, I want to get married. It’s really difficult to find a girlfriend. They are usually scared of me.”

Stares and cricked necks greeted his arrival in London and he played havoc with perspective as he walked slowly from Tower Bridge. Waiting children were astonished as he loomed larger and larger.

“He’s like a tower on legs,” said Marley Bradbury, 9. “He probably needs lampposts as walking sticks.”

Job Henderson, 11, was “shocked” at Mr Kösen’s feet which, at 36.5cm long, are also officially the world’s largest — as are his hands, at 27.5cm.

Neither child wanted to grow up to be so big. “You couldn’t really run or jump or anything,” Marley said. But as a child, Mr Kösen was no taller than his peers. “At ten years old they noticed I was getting really tall. I went to the doctor and discovered I had a tumour and it was causing me to grow.”

His pituitary gland, damaged by the tumour, was producing too much growth hormone and Mr Kösen became taller and taller. When other children were little more than 4ft, he was already well over 6ft tall.

“The kids used to tease me and it was very difficult. But now I am really proud of being tall,” he said. It was not until the tumour was removed in an operation last year that he finally stopped growing.

Earlier this year Craig Glenday, the Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, flew to Turkey to verify reports about Mr Kösen's size.

“When they told me I could be the tallest I was very nervous. Since then I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Mr Kösen said.

Under Guinness rules, he had to be measured three times in one day and the average was taken as the official number.

Mr Kösen’s height smashed the record held by Bao Xishun, a 7ft 9in Chinese herdsman. A Ukrainian man, Leonid Stadnyk, claims to be 8ft 5in, but has refused to be independently measured.

“We only know ten confirmed or reliable cases in history of humans reaching 8ft or more,” Mr Glenday said. “Sultan’s an imposing figure but a gentle quiet man who’s totally relaxed and unfazed about his unique standing in the world.”

The last man to be taller than Mr Kösen was the 8ft 2in American Don Koehler.

Marc French, the owner of Ugly, the character modelling agency, is keen to sign Mr Kösen up. “He’s not scary and he’s got a lovely face on him,” he said. “We’ve had guys in science fiction films, commercials and pop promos — for anything way-out and freaky he’d be great.”

Mr French estimates that Mr Kösen’s earnings could reach between £1,000 and £10,000 a day for commercial work, which may help with that girlfriend problem.

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