Seven foot seven inch Neil Fingleton, who hails from Durham, was officially named Britain’s tallest man earlier this year. He took the record from 64-year-old Christopher Greener, a former British basketball player, who stands at 7 feet 6 inches. Fingleton also has sporting history having played college basketball in America and professional basketball in Greece, Italy and Spain.

While many of his towering counterparts shun the limelight, Neil is determined to embrace it. With his basketball career over, his determination to pursue a career in showbusiness has already seen him appear in TV documentaries Britain’s Tallest Men and Superhuman: Giants.

Now he's set to hit the big screen after teaming up with Harry Potter and Willow star Warwick Davis in Shortfellas, a heist movie featuring five bank-robbing dwarves. Fingleton has already shot a fundraising trailer with his pint-sized co-star and will also make a cameo appearance in the film itself.

One giant step

Away from TV and movies, Fingleton has also teamed up with the Guinness Book of Records in a global search to find the tallest men in as many countries as possible. He recently travelled to Sydney to look for Australia's tallest inhabitant. Each national record holder will be presented to the world as part of Guinness World Records day on November 8.

Join the Guinness Book of Records’ search for the world’s tallest men

Unlike the world's tallest man, 8 foot 5 inch Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, Fingleton’s height is not likely to cause him long-term health problems. Stadnyk’s giantism was caused by suffering from a tumour on his pituitary gland. In contrast, Fingleton is simply genetically tall. His parents were both over 6 feet tall, while his brother and sister measure 6 feet 9 inches and 6 feet 3 inches respectively.