Invasion of the tall people

 JESSICA KIDDLE

‘IT’S JUST so nice to be able to have a conversation with people and look them in the eye," says Jackie Timbs, one of the voluntary organisers of Europatreffen - the annual get-together for tall people from around the world.

At 6ft tall she is one of the shortest members of the group but ordinarily she looms over her peers. "It makes a refreshing change being able to hear easily as well, because usually I have to bend down, as sound doesn’t travel up very well. For this week, at least, I can stand tall."

Stooping down to speak to people, ducking to get through doorways, and cramming into planes, cars and buses is something that those attending this week-long event are only too familiar with. Now in its 38th year Europatreffen - which, literally translated, means "Europe meeting" - was started in Germany and has since been held in many European cities including Basel in Switzerland and Copenhagen.

This year it was the turn of the Tall Persons Club (TPC) for Great Britain and Ireland to host and organise the event in Edinburgh and Timbs was only too happy to help. This week she has taken a team of 270 other tall people, from countries such as America, Germany and Poland, on an exploration of the capital that has included the Castle, Holyrood Palace and a city Ghost Tour. On Saturday the week will culminate with a black-tie tall ball at the Corn Exchange.

"I am proud of my height," says Timbs, 45. "But I really enjoy these events as a way of meeting new people and feeling short for once. Six years ago when I got divorced I decided to join the TPC as a way of improving my social life. It is somewhere that I didn’t mind going on my own and I have met lots of friends through it. Now I can go anywhere in the UK and look up another member of the club."

Jim Briggs, 51, a regular at the TPC’s monthly events in London, agrees. Five years ago, Briggs - like Timbs - was newly divorced and looking for a way to kick-start his social life again after 25 years of marriage. At 6ft 9in Briggs can only be described as a gentle giant and his voice booms out as he speaks about the club. "It really changed my life," he says. " Now my entire social life is based around people I have met through the club."

The TPC for Great Britain and Ireland has been running for 14 years, but the need for solidarity amongst tall people goes back farther than that. Sir Walter Scott referred to a Six Foot High Club in Edinburgh in his memoirs of 1829, although it is no longer operational. Despite the presence of a tall scene in the city 175 years ago, however, there is no Scottish office for the TPC and from a total of 1,000 members there are about only 20 Scots, a figure the club would like to change.

As a city Edinburgh fails to cater for its tall inhabitants and visitors, according to TPC members. "Edinburgh is no better or worse than the rest of the UK which, as a whole, does not cater for tall people," laments Timbs. "Public transport is a problem - buses and coaches are typically cramped for someone like me, there is very little leg room on planes; in restaurants tables are usually too low and hotel beds are usually too short. There are always ways around this - such as making sure the place where you are staying has an open-ended bed so there is room for your feet to stick out; and not fully booking the buses so there is room for people to move around in."

In 2002 Europatreffen guests stayed at the DGI-Byen Hotel in Copenhagen which had invested in extra-long beds, but, on the whole, the tall contingent are not catered for by the tourist industry - or by any other industry, for that matter.

It is this heightism that TPCs worldwide seek to change. They have had small victories. In Holland the TPC managed to get the country’s planning laws changed and increase the statutory height of doorways to 7ft 6in in all new buildings. Members of the TPC in Holland can also get preferential booking flights with KLM who let them reserve seats with more leg room.

In the UK, members of the TPC receive a discount at tall clothing shops such as Long Tall Sally. They have even found kilt hire shops in the capital that can cater for their larger frames for the ball on Saturday - although finding socks long enough has been problematic. The club are also trying to get recognition with the airlines.

"We are doing battle with the airlines in this country at the moment," says Timbs. "They have implemented a charge to pre-book seats which could be considered heightist."

In the UK, membership of the TPC is £25. There is no minimum height requirement, but female members are typically 6ft 1in. As well as organising events, the TPC produces a quarterly magazine.It also publishes a directory of suppliers and retailers that cater for tall people.

"When you go away on holiday you have to put up with things being too small for you but in your own home it is different, so the TPC directory is a great resource to call upon. As a result it has been relatively easy for me to get a taller than normal sink fitted in my new bathroom," says Timbs. "Friends of mine have extended all the internal door frames in their house and most club members have had seven-foot beds made."

Finding a pair of trousers long enough for 36in legs can be difficult and shoes in even a size nine are found only at a selected shops. Timbs says the situation is improving for women, but Briggs gets all his clothes from abroad. "It is getting better in the UK but America and Germany are much better places for tall persons’ clothing, so I cheat and do all my shopping when I am on holiday," says Briggs.

Retailers may be catching onto the potential of the tall pound, but society can be less accepting. Whilst many members embrace their height, others are embarrassed by it. One member in his twenties, writing anonymously in an article on the TPC website, said that when he was growing up he felt "shy, clumsy and socially inept" in company because of his height, and Briggs recalls getting bullied in his youth because of his height.

The findings of auxologists (those who study human growth) suggest that society will be forced to become more accepting of tall people as they become the majority. In 1996 an article published in Time magazine showed that in the last 150 years the height of the average European has increased by 20cm (7.87in). With factors such as a better diet cited as the catalyst for the nation’s growth spurt, a study by the Institute of Child Health in London in 2002 found that 18-year-old boys now measure an average of 5ft 10in (178.3cm).

According to recent studies, this is no bad thing. Women typically look for signs of strength in a potential partner and a report conducted by the Open University in 2002 showed that tall men have more sex than shorter men; and in 2000 The National Child Development Study found tall salesmen earn 25 per cent more than their shorter colleagues.

Despite this, many new members to the TPC come to their first meeting feeling their height is anything but a positive attribute. "You do get people, particularly women, who come along to a tall persons evening hunched over and obviously self-conscious about their height. But everyone is so welcoming and positive about who and what they are in the club that by the end of the evening they are much more confident and are standing up tall," says Briggs. "I am completely comfortable with my height now and I actually enjoy it. The club is such a supportive and positive organisation to belong to that most of our members end up feeling like that."

The "like-me" factor seems to be the strongest appeal of the club, but TPCs throughout the world are also showing great potential as dating agencies. Although most clubs are keen to downplay their matchmaking role, anecdotal evidence suggests that many tall people have met their partners at events such as Europatreffen. At least one couple met through the UK club and are now married, and Briggs himself has enjoyed a relationship with a woman he met at one of the social events.

Whilst up to a point height is an advantage on the dating scene, the National Child Development Study found that by the age of 33 tall people are less likely to be married than their shorter counterparts. Although tall men are regarded as strong, healthy mates by women, exceptionally tall people do not perhaps fit into society’s narrow definition of beauty. For women it can be especially difficult. As Kae Einfeldt, founder of California’s Tip Toppers Club, remarked in an article in the LA Times in 1938: "Do you suppose I very often have the pleasure of dancing with a man cheek to cheek? Oh no! It’s cheek to chin. My chin... his cheek."

Whether it’s the opportunity to make new friends or the chance of romance that appeals to members, those attending Europatreffen certainly agree that it is an enjoyable club to be part of. "We are not marking ourselves out as different or looking for attention," say Briggs. "While we must be a pretty noticeable group en masse to everyone else at events like these, I forget about our height and just think of it as a having fun on holiday with new friends."

Visit www.tallclub.co.uk for more information on the TPC