[blam]

GGG Ping.

[nuconvert]

"the average height of men in Britain ....5ft 7in"

I think the warm beer is stunting their growth

[Post-Neolithic]

"and the small suits of clothes and armour in museums."

Most Armor that survived the medieval era would have had to been well taken care of, I.e. Most likely ceremonial and as such smaller then the norm for most armor of it's time. Ceremonial armor tends to be smaller because of cost.

[Fruit of the Spirit]

I believe I read somewhere that Edw. III (father of the Black Prince) was about 6'.

It always amazed me how they could have wielded those huge swords.

[SoDak]

Wow, 5'7 is the average? I'm 6'6 and I generally think of guys under 6 ft as being overly short.

[isrul]

"ten-year-olds were around 8in shorter than children today: by the time they were fully grown they were nearly as tall as modern adults”. If you have a dead ten year old and a dead adult, how can you claim the ten year old will become a "normal" size? It's dead and will never grow and you never will know what size the full grown skeleton was when it was ten.

[PzLdr]

I've read that the height requirement for a Roman legionarie was 5'10".

[Old Professer]

Darwin wrote about the mercenaries in the civil war from Europe whose uniforms had to be shortened from the stock used by the regular forces; what has GB to do with the modern world?

[Melas]

It sure seems like the average guy in America is taller than 5'7". Although 5'7" is half a foot taller than me.

[Age of Reason]

In the abandoned medieval village of Wharram Percy in Yorkshire, the churchyard has yielded hundreds of skeletons for analysis. There “ten-year-olds were around 8in shorter than children today

Ahem.

But that is the average height of kids so unhealthy--and so likely stunted--as to die at ten.

[numberonepal]

Recruits are often from poorer families whose average height is less, and were often not fully grown.

Um, weren't the great majority of people poor?

[Plutarch]

Grenadiers in the Royal Army in the 18th Century had a height requirement of 6 feet. 6 footers therefore could not have been exceptionally rare.

[Paulus Invictus]

Very few of Napoleon's soldiers were over 5 feet 2 inches. Those six feet or over were made members of his elite regiment of personal guards.

[BunnySlippers]

Over the past five millennia the average height of men in Britain has remained stable at about 170cm (5ft 7in), and that of women at 160cm (5ft 3in).

Tiny for the US. Perhaps not for Europe.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[wardaddy]

I'm not sure I buy this.

Btw...USA height has gone down....mainly due to amerindian immigration....unlike Plains indians who are big suckers.

[cherry]

“Recruits are often from poorer families whose average height is less, and were often not fully grown.”

tell Shack that and most of the NBA......

I know one thing for sure....we had to extend our antique oak bed by about 5" just to get a normal double mattress to fit.....and it was an adult bed.....

[TChad]

Finally an excuse to post the lyrics to Randy Newman's "Short People":


Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason to live.
They got little hands,
Little eyes,
They walk around tellin' great big lies.

They got little noses,
Tiny little teeth,
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet.

Well I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people 'round here.

(Short people are just the same as you and I.)
A fool such as I. (All men are brothers until the day they die.)
It's a wonderful world.

Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody to love

They got little baby legs
They stand so low
You got to pick 'em up
Just to say hello.

They got little cars
That go beep beep beep.
They got little voices
Goin' peep peep peep.

They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds.
They're gonna get you
Every time.

Well I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people 'round here.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

George Washington was over six feet tall.

[Jonah Hex]

Interesting... I'm 6'0", but my twelve-year old son is already 6' 1"! It scares me when I consider he's likely not hit his growth spurt yet.

Luckily he's a good-natured kid, since he over towers all his middle-school classmates and some of his teachers. I worry, though, when I see some of the older girls start taking interest in him...