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SV Sandy Allen enters office and walks towards desk
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SV Sandy sits at desk
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CU Sandy typing
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GV Sandy sits on desk built on blocks.
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SV Sandy being interviewed
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TV Sandy being interviewed.
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"Shelbyville, in Indiana, is now the home of the tallest living woman in the world. By five-sixteenths of an inch, 19 year-old Sandy Allen will replace the seven feet five inches woman from India in the next edition of the Guiness Book of World Records. The problems of standing seven feet five and five sixteenths inches tall and weighing 421 lbs are enormous. Sandy has to make all her clothes. Her shoes come from a king-size man's store --size 16 triple "e". At the state office building in Indianapolis where Sandy works as a clerk-stenographer, she had to build her desk to size by setting it on blocks. Sandy's stature was caused by an overactive thyroid.



REPORTER: "Are you sensitive about your height and the publicity you're getting or do you enjoy it?"



SANDY: "When I was still at height school I used to get a lot of comments about my height, especially from the boys. That used to really upset me. But now that I've gotten to be the world's tallest woman, I'm going to take advantage of all the publicity I can get. I'm really enjoying it now. That's why I feel that if I grew a few more inches, you know, what the heck!



REPORTER: "How's your love life?"



SANDY: "I'm afraid my social life is just about nil. I've never had a date in my life."



At five feet three inches tall, this is Kim Beech ??? indianapolis




Initials ET/1726 ET/1736


KIM BEECH

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In the United States, 19-year-old Sandy Allen of Shelbyville, Indiana, claimed on Wednesday (9 October) she has been recognised as the world's tallest woman. She is now seven feet, five and five-sixteenths inches (two metres 26.89 cms) tall making her five-sixteenths of an inch taller than a woman from the Bihar State of India.

Miss Allen said she wrote to the compilers of the Guiness Book of World Records in London claiming that, at seven feet five inches, she was the world's tallest woman.

But the book officials said she was not the tallest, she only tied with a woman in India, and asked for a doctors certification of her height. Doctors then found she had grown another five-sixteenths of an inch and is now the record holder.

Miss Allen said her height posed considerable problems. She needed some six yards of material for a dress, her shoes were size 16 and the doorways at her home have had to be made higher so she can pass through. And being the world's tallest girl, she can't find a man tall enough to date her.

This film is accompanied by a commentary and an interview with Miss Allen by TVN reporter, Kim Beech.