THE world’s tallest man stooped to get his giant frame through a train door to arrive in Furness almost 70 years ago.

Promoters claimed him to be over 9ft and he was part of a very unusual stage show at Barrow’s old Colieum theatre, on the corner of Rawlinson Street and Abbey Road

“Lofty” visited the Mail office, in Abbey Road, on Monday, May 3 in 1948.

He told reporters that he had been to Barrow before, around 20 years earlier.

In a preview to his visit, the Mail on April 30, noted: “Wartime diet restrictions reduced the weight of Jan Van Albert, known as “Lofty”, the tallest man in the world by 19 stone.

“Recently, however, he recovered his robust health and the man who will step out of the 6.29 train at Barrow on Sunday evening will not be far short of his pre-war 30st.

“Lofty is coming here to appear at the Coliseum next week.

“This extraordinary human being stands 9ft 3-and-a-half inches high from heels to crown.

“He is of Dutch extraction and he suffered greatly in the hands of the Nazis during the occupation of Holland.

“Lofty’s pre-war breakfast consisted of 10 soft-boiled eggs, six large bowls of porridge, four kippers (he is particularly fond of this delicacy), one pound of fried bacon and one dozen crisp bread rolls.

“He washed his breakfast down with 14 cups of coffee, which he likes hot, black and sweet.

“Now Lofty lives chiefly on non-rationed foods and is seriously thinking of becoming a vegetarian.”

He was appearing on stage at the Coliseum with Pippi, who the Mail said was 38 inches tall but the theatre’s advertisement said was 34 inches.

Also at the Coliseum was the “wrestling lion” and the “man with the xylophone skull”.

Not everything claimed about “Lofty” could be taken at face value.

His real name was Albert Johan Kramer and he was born in Amsterdam on June 15 in 1897 and died on April 4 in 1976.

His birth weight was 8.5 kg (19 lbs) and by the age of seven he was said to be already 2m (6 ft 7 in) tall and by 21 he was 2.28 m (7ft 6in).

Professional secrecy protected his true height as a stage performer but it was probably a maximum of 8ft 9-and-three-quarter inches.