He was a real-life Pinnochio
In the early 18th century, Thomas Wedders became known for having the world's longest nose. And hundreds of years later, his impressive record is yet to be broken.
Naturally, cameras were not in existence to photograph images of Wedders' nose in all its glory, but it's said to have been so big that he showcased it throughout Yorkshire for all to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppRQaOGAuG0&feature=emb_title
An excerpt from The Strand Magazine, Vol. XI, which was released in 1896, said it best: "Thus, if noses were ever uniformly exact in representing the importance of the individual, this worthy ought to have amassed all the money in Threadneedle Street and conquered all Europe, for this prodigious nose of his was a compound of the acquisitive with the martial."
The publication also goes on to say he was described as a bit of 'an idiot'. Harsh.
It reads: "But either his chin was too weak or his brow too low, or Nature had so exhausted herself in the task of giving this prodigy a nose as to altogether forget to endow him with brains; or perhaps, the nose crowded out this latter commodity.
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Wedders lived in the 18th century. (Picture: The Strand Magazine, Vol. XI,)[/caption]
"At all events, we are told this Yorkshireman expired, nose and all, as he had lived, in a condition of mind best described as the most abject idiocy."
His nose, being a whopping 7.5 inches, or 19 centimetres, is still the world record holder.
The phenomenal nose has been memorialised in a Ripley's Believe It Or Not cartoon, as well as in a wax figure which depicted just how lengthy his schnoz really was. Wedders has also earned a posthumous Guinness World Record for 'longest nose'.
Though not much is known about Wedders' personal life, it's claimed he acted as a performer in various circus sideshows before he passed away in his early 50s.
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