Guinness World Records 2005 - J R R Tolkien - James Fox TV - When Rome Ruled Egypt TV - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - News Report - The Real Tom Thumb: History’s Smallest Superstar TV - Warwick Davis - George R R Martin - Game of Thrones TV - Horizon TV - This is Spinal Tap 1984 - The Smallest People in the World TV - Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective TV - The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970 - Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth TV - Unexplained Mysteries TV - The League of Gentlemen TV -
The shortest mature human of whom there is independent evidence was Gul Mohammed: On July 1990 he was examined at Ram Manohar Hospital New Delhi India and found to measure a height of 57 cm (22.5 in). Guinness World Records 2005 (50th edition)
Far, far below the deepest delvings of the dwarfs, the world is gnawed by nameless things. J R R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells. J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit
Egypt: hundreds of deposits ... Very good at extracting that gold ... All four goldsmiths are dwarfs. Dr James Fox, A History of Art in Three Colours: Gold I, BBC 2012
Dwarfs were held in high esteem by the pharaohs. When Rome Ruled Egypt, 2008
The dwarf sees farther than the giant, when he has the giant’s shoulders to stand on. (Giant & Dwarf) Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834, The Friend, 1818
Things are looking up in ‘Village of Dwarves’: China – Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science recently visited the town of Huilong in the Province of Sichuan, about fifty kilometres from the capital city of Chengdu. Huilong has long been referred to as ‘the Village of the Dwarves’ because up to sixty residents are only one metre tall. News report
The craze began in mid-nineteenth century America with the emergence of the first showbiz star to go truly global – General Tom Thumb. He was just twenty-five inches tall. The Real Tom Thumb: History’s Smallest Superstar, BBC 2014
The intelligentsia were horrified. ibid.
Barnum could smell money. In 1842 that money was in New York. ibid.
He could have retired aged nine. ibid.
Barnum and Stratton were partners and friends for forty years. Two gentlemen of the old school. ibid.
For as long as I can remember I’ve always been on the outside looking in ... How could I be cast in something like that? ... If I’m going to make my dream come true, I’m going to have to do it myself. Modern Times: Warwick Davis’ Big Night, BBC 2015
The Reduced Height Theatre company: So I could put on classic plays cast entirely with short actors on a reduced height set. ibid.
Then I am not a dwarf. My father will rejoice to hear it. George R R Martin, A Game of Thrones
All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes. Game of Thrones s1e1: Winter is Coming, starring Sean Bean & Mark Addy & Nikolai Coster Waldau & Michelle Fairley & Lena Headey & Emilia Clarke & Iain Glen & Harry Lloyd et al, director Tim van Patten, Tyrion, HBO 2011
This case holds what some say are the most precious bones in the world. Unearthed just recently they belong to a strange kind of human scientists have called the Hobbit. At one metre tall she is one of the tiniest humans in history. Horizon: The Mystery of the Human Hobbit, BBC 2005
Six hundred miles east of Java in the Indian Archipelago lies an island that time forgot ... The island of Flores ... In a cave deep in the jungle they unearthed some human remains. The body was only a metre long. It looked like a three-year-old girl ... Results showed she was eighteen thousand years old. ibid.
So how could the hobbit’s brain be so small? A clue would come from one of the oldest anatomical collections in the world. Human biologist Ann MacLarnon believes the hobbit had a disease ... Microcephaly. The microcephalic brain was the same size as the hobbit brain. It was a huge breakthrough for the hobbit sceptics. ibid.
Thousands of years ago Flores was home to a new species … ‘We had a population extending through time.’ ibid.
I think that the problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. This is Spinal Tap, BBC 1984
There are nearly 200 types of dwarfism, and the smallest most proportionate dwarfs are called primordials. The Smallest People in the World, Channel 4 2007
‘If she got pregnant, it would probably kill her.’ ibid. mother
Primordial dwarfs are so rare that most doctors have never seen one in their lifetime. ibid.
Primordial dwarfs are characterized by severely restricted growth, proportionate limbs and high-pitched squeaky voices; most die by the time they are thirty. ibid.
Dwarfs in Art … Dwarfs have also the stuff of folklore, fairytales and myths for thousands of years … We can’t help but be conditioned by the images of dwarfs we have absorbed through centuries of representation in art and culture. Dwarfs in Art: A New Perspective, BBC 2018
We represent dwarfs to disguise faults in ourselves. ibid.
From the 1500s Dwarfs were collected by royalty. ibid.
Dwarfs are pictured with dogs and monkeys in dozens of paintings. ibid.
Dwarfs were viewed as deviants and freaks. ibid.
Look at this – an urgent appeal to find some missing midgets. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970 starring Robert Stephene & Colin Blakely & Genevieve Page & Christopher lee & Irene Handle & Clive Revill & Tamara Toumanova & Stanley Holloway & Mollie Maureen et al, director Billy Wilder, Holmes to Watson
Above the ash only our tools are found. The lack of evidence of [homo] erectus after the Toba eruption suggests that they might have been wiped out of India never to return. In other parts of Asia they hung on. Fossilised skulls from Indonesia show homo erectus living here as recently as 30,000 years ago. A descendant of theirs – homo floresiensis, nicknamed the hobbits – lived until about 18,000 years ago. Planet of the Apemen I: Battle For Earth, BBC 2011
On the Indonesian island of Flores archaeologists recently uncovered parts of several small skeletons. Scientists are still debating whether the bones are proof that a new species of miniature human beings once lived on the island. Unexplained Mysteries, 2003
According to legend these people stood less than two feet high. For centuries few believed that these little people actually existed. But all of that changed in 1932 when two prospectors Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr explored a cave in Wyoming’s Pedro mountains. On a small ledge they found a figure just six inches high mummified in a sitting position. ibid.
[dwarfs enter local shop] Tell them the circus is coming to town. The League of Gentlemen s2e1: Destination: Royston Vasey, BBC 2000
Tubbs: Yes? Morning. Can I help you at all? [sees dwarfs in shop] Ah! Edward! Edward! ibid.
Edward: Hello, hello, what’s going on? What’s all this shouting? We’ll have no trouble here ... They are not children! They are monsters! ... Get out, get out, do you hear me, this is a local shop for local people, there’s nothing for you here. Demons! ibid.