In Focus

A Filipino becomes world’s ‘shortest man’ ‘‘

Junrey Balawing, 18, smiles as he is measured by officials.

A poor Filipino blacksmith's son who stands less than two feet (60 centimetres) tall was declared the world's shortest man by Guinness World Records on his eighteenth birthday on June 12, sparking a celebration in his hometown. The title was bestowed on Junrey Balawing in Sindangan in the southern Philippines, with his parents, villagers and officials showering the coastal town's newly famous resident with a feast of roasted pigs and seafood, cake, balloons and cash gifts.

Balawing was measured at 23.5 inches (60 centimetres) during the ceremony attended by about 100 villagers and journalists at the town hall. Guinness World Records representative Craig Glenday presented Balawing with official recognition of his status as the shortest adult man in the world, with the framed certificate nearly reaching the ears of the standing recipient.Balawing, who wore a white shirt emblazoned with the Guinness seal, took over the title from Khagendra

Thapa Magar of Nepal, who is 26.4 inches (67 centimetres) tall, Glenday said.Dozens of journalists descended on Sindangan, a fishing and farming town of 90,000 located about 450 miles (730 kilometres) south of Manila, to cover the event."Thank you," Balawing told the crowd in a local dialect which was translated by his father,Reynaldo.Balawing tried repeatedly before managing to blow out the candles on the cake and clapped heartily each time the crowd applauded.

He was later heard saying "Kapoy,"or "I'm tired."Balawing ” who is about the size of a toddler and has a child's demeanor” needs to hold onto something to stand because of weak knees. He was photographed propping himself up with empty Coca-Cola bottles, which were taller than his waistline.Balawing's mother grew teary-eyed during the ceremony, saying she was happy with her son's instant fame.Glenday said he was struck by Balawing's lively personality and constant smile.

World of explorers

1. French scientist, Charles-Marie de la Codamine (1701-1774) sailed to Ecuador in 1735.True/False ?

2. What was the reason he sailed ?

3 . In which year did Charles Darwin visit the offshore Galapagos Islands?

4. In 1803 the U.S President Thomas Jefferson bought territory west of the Mississippi River from the French for 15 million U.S dollars.He commissioned an expedition to find out what exactly he had bought. Who led this expedition?

5. Name the person who made four voyages exploring both the northwest passage and the Arctic Ocean

to find a northern route from Europe to Asia and for whom a river, bay and a strait are named?

6.Most expeditions were made by men. However in the 20th century two women became renowned explorers. Who were they?

7. What are the reasons these two women went on explorations?

8. Vasco da Gama (c.1460-1524) was a Portuguese sailor whose voyages to India in 1497 opened a new sea route to the east. True/False?

9. Niccolo and Mafeo Polo were two borthers who travelled through Russia and central Asia as far as Khanbaliq (Beijing), the capital of the Mongol Empire of China. Whose son was the famous explorer, Marco Polo?

10. In which year was Marco Polo born?

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Answers

1. True.

2. Charles-Marie de la Codamine (1701-1774) sailed to Ecuador in 1735 to measure the size of the world -a science known as geodesy.

3. Charles Darwin visited the offshore Galapagos Islands in 1835.

4. The expedition commissioned by U.S President Thomas Jefferson to find out what exactly he had bough was led by his secretary Meriwether Lewis and his friend, William Clerk.In May 1804 they set off from St. Louis on the banks of the Mississippi River and canoed up the Missouri River towards the Rocky Mountains.

5.The person who made four voyages exploring both the northwest passage and the Arctic Ocean to find a northern route from Europe to Asia and for whom a river, bay and a strait are named is Henry Hudson (1570-1611). However, he did not find the northern route.

6. The two women who became renowned explorers in the 20th century were British archaeologist, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) and Freya Stark (1893-1993).

7.In 1905 Gertrude bell went on her first exploration to the Syrian desert. She almost lost her life in another expedition in 1913. From 1916 till her death she worked for the British government. She helped set up the country of Iraq. She visited Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in 1909.

Freya Stark learnt Arabic and set out for Arabia in 1927. In 1930 she visited a castle in Almut in northern Persia (now Iran) where a medieval Muslim sect feared by many were ruling .

She returned to this place a year later to map the area. Until the 1950s she travelled around the Arab desert and explored the Middle east.

8. True

9. Marco Polo's father was Niccolos Polo.

10. Marco Polo was born in 1254. He died in 1324