Special funeral preparations are underway in Hayes including an extra long coffin and large burial plot for the UK's former tallest man.

Gentle giant Christopher Greener, who grew to be 7ft 6ins and weighed up to 30 stone, died earlier this month, aged 71.

A keen actor and basketball player Mr Greener, who lived locally in Hayes during his adult life, held the record for being the country’s tallest man for four decades.

The coffin built for Mr Greener is 7ft 10ins long compared to the usual 6ft 2ins length and has extra handles for the 10 bearers, who will carry him.

He will be buried in a double plot of land, which is normally reserved for two people.

Staff at W. Uden and Son’s, based in Eltham, have set to work organising Mr Greener’s funeral on behalf of his best friends Barry and Irene Tolson.

Mr Tolson, aged 68, became close friends with Mr Greener, who was born in Merseyside, more than 50 years ago when they began playing basketball together.

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He told News Shopper: “Chris, as my wife would say was a gentle giant. He was very funny, caring and kind and our whole family will miss him terribly.

“He struggled towards the end of his life with his health and found it increasingly difficult to get around.

“Mowing the lawn and day-to-day chores were extremely difficult for him being so extremely tall but he was always cheery and never stopped making us laugh.

“He even joked to Irene, my wife, that he expected getting a coffin to fit him could be difficult and that he wouldn't mind if we just got someone to 'break his legs'.”

Mr Tolson described how during basketball matches Mr Greener, who went on to play for Great Britain, could reach up and effortlessly toss the ball into the net.

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Mr Greener with some of his basketball teammates

From a very young age, Mr Greener had a tumour at the base of his pituitary gland, which controls human growth hormones.

If he had not had the tumour surgically removed in his late 20s, he would have continued to grow and grow.

Doctors did not diagnose Mr Greener’s condition, pituitary gigantism, until 1970 when he was 27 years old and already the record-holder for the UK’s tallest man.

Mr Greener was well-known for his role as the circus giant in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man in 1980.

He also starred in documentaries chronicling the lives of the very tall, including The World’s Tallest People on USA’s The Learning Channel and Superhuman: Giants on ITV.

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The 7ft 10ins coffin built for Mr Greener

W. Uden and Son’s company director Matthew Uden said: "It is an honour to organise the funeral of such a well loved man.

“Speaking to his good friends has given us a real insight in to his personality and character and I hope that we will do him proud and give him the funeral that he deserves.”

Mr Greener will be buried at St Mary’s Cemetery following a service by Reverend Napolean John at St Mary’s Church on March 9 at 11am.

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