GWR Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday recounts his first, nerve-wracking meeting with the “Lady with the Nails”

When I first met the wonderful Lee Redmond, I was playing the role of chauffeur. I’d been asked to collect Lee and her granddaughter at Heathrow and bring then back to GWR Towers without any fuss.

This was a few years back, and my first experience of the “airport run”. I’ve since welcomed the likes of smallest man He Pingping and tallest man Xi Shun to the UK, but this was my first experience waiting in the throng of expectant families and anxious girl- and boyfriends for a record holder.

I was getting increasingly nervous as every moment passed – what if she never made the connecting flight? Had she even left Utah? If she did make the flight, was it comfortable? The launch of the 2007 book was relying on her cooperation with the press and without Lee, there’d be no launch! Yet we’d never met her! What would she be like? What kind of a woman would grow her nails like giant talons?

Nervous? I certainly wouldn’t win any records for the length of my nails that day!

Then the air seemed to change. It’s that moment just before a GWR holder as striking and as arresting as Lee enters the Arrivals hall. The faces of the usually weary travellers change – you notice the furrowed brows, the widened gapes, excited children looking back over their shoulders, a general buzz of excitement.

Then she appeared - a vision in electric turquoise jogging pants, her face haloed by that amazing shock of bright blonde hair. By her side was her granddaughter, but the petite Lee really could have mistaken for her sister. It’s only then that you notice the nails; Lee cuts such an incredible figure that, even without her nails, she catches your eye.

It’s inevitable in our technological times that mobile phone and digital cameras are going to be whipped out whenever someone famous or noteworthy appears in public. It was no different with Lee – but she took the flashes in her stride, even stopping to show a dumbstruck traveller her nails up close. One of the inescapable side effects of having metre-long fingernails, I guess!

On the road back to the office, Lee spoke about her flights to the UK. Despite being booked on Business Class, Lee’s first aircraft, from Salt Lake City, was Economy-only, so she squeezed her tiny self and her nails into her even tinier seat. The fold-down seats on her transatlantic jumbo offered little more comfort. Worse still, he’d been unable to use the restrooms – should could (just) fit in to the cubicle but could neither turn around nor lock the door.

But Lee quickly brushed aside the discomfort and set my mind a rest – she was happy to be in London and looking forward to seeing the sites. She worked hard that week for the launch, appearing on TV shows, being interviewed with the same set of questions time and time again, and offering pose after pose to countless snappers. Throughout the whole arduous period, she remained cheery and obliging and a joy to spend time with.

My most recent encounter with Lee was on her home turf in Salt Lake City, Utah. Concerned about her health after the car crash, I popped over to see her and help our press team film the first interview after her life-threatening accident. Once again, I was struck by her joie de vivre and strong sense of survival. Life had thrown her a curveball, she said, but she just just got right back up again.

Thankfully, Lee made a spectacular recovery, albeit sans her nails! “That time in my life is now over,” she said over dinner. “I truly believe that the decision for me to lose my nails was taken out of my hands and made by a higher authority. It’s a sign – I may not have known that I needed to move on, but I do now!”

So, enjoy the exclusive video footage of Lee discussing her life with long nails then her new existence without them. You see that I had nothing to be worried about – she’s the sweetest, kindest and most open record holder I know. I’m honoured to have known the old Lee and now the new Lee, one of the world’s most recognisable women… with or without the fingernails!