Summary:
The humble high heel shoe has come a long way since its invention in the 19th century - but how did they come to be so high in the first place?

Full article:
High heels... they are the bane of most women's lives. No town centre on a Saturday evening is complete without scores of girls dressed up to the nines, tottering uncomfortably down the street on skyscraper wedges. But ankle-shatteringly high heels are nothing new - since the days of Ancient Greece, human beings have been lengthening their legs with the aid of a few extra inches on their shoes. Scroll down for video . High heels are hated and loved by women in equal measures and ladies often try to squeeze their feet into a beautiful pair, no matter how uncomfortable they are. But men and women have been wearing them from as early as 3000BC . In 3000 BC, men wore platform sandals called cothurnus in their tragic plays to indicate high social status. From then onwards, both sexes turned to the heels throughout the centuries, with some reaching as high as 30 inches in Venice in the 1400s. In the 17th century, King Louis XIV of France wore shoes with five inch heels and made a rule that nobody could wear higher heels than him. Shoe store Jones Bootmaker has written a detailed infographic, charting the history of the heel from ancient times right up to the current day.