The world’s oldest living man turned 112 at his care home in Merseyside.
John Alfred Tinniswood, who lives in Southport, puts his longevity down to “just luck”and said he didn’t follow a special diet – but did eat fish and chips every Friday.
Tinniswood was born in 1912 – the same year as the sinking of the Titanic. He became the world’s oldest living man earlier this year, inheriting the title from 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez, of Venezuela, who died in April.
Tinniswood already held the title of the UK’s oldest man, which he acquired in 2020.
A lifelong Liverpool FC fan, Tinniswood was born in the city only 20 years after the club was founded. He has lived through almost all of the club’s highs and lows, including all eight of the Reds’ FA Cup wins and most of their league wins.
He met his wife, Blodwen, at a dance in the city, and the couple were together for 44 years before she died in 1986. Their daughter, Susan, was born in 1943, and he is now a great-grandfather.
Tinniswood, who lived through both World Wars, is the world’s oldest surviving male World War II veteran, having worked in an administrative role for the Army Pay Corps.
He later worked as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972.
Tinniswood still lives his life mostly unaided – he manages his own finances, keeps up with the news by listening to the radio, and gets out of bed alone every morning.
But he can’t put his good health and longevity down to much more than pure luck – and perhaps an active lifestyle in his younger days. “You either live long or you live short, and there’s not much you can do about it,” he said when he became the Guinness World Record holder earlier this year.
“I don’t feel that age, I don’t get excited about it. That’s probably why I achieved it,” he added. “I take it just like anything else, why I lived so long, I don’t know at all.
“I can’t think of any special secrets I have. I was quite active as a youngster, I walked a lot. Whether that had anything to do with it, I don’t know. But for me I am no different [to anyone]. Not different at all.”
Reflecting on his long life, he said that perhaps the key was to do everything in moderation. “I eat what they give me and so does everyone else. I don’t have a special diet,” he said.
“If you drink too much or eat too much or walk too much, if you do too much of anything, eventually you’re going to suffer.”
Tinniswood has received a birthday card from the late Queen every year since he turned 100 in 2012. He survived her reign, even though she was born almost 14 years later. He also lived through the tenure of 24 British Prime Ministers.
When asked how he has seen the world change during his lifetime, he said: “The world, in its way, is always changing. It’s kind of an ongoing experience… It’s getting a little better, but not that much yet. It’s going the right way.”
And when asked his advice for younger generations, he said: “Always do the best you can, whether you’re learning something or whether you’re teaching someone. Give it all you got. Otherwise it’s not worth bothering with.”
The oldest man on record was Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who died in 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days.
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The world’s oldest living person is Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who is 116. She only took over the title this month to Maria Branyas Morerawho was 117 years and 168 days old, died in her nursing home in the town of Olot in northeastern Spain.
The oldest verified person on record is the French Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
Also happens in 1912…
In the United Kingdom, King George V was on the throne, and the British Empire was estimated to cover one fifth of the world. The liberal Lord Asquith was the prime minister.
In the US, New Mexico and Arizona became the 47th and 48th states, and an act of Congress established the territory of Alaska as an organized incorporated territory of the US.
In January, the Republic of China was established, ending more than 2,000 years of imperial rule.
Also in January, the British Antarctic Expedition, led by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott, reached the geographic South Pole only to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen beat them by 34 days.
In April, the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and more than 1,600 people died.
The same month, Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, died at the age of 64 in London.
In September, Blackpool’s famous Illuminations were lit up for the first time, to commemorate the town’s first royal visit, from Princess Louise, the sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
