World’s oldest living man: ‘No special secret to long life’

The world’s oldest living man has declared he has no “special secrets” to pass on about his longevity as he celebrated turning 112.

John Tinniswood, who was born in Liverpool on 26 August 1912, told the Guinness World Records he had “no idea at all” why he had lived so long.

The lifelong Liverpool fan, who lives at a care home in Southport, became the world’s oldest living man in April when 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez Mora died.

He said he had been “quite active as a youngster” and did “a lot of walking”, but believed he was “no different” to anyone else, adding: “You either live long or you live short and you can’t do much about it.”

Mr Tinniswood, who was born the year the Titanic sank, said he would be taking turning 112 “in my stride like anything else”.

“Why I’ve lived that long, I have no idea at all,” he said. “I can’t think of any special secrets I have.

“I was quite active as a youngster, I did a lot of walking… whether that had something to do with it, I don’t know.

“But to me, I’m no different. No different at all.”

Mr Tinniswood was born 20 years after his favourite football club Liverpool was founded and has lived through all but two of the Reds’ 66 top flight trophies, having missed the first two league titles in 1901 and 1906.

He was two at the outbreak of World War One and had just celebrated his 27th birthday when World War Two began.

He served in an administrative role for the Army Pay Corps, locating stranded soldiers and organising food supplies, and is now the world’s oldest surviving male WWII veteran.

He met his wife, Blodwen, at a dance in Liverpool, and they married in 1942.

Their daughter Susan was born in 1943 and the couple enjoyed 44 years together before Mrs Tinniswood died in 1986.

After WWII, he worked as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972.

He said that beyond eating a portion of fish and chips every Friday, he did not follow any particular regime.

“I eat what they give me and so does everybody else,” he said. “I don’t have a special diet.”

Since turning 100 in 2012, he has received an annual birthday card from the monarch – first from the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was his junior by almost 14 years, and then from King Charles III.

Asked whether he thought the world had changed much since his childhood, he said it was “no better in my opinion, or hardly any better, than it was then”.

“Probably in some places it is, but in other places it’s worse,” he added.

The oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura from Japan, who lived to the age of 116 years 54 days and died in 2013.

The world’s oldest living woman, and oldest living person, is Japan’s 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka.