19th Century’s last human is no more

117-yr old Emma Morano was engaged to man who died in World War I

MORANO credited her longevity to eating eggs, going to bed early and being single.

HER diet consisted of several eggs every day, sometimes raw, despite health advice to the contrary.

London, April 16: The world’s oldest person — believed to be the last known living individual to be born in the 19th century — has passed away at the age of 117.

Born on 29 November 1899, Emma Martina Luigia Morano from Italy held the Guinness World Records titles for oldest living person and oldest living woman.

Morano, who passed away on Saturday, was confirmed as holding both Guinness World Records titles in May last year following research conducted by the Gerontology Research Group.

Raised in Vercelli the oldest of eight siblings Morano later moved to Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy where she remained for the majority of her life.

She followed the same extraordinary diet for around 90 years — three eggs per day (two raw, one cooked), fresh Italian pasta and a dish of raw meat, only changing her routine within the final years of her life.

Morano was engaged to a man who died during the First World War.

She got married to another man in 1926, but chose to end the abusive marriage after her six-monthold child passed away. She never got married again.

She survived the loss of her only son, lived through two World Wars and more than 90 Italian governments.

Morano was five years younger than the oldest person ever, Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived 122 years 164 days, according to the the Guinness World Records.

According to a list kept by the Gerontology Research Group, Violet Brown from Jamaica — who was born in 1900 — is now the oldest living person.

The oldest living man is Holocaust survivor Israel Kristal, who celebrated his 113th birthday in September last year. — PTI