Family tributes to ex-pianist Gladys, as UK’S oldest person dies aged 113

Britain’s oldest person, Gladys Hooper, has died at the age of 113.

Her son Derek Hermiston confirmed that his mother, a former concert pianist, had died at the nursing home where she lived in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Hermiston, 85, said on Saturday night: “She passed away, she just faded, 113 and a half is a good old age.

“We saw her this morning, she seemed reasonably well, she was sleeping. We had left her for just about an hour when they called us to tell us she had passed away.” 0 Gladys Hooper was a concert pianist in her youth

When she celebrated her last birthday, the great-grandmother said: “I don’t feel very different to when I was 75.”

Mrs Hooper broke a Guinness World Record last year when she became the old- est person to undergo a hip replacement operation, which was carried out by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Jason Millington at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport.

Following the operation, she moved into the Highfield Nursing Home in Ryde from a flat connected to the home of her son Derek Hermiston, 85, where she had lived for 12 years.

Mrs Hooper was widowed in 1988 when her husband, Leslie, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps in the two world wars, died.

She had another great link to aviation – she was good friends at college with Amy Johnson, the legendary aviatrix.