The job... Bob is world’s oldest man at 111

BRITON Bob Weighton has become the oldest man in the world at 111.

He took over the title this week after previous holder Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan died at 112. He had received a Guinness World Records certificate days earlier.

But Bob, a former teacher and engineer, dismissed his new accolade as “just one of those things”. He said: “I don’t really feel satisfied because it means someone else has died.

“I just accept it as a fact, it’s not something I ever intended, wanted or worked for but it’s just one of those facts of life.

“You might find it amazing but it’s just one of those things.”

Bob, who lives in his flat in Alton, Hampshire, and turns 112 next month, was formerly England’s oldest man.

Until last summer, Hull-born

Bob was only Britain’s second oldest person, by a matter of hours. Then Alfred Smith of St Madoes, Perthshire, passed away. Both men were born on March 29, 1908. In a further twist, Britain’s oldest woman Joan Hocquard, from Poole, Dorset, was also born on the same day.

And Britain’s second oldest woman, Violet Davies-Evans, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, was born the following day in 1908.

Alfred, a lorry driver and farmer, explained his longevity. He said: “Porridge is helpful and having a job you enjoy. I like to think I’ve lived a decent life. I do ask myself – why me? Why have I lived so long when others haven’t?”

He survived wife Isobel, who died aged 97, and son Allan – one of his two children.