Briton who was the world’s oldest man dies at age 112
THE world’s oldest man – Briton Bob Weighton – has died from cancer aged 112, his family revealed.
The former teacher and engineer, took the title in February after the death of the previous holder Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan.
His family said in a statement: “With great sadness, the Weighton family announces the death of our beloved Bob Weighton.
“He died peacefully in his sleep, from cancer, on the morning of Thursday May 28 at his flat in Alton, Hampshire, where he lived independently. Aged 112, Bob was the oldest man in the world.
“Bob was an extraordinary man, and to the family not really because of the amazing age he reached.
“A role model to us all, he lived his life interested in and engaged with all kinds of people from across the world.
Marvellous
“He viewed everyone as his brother or sister and believed in loving and accepting and caring for one another.
“He had many, many friendships and read and talked politics, theology, ecology and more right up until his death.
“He also cared greatly for the environment.
“The second bedroom in his flat was a workshop, filled with furniture, windmills and puzzles he made and sold in aid of charity, often from bits of wood pulled from skips.
“We are so grateful that until the very end Bob remained our witty, kind, knowledgeable father, grandfather and great grandfather, and we will miss him greatly.”
After qualifying as a marine engineer in the 1920s Bob moved to Taiwan to teach at a missionary school, although he first had to spend two years in Japan learning the language. His final birthday celebration on March 29 was held behind closed doors after the imposition of the lockdown, and he remarked the “world is in a bit of a mess” with the crisis.
Comparing the pandemic to life during the war, he said: “In the Second World War you knew what you had to do.
“You might fail but the objectives were clear as Churchill rallied the country behind him, ‘We will fight on the beaches’, etc, etc.. .That was an objective that you could possibly reach, but nobody knows how we are going to defeat the virus.”
Despite his title of world’s oldest man, Bob declined a birthday card from the Queen, saying he did not want one at the taxpayers’ expense.
He was born in Hull on March 29, 1908, which by coincidence is the same day as Britain’s oldest woman Joan Hocquard, from Poole, Dorset.
Alf Smith from St Madoes, Perthshire, had that birthday too, sharing the title of Britain’s oldest man until his death last year.
Bob was interested in climate change and enjoyed the next generation getting involved.
He said: “It’s good to see young people taking an interest. All power to Greta Thunberg.” Agnes, his wife of 50 years, died in 1995.
He hailed her a “marvellous woman” and said earlier this year: “It’s been 20 years or more, but I still miss her.”
The father of three is survived by children David and Dorothy, 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.