Our oldest man’s tip for living to 111? Avoid dying!

LIKE anyone over 100, England’s oldest man Bob Weighton, right, receives yearly birthday cards from the Queen.

But as the former teacher and engineer turned 111 yesterday, he requested that he didn’t get one this year, explaining: ‘I do not see why the State should pay for the Queen to send out all these things – it’s not a personal thing.’ However, he added: ‘I might consider another one next year if I live that long.’

Mr Weighton, who was born in Hull in 1908, celebrated with friends at his home in Alton, Hampshire. Asked how he had lived so long, he joked: ‘By avoiding dying. I’ve had flu, malaria, two or three operations. I ought to be dead but I am a survivor.’ He had two sons and a daughter, ten grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

Scotland’s oldest man, former lorry driver Alfred Smith, from St Madoes in Perthshire, also turned 111 yesterday.