Want to live longer? It’s probably wise to learn more about people who stood the test of time.
While the average human lifespan is 80 in the UK, these pensioners managed to enjoy even more decades. And the supercentenarians didn’t even have to give up life’s small pleasures in order to do so!
He did live to the impressive age of 114 though – and revealed he enjoyed drinking a glass of Spanish spirit aguardiente every day.
He’s not the only 100+ OAP to indulge in tipples on a regular basis. And some even admit to having a cheeky smoke or a love for chocolate.
So check out the oldest people of all time – according to documented history – and read more about the daily routines that helped the pause the clock..
1. Jeanne Calment – born 1875, died 1997 (aged 122)
The oldest person to have ever lived ate two pounds of chocolate a week and smoked until she was 117.
Jeanne Calment lived her entire life in France, and claims to have met Vincent Van Gogh when she was 13.
She lived most of her life in obscurity in Arles, but in her later years became an international celebrity. The year before her death she recorded a rap CD, ‘Mistress of Time’.
Calment was remarkably healthy throughout her life, once claiming to have “never been sick”. She reportedly ate dessert with every meal and smoked and drank wine well into her old age.
She reportedly ascribed her long life and youthful appearance to eating a lot of olive oil, as well as her calm temperament, once joking: “That’s why they call me Calment.”
2. Kane Tanaka – born 1903, died 2022 (aged 119)
Kane Tanaka was born premature – but proved stronger than most.
During World War II she worked in a noodle shop with her husband, who died along with one of their sons during the war. The Japanese couple had three other biological children and adopted another.
At the age of 103 she was diagnosed with colon cancer but recovered and lived another 16 years. She passed away two years ago of “old age” at a hospital in Japan.
Tanaka liked to play the board game Othello, took short walks and did calligraphy. She also reportedly had a sweet tooth and drank three cans of canned coffee or soda a day.
The pensioner, who got up at 6am every day, credited her family, good sleep and having hope as the secret to her long lifespan, as well as a lifelong faith in God.
