A 111-year-old great-grandfather has officially been crowned the world’s oldest man – as he credits a curious mind and fish and chips for his extraordinary longevity.
John Alfred Tinniswood was paid a ‘surprise visit’ by Guinness World Records at the Hollies Rest Home in Southport, Merseyside, on Thursday.
Mr Tinniswood, described as a ‘well mannered, lovely gentleman’, was born in the Wavertree district of Liverpool on August 16, 1912 – four months after the Titanic sank.
He was officially declared the world’s oldest living man at 111 years and 222 days after Juan Vicente Perez, from Venezuela, died aged 114 this week. Gisaburo Sonobe, 112, from Japan, was expected to become the new record holder but he sadly passed away on March 31.
Mr Tinniswood, who has lived through both world wars, was 56 when US astronauts Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.
When the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, he was aged just 22. And when the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, he was already 77.
He said yesterday that it ‘doesn’t make any difference’ that he’s now the world’s oldest man.
Speaking to the Mail today, his proud daughter, who is 79, said her father has never smoked and only ever drank alcohol at special occasions.
John Alfred Tinniswood was paid a ‘surprise visit’ by Guinness World Records at the Hollies Rest Home in Southport, Merseyside, on Thursday
After the war, John worked in accounts for Shell and BP up until his retirement in 1972
Mr Tinniswood told Guinness World Records: ‘The world, in its way, is always changing. It’s a sort of ongoing experience […] it’s getting a little better but not all that much yet. It’s going the right way.’
He added: ‘You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it.’
Mr Tinniswood doesn’t believe his longevity is down to any specific lifestyle choices: ‘I eat what they give me and so does everybody else. I don’t have a special diet.’
On finding out he was the oldest man in the world he said: ‘Doesn’t make any difference to me. Not at all. I accept it for what it is.’
When asked for his advice for younger generations, he replied: ‘Let them make their own way in the world […] we’re all different in different ways.’
His daughter, Susan Behrmann, 79, a retired maths teacher, told the Mail today that it was ‘amazing’ her father had become the world’s oldest man.
She said she believed he owed his longevity to living an active and healthy lifestyle.
He also ‘really loves life, it keeps him going,’ the retired maths teacher, of Battersea, south London, added.
‘He has always been very, very active,’ Mrs Behrmann said.
‘After my mum died, he lived at home until he was 99 when he had a fall and broke his hip. But before that he was still walking and driving, he would go into Southport twice a week and go for a coffee, or to Marks and Spencer for a wander round.
‘He has always been very slim and he and my mother were into rambling. We used to have a cottage near Bala in North Wales that we went to on holiday and there was always a lot of walking and hiking in the hills and mountains.
‘He has never smoked and rarely drank alcohol, save for on a special family occasion. When I was growing up there was never any ready meals either, so he hasn’t ever eaten much processed food, although it is right he does like the occasional fish supper.
‘It is an incredible achievement. It just shows if you don’t drink and smoke and look after yourself that you can go on to reach that age.’
She added: ‘Both my parents were intellectuals and quite serious, they would do the crossword every day,’ Mrs Behrmann said.
‘On his 11th birthday last August I had the newspaper with me and was reading out clues to the quick crossword and he knew quite a few of them.’
The Hollies, the care home in Southport where he has lived for the past 12 years, bought a cake for his birthday celebrations, and relatives arranged for the long time Liverpool FC supporter to get a visit from Reds’ and England legend Alan Kennedy.
‘My dad knew exactly who he was and they chatted for ages and reminisced about Liverpool,’ Mrs Behrmann said.
John credits keeping active and constantly learning – as well as fish and chips – with helping to keep his mind sharp.
Mr Tinniswood, who was born in Liverpool, now has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren
Mr Tinniswood celebrating a birthday with his family at his care home
Mr Tinniswood with his wife Blodwen and three of their grandchildren
Mr Tinniswood and his wife Blodwen. She died in 1986, 14 years after his retirement
Mr Tinniswood was 56 when US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to land on the moon in July 1969
Mr Tinniswood was born just four months after the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage
Mr Tinniswood was 23 when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, Mr Tinnswood was already 77
‘His long term memory is also still fantastic, he also spoke about his memories of WWI on his birthday. He said he remembered the troops marching though the streets of Liverpool at the end of the war in 1918.’
Mr Tinniswood – who does not smoke or drink alcohol – has previously revealed that he loves tucking into a chippy dinner every Friday.
He said: ‘Fish and chips have got to be my favourite dish, it’s always been such a treat, and I think looking forward to my next visit to the chippy has kept me young. I feel the same now as I did when I was in my 80s, nothing has changed really.’
Mr Tinniswood’s care home confirmed the record in a Facebook post and Guinness delivered a framed certificate to him
The Hollies said: ‘Today we had a surprise visit from the World Guinness Records, as we have the world’s oldest living man here at The Hollies.. The legend we call John!
‘What an absolute honour it is to have such a well mannered, lovely gentleman with us, we are all so proud. Congratulations John.’
The lifelong Liverpool fan excelled at maths at school and started working as an accountant for Shell aged 15.
He was called up to the Royal Army Pay Corps in the Second World War. Because he had problems with his eyesight, he served in an administrative role with the Royal Mail.
Mr Tinniswood also helped to organise the return of troops from the frontline.
He met his beloved wife Blodwen at a dance before the war.
The couple welcomed their only child, Susan, in 1943, before spending 44 happy years together until Blodwen’s death in 1986.
He now has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Before retiring in 1972, he also worked as a depot clerk and accountant for Shell-Mex and BP, and is now a great-grandfather.
Mr Tinniswood receives regular visits from friends and family and, although he has never owned a computer or mobile phone, relatives say he marvels at the Internet and loves it when his grandchildren visit so he can ask them to look things up of interest on the web.
A former churchgoer, he also has a life-long interest in broadcasting and radio and was the first person on his street to own a television.
Although his eyesight is too poor nowadays to watch the box, he still listens to the radio and indulges his life-long love of classical music by listening to BBC Radio 3 most days.
After turning 100 in 2012, he received a birthday card each year from the late Queen Elizabeth – who he met twice.
The retired accountant was also given a birthday card from King Charles and Queen Camilla last year.
He said keeping active and constantly learning has also helped to keep his mind sharp.
He said: ‘Keeping active is very important, I’ve always loved football but when I was younger I was part of the Liverpool Ramblers Association which went hiking all over the country.
‘We used to meet up at least once a month, and when all the associations from all over the UK met up once a year we could fill an entire train. The Rambler’s Associations don’t really exist anymore and I haven’t been hiking for quite some years but I largely carry on here as I would if I was still living independently.’
Speaking about Mr Tinniswood in 2021, Katie Howard, who worked at Hollies Rest Home, said: ‘John is such a gentleman; he’s a humble person, mild-mannered and calm with a good sense of humour. He’s so young at heart.
‘He’s still got great, long-term memory and loves to chat as well as listening to the news on the radio and reading the newspapers.’
Mr Tinniwsood was born just 20 years after his beloved Liverpool FC was founded in 1892. He has lived through all eight of the club’s FA Cup triumphs and 17 of their 19 title wins.
The world’s oldest living woman – and the oldest living person – is Maria Branyas Morera, who recently turned 117
Mr Tinniswood became the oldest living man in the UK on September 25 2020, following the death of 108-year-old Harry Fransman.
The world’s oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura, from Japan, who died aged 116 years, 54 days in 2013.
The world’s oldest living woman – and the oldest living person – is Maria Branyas Morera, who recently turned 117.
The certified oldest person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 and 164 days in 1997.
The world’s oldest people: From French woman who continued smoking until she was 117 to Japanese man who put his good health down to getting out in the sun
Jeanne Calment
The certified oldest person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 and 164 days in 1997.
Her unparalleled longevity has been the subject of numerous studies, both before and after her death.
Jeanne enjoyed good health for the majority of her life and even took up fencing as a hobby at the age of 85.
The world’s oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura, from Japan, who died aged 116 years, 54 days in 2013
Ms Calment also claimed to have met the artist Vincent van Gogh, to whom she sold painting canvasses in her father’s shop as a teenager.
‘He was ugly as sin, had a vile temper and smelled of booze,’ she said.
She continued smoking until she was 117 and used to rub olive oil into her skin.
Jiroemon Kimura
Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, officially the oldest man to have ever lived, died aged 116 in 2013.
On his 115th birthday, Mr Kimura attributed his longevity to getting out in the sunlight.
‘I am always looking up towards the sky. That is how I am,’ he said.
Kimura ate a three-meal-a-day diet of rice, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
The world’s oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura, from Japan, who died aged 116 years, 54 days in 2013
He reportedly did not smoke and said he only ate until he felt 80 per cent full.
According to one town official his motto in life was ‘to eat light and live long’.
When he was born back in 1897, Japan was coming to the end of its feudal period which saw the final days of the Samurai warrior class and the birth of a modern imperialist state.
When Japan entered WWI on the side of the British in 1915 he was already 18 years old, and when it allied itself with Germany in 1940 at the start of WWII he was already pushing on 43.
When the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima he was 48 but he resumed work as a postman at the end of the war and went on to live for another 68 years.
Kane Tanaka
When Japanese woman Kane Tanaka died aged 119 in 2022, she was the world’s oldest person.
She was born January 2, 1903, in the southwestern Fukuoka region of Japan in the same year the Wright brothers flew for the first time and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
When Japanese woman Kane Tanaka died aged 119 in 2022, she was the world’s oldest person
In her younger years, Ms Tanaka ran various businesses including a noodle shop and a rice cake store.
A century ago, she married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, giving birth to four children and adopting a fifth.
She had planned to use a wheelchair to take part in the torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but the pandemic prevented her from doing so.
On her 119th birthday on January 2, 2022, Ms Tanaka’s family members said she hoped to live to 120.
In her younger years, Ms Tanaka ran various businesses including a noodle shop and a rice cake store
Sarah Knauss
American woman Sarah Knauss died on December 30, 1999, just two days short of the new Millennium.
The former seamstress, who loved chocolate, crisps, popcorn and cashew nuts, left a daughter aged 96 when she died.
American woman Sarah Knauss died on December 30, 1999, just two days short of the new Millennium. The former seamstress, who loved chocolate, crisps, popcorn and cashew nuts, left a daughter aged 96 when she died
Born on September 24, 1880, she died peacefully in her sleep in a nursing home in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Although she was frail in her later years, she continued to get up most mornings to have breakfast in the dining room of her care home and also visited the hairdresser once a week.
At her 119th birthday, Mrs Knauss’s great-great-great grandson, then aged three, was present.