One of the oldest women in Britain shares her key to long and healthy life as she turns 106
The oldest women in Britain has shared her secret to a long life - and it includes giving up one particular thing.
It's rare for people to make it past their 100th birthday, with the average life expectancy in the UK currently sitting at 80.7 years, which means we're often fascinated by people who pass into triple figures.
One Brit whose accomplished this extraordinary feat is 106-year-old Mary Spiers who was born in August 1918, just three months before the end of World War One.
She'd spend her twenties watching the country ravaged by the effects of WW2 and lost a boyfriend who was serving in the RAF at the time.
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Despite these hardships, Mary has carried on living and celebrates her 106 birthday today (18 August) by revealing exactly how she's managed to live so long.
Sharing her secrets in an interview with the Manchester Evening News, she said: "You just live every day, every minute and you don't realise it's piling up.
"I've got a sense of humour, and it gets you through some difficult times. It's not been all happy. It's been sad in lots of ways."
Mary was born in central Manchester and spent the majority of her life in the city, recently relocating to a care home in the nearby town of Disley.
She is also a major major football fan and an avid supporter of her team Manchester City, revealing that she follows their matches on a transistor radio gifted by her younger cousin Henry Hesketh, 89.
Citing her favourite players as John Stones, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden, Mary's love of the Blues comes from her family and she's been around to see all but one of the club's major 34 honours.
"I'm really pleased when they win," she added.
Despite having numerous hardships, Mary praised her 'close knit' family, especially her two 'lovely' sisters Dorothy and Ruth.
Dorothy died around eight years ago, while Ruth passed away around three years ago.
"I had two lovely sisters, and we were very close. We were what you call a close-knit family," Mary recalled.
"At times it wasn't easy, there wasn't much money coming in. But we did everything together.
"We went away together, we did the housework, the decorating, and the gardening.
"We didn't need anyone else, we had each other. We had enough."
As for the reason she's made it so far in life? That's simple, by staying away from men.
"I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't chase men," she added.
When it comes to the future, Mary says she has no intentions to end up as one of the oldest person in the world, saying: "I read in the paper some time ago that someone abroad was 117. 117!
"I thought, 'well, I don't want to live to 117'.
"Where I'm going to end up, I don't know."
Brenna Cooper