Brit officially declared world's oldest man and his response couldn't be more British

The Brit officially declared as the world’s oldest man had probably the most British reaction to the news. What an absolute lad to be fair.

Racking up a whopping 111 years and 223 days of life so far, John Tinniswood was verified with that golden-oldie title yesterday (4 April) by Guinness World Records.

The bloke has lived through two world wars, having been born way back on 26 August 1912.

Originally from Liverpool and now living in a care home in Southport, Merseyside, John met his wife, Blowden during World War Two and got married while it was still going off in 1942.

They welcomed daughter Susan during all that too, in 1943. The couple were married for a mega 44 years before Blowden sadly died back in 1986.

Guinness World Records

During the Second World War, John worked in the Army Pay Corps before going on to be an accountant for Shell & BP, before his retirement in 1972. This also apparently makes him the world’s oldest surviving male WW2 veteran.

And obviously, with over a century of life to his name, the bloke’s got quite the experience in life and has seen the world change.

He said: “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.”

A granddad to four and great-grandad to three, John has some advice on staying healthy – practicing moderation.

“If you drink too much or you eat too much or you walk too much; if you do too much of anything, you’re going to suffer eventually,” the living-record holder said.

Guinness World Records

And he reckons the fact he’s stayed alive so long is ‘pure luck’ and does most of his tasks independently.

Staff at the care home call him ‘a big chatterbox’ and he’s able to get out of bed unassisted and still manages his own finances.

“You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it,” he added.

As well as not smoking and rarely drinking alcohol, he doesn’t follow any particular diet as he said: “I eat what they give me and so does everybody else. I don’t have a special diet.”

But the bloke does stick to eating battered fish and chips every Friday.

He was already titled UK’s oldest man back in 2020 and has a pretty chilled - typically British - response to being the oldest in the whole world.

“Doesn’t make any difference to me,” he said. “Not at all. I accept it for what it is.”

Topics: UK News, Good News, Guinness World Record, World News, World War 2

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_