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World's Oldest Man Dies In Hampshire From Cancer Aged 112

World's Oldest Man Dies In Hampshire From Cancer Aged 112

Bob Weighton was given the title by Guinness World Records in March this year

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

The world's oldest man has passed away aged 112 from cancer, his family has confirmed.

Bob Weighton was given the title by Guinness World Records earlier this year after the death of Japanese 112-year-old Chitetsu Watanabe.

His family said in a statement: "With great sadness, the Weighton family announces the death of our beloved Bob Weighton.

"He died peacefully in his sleep, from cancer, on the morning of Thursday 28 May 2020 at his flat in Alton, Hampshire, where he lived independently. Aged 112, Bob was the oldest man in the world.

"Bob was an extraordinary man, and to the family not really because of the amazing age he reached.

"A role model to us all, he lived his life interested in and engaged with all kinds of people from across the world.

"He viewed everyone as his brother or sister and believed in loving and accepting and caring for one another.

Mr Weighton teaching in 1934.
PA

"He had many, many friendships and read and talked politics, theology, ecology and more right up until his death.

"He also cared greatly for the environment. The second bedroom in his flat was a workshop, filled with furniture, windmills and puzzles he made and sold in aid of charity, often from bits of wood pulled from skips.

"We are so grateful that until the very end Bob remained our witty, kind, knowledgeable, conversationalist father, grandfather and great grandfather, and we will miss him greatly."

Mr Weighton, from Alton, Hampshire, was born in March 1908 and lived through both World Wars, the Spanish flu and the invention of the internet.

The grandfather-of-ten saw 26 Prime Ministers come and go and was alive for the reign of five monarchs.

Bob says that he wants to encourage human interaction.
PA

When he turned 111, he told The Mirror: "I have had the usual scares, flu, influenza, malaria, two or three operations."

He also said that he doesn't like to make too much of a fuss about anything, adding: "I do not like the attention. I quite like meeting people I have never seen before, that's one of my delights.

"I like meeting people who have been places and have some understanding of what it means to be human."

Speaking last year Bob, who has 25 great-grandchildren, spoke of the changes that have happened during his impressive life, adding: "Visually and in physical terms, it's changed enormously, in what human beings are - not at all.

"The basic concerns of human beings of meeting and interacting with other human beings is exactly the same - 'can this person be trusted?'

"In practical terms, one thing is the speed of travel. In 1933 I travelled to the Far East on a P&O boat to Hong Kong and it took six weeks, now you can fly there in about eight or nine hours."

PA

Earlier this year when he was named as the oldest man in the world, Mr Weighton said it would be wrong to celebrate someone else's demise.

He explained: "Well, I don't really feel satisfied because it means someone else has died.

"I just accept it as a fact, it's not something I ever intended, wanted or worked for but it's just one of those facts of life. You might find it amazing but it's just one of those things."

Dumitru Comănescu, from Romania, is now the new world's oldest man, aged 111 years and 202 days.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, News, UK