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    1. My granddad was interviewed for the local paper when he turned 104. The reporter was very keen on the ‘secret of long life’ angle. Grandad was always been a no-nonsense sort of bloke, and they didn’t end up using much of what he said – from my chair in the corner of the room, the conversation basically went:

       
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      **REPORTER:** So, what’s the secret to long life?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** There isn’t one. I’m just not dead yet. That’s all.

       

      **REPORTER:** Do you drink?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** A glass of sherry at Christmas.

       

      **REPORTER:** Ah! Does that give you more of a chance, do you think?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** No. All of my friends who drink are dead. All of my friends who didn’t drink are dead.

       

      **REPORTER:** Do you smoke?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** I used to have a cigar every so often, birthdays and Christmas and whatnot.

       

      **REPORTER:** So, perhaps a sherry and a fine cigar-

       

      **GRANDDAD:** Cheap cigar. And no. All of my friends who smoked are dead. All of my friends who didn’t smoke are dead. I’m not dead yet because I’m still alive.

       

      **REPORTER:** Do you keep yourself physically active? A lot of people say getting exercise is-

       

      **GRANDDAD:** I go out on my mobility scooter several times a week.

       

      **REPORTER:** Not really what I mean – any exercise classes, or yoga, that sort of thing?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** My knee was shattered in Africa in WWII. I’ve not walked properly since, and not been able to walk at all since the 1960s.

       

      **REPORTER:** Perhaps a belief in God, that he’s preserving you for a reason?

       

      **GRANDDAD:** I fought in WWII on three fronts. Watched countless people die on both sides. Killed when I had to. Two of my brothers were blown up in front of me. Another of my brothers died in a car crash coming to see me for a surprise party. My first daughter died within 24 hours. My son died in a motorbike accident when he was 30. My adopted daughter died in a car crash when she was 32. I’ve buried all of my siblings, my wife, and all of my children. There is no ‘god’. It’s just the luck of the draw that I’m still here and nothing’s killed me yet. I enjoy life, but there’s no ‘secret’. I’m just not dead yet.

       
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      He didn’t say any of this in a grumpy sort of way, just trying to explain that he didn’t have a ‘secret’, however much the reporter wanted him to give one. He wanted to talk about it being helpful to have family around (us grandchildren) and good neighbours, and that he often went around museums he enjoyed on a Saturday. I thought that was a good ‘secret’ for them to print, personally. Friends, family, doing things you enjoy.

       

      The paper printed the story, though it was quite short in the end. They wrote that he said the secret to his long life was ‘good fortune, and the occasional cigar and sherry at Christmas’. No mention of enjoying wandering around museums, family, neighbours etc.

    2. There is evidence to suggest that she stole her mom’s identity and so wasn’t really that old

    3. ElGranKornholio on

      She was born into a world with no electricity or indoor plumbing (except the cities). She witnessed WW1 and WW2, airplanes, radio, television, the space race, the cure for smallpox, penicillin, and the fax machine.

    4. Interesting_Milk_130 on

      From Wikipedia

      In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary André-François Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs (€380) until her death. Raffray died on 25 December 1995, by which time Calment had received more than double the apartment’s value from him, and his family had to continue making payments. She commented on the situation by saying, “in life, one sometimes makes bad deals”.

    5. Pretty crazy to think that she was in her sixties and seventies when the Nazis invaded France.

    6. Sending this to my 9 yr old nephew. I always told him smoking will make him live longer. This proof will solidify that.

    7. Jeanne Calment – February 21, 1875 / August 4, 1997.

      “Je n’ai qu’une seule ride, et je suis assise dessus.” I let you translate the joke… As a teen she met Vincent van Gogh before his death, because her parents were selling painting frames in Arles. Almost a hundred years later she had a cameo in Maurice Pialat Van gogh movie (she was 110 or more, and she still hold the record for the eldest actress in a movie)

    8. Resident_Pair9034 on

      Is that her death year date?
      If so, she was born in 1870. Just after civil war.
      Dang, that girl has seen some s**t.

    9. Zealousideal-Tea-286 on

      https://preview.redd.it/4yrzsrwikm6g1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1f90faeccfa986113b8b585ad55be48e850a719

      Grandpa Gustafson: Well, let me tell you something now, Johnny. Last Thursday, I turned 95 years old. And I never exercised a day in my life. Every morning, I wake up and I smoke a cigarette. And then I eat five strips of bacon. And for lunch, I eat a bacon sandwich. And for a midday snack?

      John Gustafson: Bacon.

      Grandpa Gustafson: Bacon! A whole damn plate! And I usually drink my dinner. Now, according to all of them flat-belly experts, I should’ve took a dirt nap like thirty years ago. But each year comes and goes, and I’m still here. Ha! And they keep dyin’. You know? Sometimes I wonder if God forgot about me. Just goes to show you, huh?

    10. I hope cigarettes still exist when I’m 100 cause I’m definitely going to start smoking again at that age

    11. Once upon a time researchers looked into the secrets of extremely long life among people in certain areas. They found two common factors- poor records and pension fraud…

    12. Most world’s oldest people are in regions with bad records keeping. It’s generally pension fraud. The claimed to be older in the 80s to get benefits and the lie has been going on so long they can’t go clean.

    13. Excusemytootie on

      A small amount of alcohol keeps the blood flowing and warms the body. It’s actually prescribed by doctors to older people in some cultures. I’m talking 1/2 to one drink max.

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