Great-gran, 109, claims secret to long life is having specific personality trait

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Olive loves reading, knitting, and sewing - and used to play football until she was 80 (Image: Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)
Olive loves reading, knitting, and sewing - and used to play football until she was 80 (Image: Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)

A great grandmother who has just celebrated her 109th birthday says the key to longevity is to be “stubborn" - and playing sport until you're 80!

Olive Edwards said she has also reached the incredible age by having three meals a day and by sticking to her guns.

The retired teacher likes to eat salmon and asparagus and drinks lots of water.

Olive also likes to spend time reading, knitting, and sewing.

She liked walking and used to play football and cricket with her grandsons until she was 80. Olive has two daughters, is a grandma-of-four and a great-grandma-of-six and they all keep her on her toes.

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Great-gran, 109, claims secret to long life is having specific personality traitOlive is a former teacher (Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)
Great-gran, 109, claims secret to long life is having specific personality traitOlive with Tyrone, the chef at her care home who prepared her favourite meal (Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)

She lives at the Birchlands Care Home in Haxby, North Yorkshire, and has seen it all, living through two World Wars.

Olive spent her entire working life teaching at an infant school.

She celebrated in style and enjoyed her favourite lunch of Salmon and Veg which was specially prepared by the care home's chef Tyrone.

She polished it off with a slice of homemade cake which she said looked “beautiful.”

The 109-year-old was over the moon after she received a birthday card from King Charles who congratulated her on achieving the milestone.

Olive said: “My secret is to be stubborn and keep going.

“I always ate three meals a day. Salmon and asparagus is my favourite meal, and I always drank plenty of water and still do.

“I enjoyed walking. I enjoy reading, knitting, and sewing as my hobbies.

“When I was 80, I used to play football and cricket with my grandsons."

The world's oldest person has also shared life advice that has helped her get to the ripe old age of 115.

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Great-gran, 109, claims secret to long life is having specific personality traitShe says she reached the incredible age by having three meals a day (Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)
Great-gran, 109, claims secret to long life is having specific personality traitShe couldn't miss cutting her birthday cake (Jam Press/Birchland Care Home)

Maria Branyas Morera was born in 1907 - and says cutting out 'toxic people' is key to living a long life.

With the help of her daughter, Maria, from California, has started sharing her top tips on life with people on Twitter - and it turns out she' has quite a bit of life experience to share.

In a recent tweet, Maria said that avoiding toxic people was key to happiness, as was 'luck and good genetics'.

Maria, who has three children, 11 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren, became the oldest person on the planet last week, when 118-year-old French nun Sister Andre sadly passed away.

On Twitter, her biography says she is "very old but not an idiot", and she's tweeted the secret to her long life.

She said it was down to: "Order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people".

She added: "I think longevity is also about being lucky. Luck and good genetics."

On the first day of the year, Maria tweeted: "Life is not eternal for anyone... At my age, a new year is a gift, a humble celebration, a new adventure, a beautiful journey, a moment of happiness. Let's enjoy life together."

Chloe Cawood

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