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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Jessica Taylor

Oldest people ever share secrets to long life - glass of port, chocolate and maths

We all want to live forever, but one of the only guarantees in this world is that one day, we'll leave it.

That's why it's important we make every single day count and make sure we're looking after ourselves to make our lives as long as we possibly can.

Some people are luckier than others and can live exceptionally long lives, with estimates that there are now more than half a million people in the world who are aged 100 or over.

Sadly, the second-oldest person to have ever lived, Kane Tanaka, passed away after an astonishing 119 years on Earth last week.

But she was in remarkable company as one of the oldest people ever to have lived.

The oldest people ever have lived through some incredible things - and over the years, we've been lucky enough to learn some of their top tips for a long life.

Kane Tanaka passed away last week at the age of 119 (REUTERS)

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Jeanne Calment, 122 years and 164 days old

Jeanne Calment was born in France in February 1975 and passed away in August 1997. To date, she is the oldest documented human ever to have lived, but her life was plagued with tragedy.

During her phenomenal lifespan, she married once - a second cousin, Fernand Nicolas Calment. The pair were together from 1896 until he passed away in 1942.

The pair had a daughter, Yvonne, in 1898 but tragically, she died at the young age of 36 after contracting the lung condition pleurisy.

As she continued to age and began to attract media attention for her longevity, Jeanne was often interviewed on television.

In one interview, she said: "I have never been ill, never ever."

Jeanne Calment joked her breasts were still as firm as they had ever been (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment)

For the most part, her medical records backed up her remarkable claim. Apart from suffering from a few migraines and conjunctivitis as a young woman, Jeanne had never visited the doctor for a serious ailment.

In another interview with Paris Match, she cheekily said her breasts were still as firm as "two little apples."

Surprisingly, she enjoyed smoking a cigarette after eating a meal and continued her habit until she was 117 years old.

Perhaps the secret to Jeanne's long life was her rigid daily routine, which began with a prayer at 6.45am. After the prayer, she would sit down for a session of morning gymnastics before eating a breakfast of coffee and rusks.

Jeanne also ate dessert and a glass of port after every meal and enjoyed chocolate, but also made herself daily fruit salads.

A deeply religious woman, Jeanne went to Mass and sought help from God - and she also spent her time wondering about an afterlife.

However, after she passed away there were questions over her longevity, with some suggesting the real Jeanne had died in 1934 and her daughter Yvonne had assumed her mother's identity, living as Jeanne for the rest of her life - but this claim was never substantiated.

Kane Tanaka, 119 years and 107 days old

Kane Tanaka, from Japan, was born on 2 January 1903 and passed away just a few days ago on 19 April 2022.

Unlike Jeanne Calment, Kane suffered many health complications during her nearly 120 years of life - including pancreatic cancer at the age of 45.

Ten years earlier when Kane was 35, she and her adopted daughter contracted paratyphoid fever, a dangerous bacterial infection.

In 2006, when Kane was 103 years old, she had another health scare and underwent surgery for colorectal cancer.

In her later years while she was living in a care home, Kane kept her mind as sharp as possible. She often credited her love of maths, which she practised every day, for keeping her going for so long.

Kane Tanaka held the Guinness World Record for the World's Oldest Person (REUTERS)
She credited doing maths every day for living a long life (JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)

She also recommended getting plenty of sleep, praying to God, eating good food and spending time with family for a long and fulfilling life.

Sarah Knauss, 119 years and 97 days

Kane Tanaka surpassed US-born Sarah Knauss's lifespan by only 10 days. Sarah was born on 24 September 1880 in Hollywood and passed away on 30 December 1999 - just one day before ringing in the new millennium.

During her life, Sarah had a daughter Kathryn in 1903 - who also lived past the age of 100 and died just a few years after her mum in 2005.

Sarah lived largely independently until the final decade of her life when she moved into a nursing home - and she certainly made an impression on her care workers.

Sarah Knauss was born in Hollywood and died just before the Millennium (Wikipedia)

One carer described her as "the friendliest person she had ever met among the home's residents."

Sarah's passions in life were said to be watching a good game of golf on television and eating crisps, cashew nuts and chocolate turtles.

Much like Jeanne Calment, Sarah's longevity led to questions over her true date of birth with genealogists looking into her background - but old census records appeared to confirm her age was correct.

Lucile Randon, 118 years and 74 days old

Following on from Kane Tanaka's passing, French nun Lucile Randon, who is still alive today, has claimed the title of the world's oldest living person.

Lucile Randon, or Sister André, is now the oldest living person in the world (AFP via Getty Images)

Born on 11 February 1904 Lucile, also known as Sister André, is also the oldest living person to have contracted Covid-19 and survived.

Lucile was born with a twin sister Lydie, who sadly passed away at just one year old.

Raised in a Protestant family with a pastor for a father, Lucile converted to Catholicism when she was 19 years old.

At the end of the Second World War, Lucile went on a mission to a hospital in Vichy where she served the elderly and orphans. Her mission lasted for 28 years.

Now Sister André is living in a nursing home in Toulon on the Mediterranean coast after going blind in the last decade. Every morning she attends mass - and staff at her nursing home claim she's happy with the attention she'll receive now she has the title of World's Oldest Person.

They added her goal is to overtake Jeanne Calment and become the oldest person ever to live - but she still has a few years to go before reaching that milestone.

Do you have a real life story to share? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com

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