DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
John Tinniswood with his Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest man. PICTURE: Screenshot via Reuters TV
• John Tinniswood, an Englishman born the same year the Titanic sank and who survived two world wars and two global pandemics, has died aged 112, Guinness World Records said on Tuesday, months after it recognised him as the world’s oldest man. Tinniswood passed away on Monday at a care home in Southport, northwest England, surrounded by “music and love”, his family told Guinness World Records in a statement. “John had many fine qualities. He was intelligent, decisive, brave, calm in any crisis, talented at maths and a great conversationalist,” his family said. Born in August 1912 in Liverpool, he went on to meet his wife Blodwen at a dance before marrying her in 1942, at the height of World War II when he served in the Royal Army Pay Corps, which was responsible for finances and food supplies. Tinniswood, who is survived by a daughter, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, later worked as an accountant in the oil industry before retiring aged 60. His wife died in 1986. From the age of 100 to 110 he received a birthday card each year from the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was 14 years his junior. She died in 2022. Besides eating a portion of his favourite food (battered fish and chips) every Friday, Tinniswood followed no special diet. He stayed mentally active, keeping up with the news and managing his own finances, which may have contributed to his longevity, Guinness World Records said. When Guinness World Records awarded him the title of world’s oldest man in April this year, Tinniswood said there was no huge secret to his longevity, insisting it was “just luck”. “You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it,” he said. – SACHIN RAVIKUMAR, London, UK/Reuters.
• US President Joe Biden pardoned Peach and Blossom, two white-plumed turkeys, on Monday, sparing them from Thanksgiving dinner tables, an annual tradition that also marked the start of the Democrat’s last holiday season at the White House. This year’s turkeys are named after the Delaware state flower, the peach blossom, which symbolizes resilience, Biden, a Delawarean, told a crowd of around 2,500 people on the White House South Lawn, as one of the turkeys gobbled in the background. “This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington. It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season and give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you – it’s been the honor of my life, I am forever thankful,” Biden said. Peach weighs 19 kilograms and loves to eat hot dish and tater tots and his dream is to see the Northern Lights, while Blossom weighs 18 kilograms and loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, Biden quipped. The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition of turkey pardoning dates back to the Harry Truman presidency in 1947. The official tradition began in 1989 at the White House, when then-President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon. Millions of turkeys will be roasted in Thanksgiving ovens across the country on Thursday and drenched in gravy, accompanied by a variety of side dishes, including holiday staples like stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole. – NANDITA BOSE, Washington DC/Reuters
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Cuban former water polo player Jhoen Lefont. PICTURE: Video screenshot
• Cuban former water polo player Jhoen Lefont imposed a new world record for ball control from a swimming pool in Havana earlier this month, beating his own record set last year. Referees from FIFA and the International Swimming Federation (FINA) were in charge of certifying his record, for registration in the Guinness World Records Books, at the Baragua Complex swimming pool. Lefont balanced a soccer ball on his head, with a six-kilogram weight on his waist, while staying afloat in the pool for eight minutes thirty seconds and sixty-six hundredths of a second, beating his own record set last year of seven minutes and two seconds. Lefont has previously achieved other feats such as hitting a ball with his head 172 times in one minute and covering 750 metres in the waters of Varadero, Matanzas, while balancing a ball on his head. Meanwhile, a museum in Florida has broken the world record for the most paper rockets launched at the same time. The Orlando Science Center announced it officially broke a Guinness World Record after 262 people launched paper rockets at the same time at the museum on 16th November. The museum explained in a statement that for the purposes of the record “a paper rocket was defined as a toy made entirely of paper that fits onto a straw, and when the straw is blown through, the rocket flies into the air”. Participants were allowed three attempts to launch their rockets within a 15 second timeframe. A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on scene to verify the new record. – with Reuters
