X-Message-Number: 29571
From: "Chris Manning" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: World's oldest man apologises for still being alive
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:02:15 +1000

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CryoNet" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 7:00 PM
Subject: CryoNet #29568 - #29570


>
> Message #29569
> From: "Basie" <>
> Subject: World's oldest man apologises for still being alive
> Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:38:18 -0400
>
> A 111-year-old Japanese engineer born at the end of the century before 
> last
> was awarded official recognition on Monday as the world's newest oldest 
> man,
> and joked he was sorry for still being alive.
>
> Tomoji Tanabe, a teetotaller who has repeatedly said that avoiding alcohol
> was a secret of his longevity,

Well I doubt if that had anything to do with it. A glass of red wine (or 
sake) might have prolonged it.

>was given a certificate from the Guinness
> Book of World Records by the mayor of his local municipality.
>
> Tanabe, from Miyazaki prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, was 
> born
> on September 18 1895 -- before Japan became a world player, Australia 
> became
> independent

in 1901 (the event is called 'Federation')

>or the Wright Brothers created the first plane.

Some people believe that the first powered flight was not by the Wright 
brothers but by a New Zealander called Richard Pearse in 1902:

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html

No doubt it is partly a matter of definition, e.g. what counts as a flight.

> "It is nothing special," he said, adding tongue-in-cheek, "I have lived 
> too
> long. I am sorry."
>
> With the recognition, Japan boasts having both the world's oldest man and
> the oldest woman -- Yone Minagawa (114), who also lives in Kyushu.

But they are both much younger than the longest lived human (Jeanne Calment 
of France who lived to be 122). Apparently the Japanese man, Shigechiyo 
Izumi, formerly thought to have been 120 when he died, may have been 
confused with an older brother of the same name who died young. (Of course 
he would still have been extremely old.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people

The oldest man in Britain is Henry Allingham who celebrated his 111th 
birthday on 6 June this year. He is the oldest living WWI veteran and the 
last survivor of the Battle of Jutland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham

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