The oldest living man in the world has reached the age of 112 in his nursing home in Merseyside.

John Alfred Tinniswood, who lives in Southport, attributed his long life to “pure luck” and said he followed no special diet other than eating fish and chips every Friday.

Tinniswood was born in 1912 – the same year the Titanic sank. Earlier this year he became the world’s oldest living man, inheriting the title from 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez of Venezuela, who died in April.

Tinniswood already held the title of Britain’s oldest man, which he achieved in 2020.

A lifelong Liverpool football fan, Tinniswood was born in the city just 20 years after the club’s formation and has witnessed almost all of the club’s highs and lows, including all eight of the Reds’ FA Cup wins and most of their league victories.

He met his wife Blodwen at a dance in town and the couple were together for 44 years before she died in 1986. Their daughter Susan was born in 1943 and he is now a great-grandfather.

Tinniswood served in an administrative capacity for the Army Pay Corps and is the oldest living male veteran of World War II. He later worked as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972.

Tinniswood still lives his life largely unassisted – he manages his own finances, follows the news on the radio and gets up alone every morning.

He can only attribute his good health and long life to sheer luck – and perhaps an active lifestyle in his youth. “You either live long or you live short, and there’s not much you can do about it,” he said when he set the Guinness World Record earlier this year.

“I don’t feel that old, I’m not nervous. That’s probably why I’ve achieved it,” he added. “I just take it in stride like everything else. Why I’ve lived so long, I don’t know at all.”

“I can’t think of any special secrets. I was quite active as a youngster and I ran a lot. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. But for me, I’m no different (for anyone). Not different at all.”

Looking back on his long life, he says the key may be to do everything in moderation. “I eat what they give me, and so does everyone else. I don’t have a special diet,” he says.

“If you drink too much or eat too much or walk too much, if you do too much of anything, you will eventually suffer.”

Tinniswood has received a birthday card from the late Queen every year since he turned 100 in 2012. He survived her reign, despite being born almost 14 years later. He has also lived through the tenure of 24 British Prime Ministers.

When asked how the world had changed in his lifetime, he said: “The world is constantly changing in its own way. It’s kind of an ongoing process… It’s getting a little better, but not that much yet. It’s going in the right direction.”

When asked for his advice for the younger generation, he said, “Always do your best, whether you are learning something or teaching someone something. Give it everything you have. Otherwise, it’s not worth bothering with.”

The oldest man ever recorded was Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who died in 2013 at the age of 116 years and 54 days.

The world’s oldest living person is 116-year-old Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka. She took over the title just this month from Maria Branyas Morera, who died in her nursing home in Olot, northeastern Spain, at the age of 117 years and 168 days.

The oldest person known to have died is the Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.

Also happened in 1912 …

In Great Britain, King George V was on the throne and the British Empire covered an estimated one-fifth of the world. The Prime Minister was the Liberal Lord Asquith.

In the United States, New Mexico and Arizona became the 47th and 48th states, and by an act of Congress, the Territory of Alaska was declared an organized territory incorporated into the United States.

In January, the Republic of China was founded, ending over 2,000 years of imperial rule.

Also in January, the British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the geographic South Pole, but discovered that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had arrived 34 days earlier.

In April, the Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, killing more than 1,600 people.

In the same month, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, died in London at the age of 64.

In September, Blackpool’s famous illuminations were lit for the first time to commemorate the town’s first royal visit: that of Princess Louise, the sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.