Henry Allingham

]

On 23 September 2008, Allingham launched a book about his life co-written with Denis Goodwin, with an event at the RAF Club in London. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7632416.stm|title=Oldest man writes his life story |date=2008-09-23|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2008-09-25]

Longevity

Allingham overtook George Frederick Ives as the longest lived member of the British Armed Forces on 1 November 2007. He is therefore the longest lived British World War I veteran to-date and there are only four other British veterans still alive that could challenge this record—Claude Choules, Sydney Lucas, Harry Patch and William Stone. In addition to this record he is currently the oldest living veteran of World War I. He would have to live to 115 years and 157 days to overtake the record for the longest lived member of any armed force in any conflict; this record is held by Emiliano Mercado del Toro of Puerto Rico, who also served in World War I.

Allingham has been the oldest living man in England for several years. Official Guinness World Record recognition came in January 2007. [cite press release | title = Florence Emily Baldwin takes the title as the new Oldest Woman in the UK | publisher = Guinness World Records | date = 2007-02-15 | url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/mediazone/pdfs/news/070215_Oldest_Woman_in_the_UK_dies.pdf
archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/mediazone/pdfs/news/070215_Oldest_Woman_in_the_UK_dies.pdf&date=2007-12-01 | archivedate = 2007-12-01|format=PDF] On 13 February 2007 he became the UK's second-oldest living person behind Florrie Baldwin. Since the death of French supercentenarian Maurice Floquet on 10 November 2006, Allingham is the oldest validated living man in Europe. On 8 February 2007, with the death of 110-year-old Antonio Pierro, he became the oldest known living veteran of World War I as well as the third-oldest living man in the world. The death of Japanese man Sukesaburo Nakanishi on 22 August 2007 meant that Allingham shares the position of second-oldest man in the world with George Francis, an American man also born on 6 June 1896. The only older man is Japan's Tomoji Tanabe, born on 18 September 1895. Allingham famously credits "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women—and a good sense of humour" for his longevity.

War medals and awards

Henry Allingham has four medals, two of which are medals from World War I. In the image above, the necklace medal is the Gold Medal of Saint-Omer, which was awarded to Allingham on 4 August 2004 when he was given the Freedom of the Town of Saint-Omer. The lowermost medal is France's highest military award, the Légion d'honneur, which was awarded to Allingham in 2003. The remaining two medals are British Campaign Medals from World War I. The leftmost chest medal is the British War Medal and on its right is the Victory Medal; those two medals are colloquially known as 'Mutt and Jeff'. The two pictured medals are actually replacement medals supplied by the Ministry of Defence after discovering at a recent cenotaph parade that Allingham's original campaign medals were destroyed during the Blitz of the Second World War. [cite web|url=http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2005/0503/0005032905.asp|title=Navy medals office replaces Allingham's campaign medals|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20050828075114/http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2005/0503/0005032905.asp| date=2005-03-29|archivedate=2007-12-01]

As well as the aforementioned decorations, Allingham has won several awards and honorary memberships. Examples include the Pride of Britain award, and being made an honorary member of the Fleet Air Arm Association.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4314000.stm|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F1%2Fhi%2Fengland%2Fsouthern_counties%2F4314000.stm&date=2007-12-01
title=World War I veterans receives new honour|date=2005-10-06|archivedate=2007-12-02|publisher=BBC Online]

ee also

* List of living supercentenarians
* List of British supercentenarians
* List of the verified oldest men
* Longevity
* Oldest people
* Supercentenarian
* Surviving veterans of World War I

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdbVgzXoZbA BBC video on youtube about Henry Allingham attending a WWII reunion]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6569687.stm Distinguished visitor brings WWI to life]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/4613587.stm BBC News report on Henry Allingham]
* [http://www.raf.mod.uk/ptc/stomerln18.html British Air Services Memorial at Saint-Omer]
* [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16978425&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=ciggies--whisky---wild-women--name_page.html "Mirror" article: Secret of long life by WWI vet, 109]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/5044206.stm Fly-past for Britain's oldest man]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5098174.stm Britain's oldest veteran recalls WWI]
* [http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/250862.html Cricket's oldest fan]
* [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=i-knew-some-men-would-crack&method=full&objectid=18079237&siteid=94762-name_page.html Allingham's views on the poppy debate]
* [http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/generalnews/display.var.1265006.0.europes_oldest_man_joins_pupils_for_podcast.php Report on Henry Allingham speaking at Hazelwick School on March 16, 2007]
* [http://www.hazelwick.w-sussex.sch.uk/podcast/main/Henry_Allingham_1.mp3 MP3 of Henry Allingham speaking at Hazelwick School on March 16, 2007]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6569687.stm BBC News report about Henry Allingham's visit to a school in Tamworth on April 18, 2007]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6727225.stm BBC news article about Henry Allingham's birthday celebrations on June 6, 2007]