Europe's oldest man, Henry Allingham is 112 today. He has jokingly said that the secret to his longevity is "cigarettes, whisky and wild women". His life has spanned six monarchs and has taken in 21 prime ministers.
Now partially deaf and almost blind, Mr Allingham, who was born in Clapham, London, now lives at St Dunstan's home for blind ex-servicemen, in Ovingdean.
Mr Allingham is the oldest surviving World War I British veteran, a founding member of the Royal Air Force and the last known survivor of the Battle of Jutland. In August 2005 he led the nation in the Lord's Prayer at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 1. In 2003 he was awarded the French Legion d'Honneur.
Licence Henry Allingham portraits here.
how come is ... wild women ?
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of Henry Allingham. I have a favour to ask.
ReplyDeleteAny idea of how to contact him?
I am an actor, currently writing and putting on a two man show highlighting the fact that a huge proportion (between 12 and 25%) of London's homeless are ex-servicemen, and I want the play to encompass as many conflicts as possible. I want to show how a heroic man like Henry Allingham has been, quite rightly, taken care of post conlfict, yet up to 1100 veterans sleep rough - and thats jsut in London.
PLease, if you know of any way to contact him, let me know on tdc_89@hotmail.com. Thank you so much.
Yours,
Tom Canton