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Britain’s 12th oldest man has turned 107 and revealed the secret to his long life – Shredded Wheat. Leonard Howes, born in 1916, served in World War 2 and has seen five different monarchs during his lifetime.
Mr Howes has now received four cards from Buckingham Palace – one for his 100th, 105th birthday and every year after. Leonard, the oldest person from his home city of Bristol, honoured his 107th birthday with all his family by his side.
Carol Howes, his daughter-in-law, said: “He puts his long life down to eating Shredded Wheat with full fat milk and plenty of sugar for as long as he can remember.” Bristol City fan Len, as he is affectionately known by his family, left school aged 14 to train as a plumber.
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In 1937 he got a job with Post Office Telephones, where he would work for the next 44 years and retired in 1981 aged 65 – just after it became known as British Telecom. Len served in World War Two in the Royal Corp of Signals as an electrical engineer.
He was based at a military station in Wiltshire, Box Hill, during the Blitz and repaired bomb damage to telephone cables. Mr Howes also worked intercepting possible enemy communication and electrical signals at the Forest Moor ‘Y’ station, a Royal Navy land base in Harrogate.
On VE day in 1945, Leonard marched proudly through the town applauded by cheering crowds. Although Len is now 107, both his parents both died in 1945 and 46.
His wife Alice passed away in December 2000, aged 81. The pair were married for 60 years. He has now lived in Newquay in Cornwall with David, his only child and his daughter-in-law Carol for 10 years.
Carol added: “Len had a lovely time celebrating with the rest of the family including his grandson Nick, granddaughter, Jenny and great grandsons, Ollie and Jacob. We always think of a theme for his birthday cake and this year it was a cake with fish and chips and mushy peas made from icing, his favourite meal, so it was fish and chips all round on Saturday.”
Carol says Len, despite being near-deaf, is still active in keeping up-to-date with current affairs and training his brain. She added: “At 95 we gave him an iPad which he uses every day to follow the news and help him solve crosswords.
“He also uses “Find Friends” to the follow the family on their journeys when visiting from Bristol and Swindon. Just lately he has become a bit forgetful and a bit unsteady on his legs and uses a walking frame to get around, but for his age he is doing extremely well.”
He turned 107 on October 14.
