‘It is just one of those things’: Briton becomes oldest man in the world

‘I don’t really feel satisfied because it means someone else has died,’ he says

A Briton has become the oldest man in the world after the former title holder died in Japan.

Bob Weighton, who is 111 years old, said his new status was “just one of those things”.

The Hampshire resident said: “I don’t really feel satisfied because it means someone else has died.”

“It is not something I ever intended, wanted or worked for but it is just one of those facts of life.”

Chitetsu Watanabe died at the weekend, just days after collecting his Guinness World Record certificate for being the world’s oldest man.

The 112-year-old had put his long life down to his ability to keep smiling.

The title has now passed onto Mr Weighton, who was born in Hull on 29 March in 1908.

Speaking as the oldest man in the world, he said: “You might find it amazing but it is just one of those things.”

Mr Weighton once worked as an English teacher in Taiwan, and decoded Japanese military communications in Canada during the Second World War.

He then returned to the UK with his wife Agnes, who he married in Hong Kong in 1937.

Mr Weighton now lives in Alton, Hamsphire, in his own flat.

Several years ago, Mr Weighton said he had asked to stop receiving birthday cards from the Queen each year because he did not want to have “a huge collection” in his apartment.

“I did accept one from her two years ago,” he said in 2017, “because it is the only one I’d seen that she was smiling on.”

He is due to celebrate his 112th birthday next month.

Additional reporting by Press Association