'I'm 105 — the secret to a long life is Marmite for breakfast and sherry before bed'
A widow who recently celebrated her 105th birthday has shared the secret to a long life is her daily routine of Marmite on toast for breakfast and two glasses of sherry before bed.
Joan Prince has lived through five monarchs, 28 prime ministers, survived two world wars and a global pandemic.
Surrounded by her family while celebrating her birthday, she revealed the simple pleasures she believes have contributed to her living to such an impressive age.
"My mum used to slather it really thick, you're not supposed to do that," she says of her Marmite on toast habit. "It's not done me any harm though."
Other than that and her nightly sherries, which she says "help her sleep", Joan says she doesn't have any other regular rituals, though she does say she's danced a lot and has never smoked.
At the age of just 17, Joan got engaged to her boyfriend of two years, Granville Prince, but was told by her mother, Eliza, that she couldn't get married until she was 21.
The couple eventually tied the knot on Boxing Day in 1939 and moved into their home in the Stocksbridge area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where Joan still lives today.
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While the great-great-grandmother-of-seven adores ballroom, she said her husband "couldn't dance a step."
But, that didn't stop her from dancing until she the grand age of 96.
"I used to dance, garden, paint, draw, embroider, knit, but now my eyesight is gone, I can’t do that anymore," she explains.
"I used to sing a bit too, but I don't anymore."
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In terms of her career, Joan worked at her parent’s fish and chip shop, Mill’s, from the age of 14, where she was tasked with the role of cutting up the newspaper to wrap the chips in.
She was then "promoted to behind the counter" at the age of15.
"The pubs were closed at 10 and we stayed open until 11, so everyone would come down - it used to be so busy," she says of the time.
"It cost three pence for the fish and the chips."
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When the Second World War started, Joan ran a grocers’ out of what is now her living room but had to close it in the 1970s when large supermarkets started opening.
"It wasn't easy, because everything was rationed," she explains. "We started on the back foot, but I loved it.
"It only shut it down when they built the shops nearby. I lost my trade completely.
"I closed it in the 70s and I took over the fish shop."
Although the mum-of-three was surrounded by her family to celebrate her Birthday, she said she wishes more of her friends were still alive to mark the occasion with her.
"I love being with people, and it’s not a house that enjoys loneliness," she says. "I have never thought about going anywhere else.
"Even if I won a million pounds, I wouldn't move from my home."
Additional reporting SWNS.
