No - not the rugby again, but the meaning of life for Henry Allingham.

Henry Allingham was named yesterday by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest man at 113 Not Out. This title follows the death in Japan yesterday of the previous holder, Tomoji Tanabe.

Mr Allingham, born in 1896, has experienced three centuries, six monarchs and six generations. He has five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great-grandchildren and a great-great-great-grandchild.

His spokesman, Dennis Goodwin, said at  St Dunstan's care home for blind ex–service personnel in Ovingdean, near Brighton: "He is very hard of hearing. Generally though, his health is very good. He is very active still for his age. He's getting a little bit frail now; his taste is non-existent so he can't enjoy eating or drinking. He doesn't have as much strength as before, but he is still willing. He still wants to go out."

Mr Allingham, one of only two surviving First World War veterans in the UK, the sole survivor of the 1916 Battle of Jutland, and the last surviving founder member of the RAF, once attributed his grand age to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women".