Britain’s Oldest Person Turns 113 Years Old, But Says She Feels 75

BRITAIN’S oldest person Gladys Hooper turns 113 today and yesterday said: “I don’t feel any different to when I was 75.”

The former concert pianist will enjoy her big day with a cup of tea and cake.

When asked what present she would like, Gladys replied: “I wouldn’t mind a nice new set of teeth.”
She entered the Guinness Book of Records in October when she became the world’s oldest person to have a new hip.


And she is to feature in a documentary about the first German Zeppelin to be shot down, which she witnessed in 1916.

As a child . . . two-year-old Gladys sitting on her fathers lap.  photo credit: Family Handout/PA Wire

Gladys was born in 1903, raised in Brighton and became a pianist with big bands in London.

She started the first car hire firm in the capital and later ran what became Brighton College.

She now lives in a nursing home in Ryde on the Isle of Wight..

Her son Derek Hermiston, 85, said: “We see her hands moving up and down and I think she dreams quite a lot of her piano days.

“Melodies go through her head. Music gave her a very happy life, and I think it sustains her in these later years.”

Gladys and husband Leslie on their wedding day in 1922. photo credit: Family Handout/PA Wire

Gladys lost husband Leslie, a pilot in both world wars, in 1988.

She became the UK’s oldest last January after Ethel Lang died aged 114.