Born in south London in June 1896, Henry Allingham's life spanned three centuries: the 19th, the 20th and the 21st.

He was the last founding member of the Royal Air Force and he's believed to have been the oldest man to have lived in Britain and he died today.

When queried, he jokingly attributed his long life to "cigarettes, whiskey and wild wild women".

From the Telegraph.co.uk obituary:

Air Mechanic Henry Allingham, who died on Saturday aged 113 [and 42 days], was considered the world's oldest man and the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland and of the Royal Naval Air Service; he was also haunted by nightmarish memories of falling into a trench on the Western Front.

With a clear mind until his own death, Allingham could recall the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901, the Wright brothers' first flight, and seeing WG Grace bat at the Oval in July 1903 – when he scored 15 and 19 in each innings.

His experience of the trenches came was when he was looking to salvage spares from the remains of aircraft that had been shot down. "We were moving forward at night," he would recall. "I was very apprehensive. It was dark. One of those nights you got where the night time seems to surround you. There were booby traps everywhere."

Suddenly his foothold gave way: "I fell into a shell hole. It was full of arms, legs, ears, dead rats – a lot of dead, rotten flesh. I was up to my armpits in water. I can't describe the smell of flesh and mud mixed up together. I turned to my left, and that's what saved me. It got shallower to the left, and I was able to lift myself out of the water. I lay there in the dark, not daring to move, cold and with my uniform stinking. I was frightened. I was scared. I was so relieved when it finally got light and I could move."

Despite such a gruesome experience, Allingham counted himself fortunate: "I think I had an angel hanging over my shoulders. I still do, I hope."

Read the rest of the obituary on the Telegraph.co.uk site. See also the BBC obit and the Wikipedia entry.

Someone buy this man some new shoes! This is the guy - his name is Muntazer al-Zaidi - who tossed his size 10 shoes at (p)Resident Shrub. According to some reports, shoe throwing is one of the worst insults you can heap on anyone in that part of the world. Who knew. Here's the video and story.