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Yorkshirewoman, 109, says ‘cigarettes and alcohol’ are the secret to long life

Yorkshirewoman Minnie has credited a life of cigarettes and brandy for helping her to reach such an impressive age.

Georgina Pellant - 7th December 2021

One of the oldest women in the UK has said that cigarettes and alcohol are the secrets to a long life as she prepares to celebrate her 109th birthday.

Yorkshirewoman Minnie Liddle, who at 108 is the oldest woman in Doncaster and the seventh oldest in the UK, has credited a life full of cigarettes and brandy for helping her to reach such an impressive age.

The centenarian smoked for the majority of her life, only quitting at the tender age of 99, and still enoys a daily glass of brandy or Bailey's at Stainforth’s Oldfield House care home where she has lived for the past four years.

Only leaving her own home at aged 104, Minnie lived independently until recently and is now set to mark her next milestone this Sunday. Her own mother lived to 101. 

It will see her close in on the title of oldest person in the UK. The title is currently held by Mary Walker, aged 112 - however Britain’s oldest person ever, Charlotte Hughes, made it to 115 before passing away in 1993.

According to the Yorkshire Post Minnie's granddaughter Joy Young reportedly said of her grandma on her birthday last year, “She lived in her own bungalow until she was 104 - and she only gave up smoking when she was 99, and she still loves a brandy."

She has lived through two pandemics, unlike most of her neighbours, and is one of the few people alive in her borough today who can still remember the Spanish flu, which first swept across the country in 1918. 

She has also lived through two world wars, four different monarchs, and twenty one different prime ministers to date.

Originally brought up in Sunderland, Minnie lived there with her husband, Albert, until the 1960s when the family moved to Doncaster due to Albert's job.

She worked at the Barnes Hotel during the war whilst her husband was overseas in the army, he then worked as a stonemason making gravestones on his return before taking a job with warehouse retail firm Pearlmans. 

It was this position that ultimately brought the family to Doncaster. 

After Albert died in his early 60s, Minnie moved to Bentley. She now has two sons, seven grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great grandchildren. 

This Sunday, staff will mark her 109th with a special celebration at Stainforth’s Oldfield House care home. 

Feature image - Minnie Liddle