World's oldest man Bob Weighton aged 112 dies

The world's oldest man Bob Weighton, from Alton in Hampshire, has died of cancer at the age of 112.

Bob Weighton died peacefully in his sleep from cancer on the morning of Thursday 28 May at his apartment in Alton managed by Brendoncare.

Bob Weighton was born in Hull on 29 March 1908. He got the Guinness World Record for being the world's oldest man in March, following the death of Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan who was also 112.

'He viewed everyone as his brother'

Mr Weighton's family said in a statement: "Bob was an extraordinary man, and to the family not really because of the amazing age he reached.

"A role model to us all, he lived his life interested in and engaged with all kinds of people from across the world.

"He viewed everyone as his brother or sister and believed in loving and accepting and caring for one another.

"He had many, many friendships and read and talked politics, theology, ecology and more right up until his death. He also cared greatly for the environment.

"The second bedroom in his flat was a workshop, filled with furniture, windmills and puzzles he made and sold in aid of charity, often from bits of wood pulled from skips.

"We are so grateful that until the very end Bob remained our witty, kind, knowledgeable, conversationalist father, grandfather and great grandfather, and we will miss him greatly."

Bob lived independently in one of 46 apartments at Brendoncare Alton for the past 24 years. He wrote articles for local magazines and gave presentations about his life and environmental issues to community groups and school children.

Lynne Hewitt, general manager at Brendoncare Alton, said, “Whilst we will all miss Bob greatly it has been a privilege and a pleasure to have known and spent time with this extraordinary man."

Mr Weighton celebrated his last birthday on 29 March without family or friends visiting because of the coronavirus lockdown. Only care workers were able to see Bob on his birthday.

He is survived by his children David and Dorothy, 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

Bob’s grandson, Magnus Weighton, said of Brendoncare: “Brendoncare has and will continue to provide incredible service to the elderly, driven by the compassionate, professional and personable service of your staff. Huge thanks to them all. You have all made Bob’s life so enjoyable and easy with the connections you’ve made with him. He’s loved living with you.”

Lived through five British monarchs and 22 PMs

Born in 1908, Mr Weighton lived through the global pandemic that was 1918’s ‘Spanish’ flu which infected a quarter of the planet’s population. He also survived cholera, smallpox and two world wars.

He has lived through the reigns of five British monarchs, 22 UK prime ministers and 21 US presidents. He celebrated his 35th birthday on the same day the former British Prime Minister John Major was born.

Translated enemy broadcasts during war

He studied for a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1933, he decided to volunteer to teach English in Taiwan. He initially spent two years learning Japanese, and then taught English in a school for four years, during which time he married his fiancée.

When warnings of the Second World War were made in 1939, he decided to leave for England. However, on the way across the Pacific to Canada, war broke out and he lived in Canada and the USA until the end of the war.

During the second world war, Bob Weighton worked with the British Government, inspecting aircraft engines for delivery to the RAF. He translated enemy broadcasts and prepared programmes in Japanese to be broadcast to Japan under the title of the ‘Voice of Britain’.

He had three children and became a lecturer in mechanical engineering at the City University of London, where he continued working until his retirement in 1973.

Mr Weighton has celebrated birthdays with Britain’s former joint oldest man Alf Smith from St Madoes in Perthshire, Scotland who died at the age of 111 in August 2019.

The two men would exchange birthday greetings every year until Alf's death last August. Mr Weighton stopped receiving birthday cards from the Queen because he was not happy that it cost the taxpayer money to send them.

’Far better to make a friend out of a possible enemy’

In an interview recorded for carehome.co.uk after his 110th birthday, Bob Weighton shared some wise words for younger people.

The man born in Hull said: “I don’t think you should cease to be what you were born into. I’m just as proud now of being a Yorkshire man as I ever was.

“I think my horizons have expanded to an extent which I hadn’t dreamed they would do. Although I did travel, the most valuable experience is not the actual travel.

“It’s living in a community which is not the same as what you were born into. To include in my friendships people of totally different nationality, language and social structures.

“Although you recognise differences…in the end I found it possible to have the same sort of human relationships with anybody else".

He said: “You can’t live in a world where everything is perfect from your point of view and destructive from somebody else’s.

“It’s far better to make a friend out of a possible enemy, then it is to make an enemy out of a possible friend”.

Mr Weighton was born on the same day as Britain's oldest woman Joan Hocquard from Poole in Dorset. Joan Hocquard became Britain’s oldest woman after the death of 111-year-old Hilda Clulow on Christmas Eve in 2019.

Though Joan and Bob have never met, Mr Weighton said on his last birthday: "I don't know Joan but I would like to send her my best wishes for her birthday."

Mr Weighton's death has led to Dumitru Com nescu, from Romania, becoming the world's oldest man. He is 111 years and 202 days old.

Referring to his long life and the events he has lived through, Mr Weighton once said: “I’ve learned to take things as they come and trust that all will be well and it usually has been”.

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