Sweden’s oldest man, Eric Gottfrid Andersson, turned 108 at the weekend and puts his long life down to eating healthy food and not smoking. Andersson, from western Sweden, became the country’s oldest person when Sven Hedberg, also aged 108, passed away last year. He now resides in an old people’s home in Varberg.
The centenarian explained that he has always looked after his body by eating good food and staying clear of tobacco. He says these days he lives his life by taking one day at a time.
The birthday boy was born in 1905 just after the dissolution of the union between Sweden and neighbouring Norway; was seven the year Sweden hosted the Olympics and the Titanic sank (1912); and has survived two world wars. However, he says one memory that really stands out is when electricity was introduced to his hometown.
He explained that everyone was so excited as they’d been used to paraffin lights and suddenly they only needed to press a button when they wanted light. He said it was then he decided he would become an electrician, a trade he would work in for 60 years.
Andersson has a bit to go to become the oldest ever person in Sweden; Astrid Zachrison died in 2008 just days before her 113th birthday. The world’s oldest person, meanwhile, is Japan’s Misao Okawa, who has now reached the ripe old age of 115.