Posted on 09/25/2010 1:50:50 PM PDT by smokingfrog
A pensioner who has smoked almost 300,000 cigarettes during his lifetime has celebrated his 100th birthday.
Arthur Langran, who survived being blown up by a grenade during the Second World War, claims the secret behind his longevity is always doing what everyone tells him not to.
The father-of-two started smoking when he was 20 and has smoked at least ten cigarettes every day since then - the equivalent of 292,000.
The centenarian, from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, also drinks a glass of single malt whisky every night before he goes to bed, another factor he credits for his long life.
That one glass though, added up, equates to 900 bottles of the spirit but Arthur claims he has no plans to change his ways.
'I always say the secret is doing things you're not told to do,' he said.
'I have been smoking since I was 20 and I still enjoy it - and a pipe.'
He celebrated his birthday with a drink at his local pub on September 8th.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“
The centenarian...also drinks a glass of single malt whisky every night
before he goes to bed, another factor he credits for his long life.
“
Really, the press let us down...by not telling which single malt whiskey
the gent consumes.
I also can’t help but wonder if those grenade fragments contributed
to his longevity...adjusted his mindset to never sweat the small stuff
and enjoy some pleasures (no matter how criticized).
I always expect to hear one of these “anti-everything” people to say “imagine how long he would live if he didn’t smoke, maybe he would live to 150.”
That is an emotional, not a factual, intelligent or thoughtful reply. It is a reply deflecting attention from the point raised.
(you better see the humor in this post as I refuse to apply the sarc tag).
We celebrate these people because they were the lifestyle survival exceptions.
“How long he would have lived”
He’s still living, according to the article.
You’re just going to have to wait fifty years to see if he makes it to 150!
I guess you meant “how long he’s going to live”.
Anyway, for me, and just me alone, smoking is an unhealthy habit I quit fully thirty years ago (I’m 61). I don’t begrudge those who smoke their habit. The smell of tobacco smoke doesn’t bother me. Secondhand smoke my foot!
BTW, as a law enforcement issue the smell of marijuana smoke bothers me big time so fire away you THC libertarians.
My father smoked Camel non-filters for 80 years, Half a pack a day. Dr. was surprised when he saw an open pack in his shirt pocket. His chest x-rays were perfectly clean and healthy. He died at 92 from a bad fall.
Hey, checked your page and give you big kudos for "going in" at age 34....I did it at age 19 in 1966 and thought I was too friggin old even then! Good on ya.....funny what the decades bring in the way of change - there was NO phocking way that (even if it had been invented) any of us USMC boot maggots would have gotten internet access, let alone be given the time, to jump onto FR!
"Back in the day", it was the non-smokers who took the flack....when the drill intructors would call a 'smoker's formation' (where we'd puff while standing at Attention), they'd assign one nicotine free kid as "Ashtray", who would walk around the formation with an inverted metal shitcan lid for us to flick into.....for the rest of our herd, the DI's barked out, "Non smokers, run into the head and brush your fangs"............I think that more than a few Boots took up smoking just to avoid bruising their gums.
(And, yes, our DI's were all skinny, smoking "mountain goats" and could run rings around us kids.....)
Reminds me of a joke I read yesterday on the OFST...about a cowboy who's grandfather gave him the key to longevity: "Sprinkle a bit of gunpowder on your eggs each morning", to which he adopted.
When he died at age 98, the cowboy left 4 kids, 9 grandkids, 12 great grandkids, and a 14 square foot hole in the crematorium's wall"...
this seems to be an English thing -
there was a married couple a few weeks ago, in England, who were both older than this - and they mention the whiskey every night -
I had a friend here, an English lady, who passed at 103 - not from illness, per se. She was in in really remarkable health. But she fell, hurt her leg and was in a nursing home - where they immediately put her on 5 prescription drugs (she had not been on ANY) They were contraindicated, made her confused, combative and incontinent - terrible for a proper little English lady. She decided she'd been around long enough and refused all meds, food and drink - and was gone quite swiftly.
Before the nursing home, she had had a physical: heart, lungs, etc - all good. Her mind was sharper than the proverbial tack along with her sense of humor. I do believe she could have made it to 107 easy.
She loved her whiskey - EVERY night - and her Old Fashions when we went out to dinner.
I do wish I could stand whisky!
Actually I had fewer colds when I smoked but did have some coughing with certain brands.
Started with Lucky Strike and ended with those long thin cigs with dark paper.
Can’t remember the name.
I’m on a weekend pass. OCS begins Monday. Thanks for your recollections!
Reference bump - least I’ll die happy! ;-)
Good Luck.
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