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A Devon man who has just celebrated his 103rd birthday says the secret to his long life is working hard until he was 80 and never dropping the stir fry.

Frederick Vinecombe was born in the same year World War One broke out - 1914 - but says the secret of his long life has been trying to keep out of trouble.

But Mr Vinceombe's attempts at staying away from danger haven't always worked out - he was a flight captian during World War Two and was shot down over France - spending the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war.

After his combat adventures, Mr Vinecombe continued to work, and stayed employed right up until he was 80.

He said: “I kept out of trouble. I was doing a [tax] collection job, I worked until I was 80, I used to go up and down on them [Devonport tower blocks].

“We always had green stuff, the food was really good, nothing half cooked. She [his wife] didn’t seem to fry much, we had a good roast Sundays, and Monday we had a nice dinner.”

After the War, Mr Vinecombe went on to work for a clothing club and was taken on by Batten Finance at the age of 65. He continued to work until he was 80, when he was forced to retire as his eyesight had deteriorated, reports plymouthherald .

In his job at Batten Finance, he used to spend his working day on foot collecting money for the finance company and his daughter Denise Rawlings said that he was a "workaholic who loved his job".

Mr Vinecombe reminisced of when he used to irritate his wife to make his children, Denise and Keith laugh.

He said: “I used to shake food about in the frying pan without any fat on it, it was like a Chinese meal, I used to toss it up in the air and these two [Denise and Keith] were kiddies then.

“They were saying ‘go on dad, do it again, do it again’, and she [his wife] said to me ‘if you miss that meal and it falls on the floor I’ll hit you on the head with the frying pan’.

“Didn’t they laugh, they wanted to see me miss it, trying to get me into trouble.

“I would have never reached this age if I had missed it.”

Unfortunately Mr Vinecombe suffers from macular degeneration, a hereditary condition, meaning his sight has got gradually worse over the past 20 years.

He grew up in St Judes and has lived at Pocklington home for the blind in Plympton for the past 23 years.

His daughter said that her dad is not on any medication, has all of his own teeth and has never been in hospital for illness. Mr Vinecombe can still walk on his own and lives independently in assisted accommodation.

She added: “I think he thinks he’s going to be immortal, he’s never been ill or in hospital, he’s really enjoyed his life.

“He’s amazing, dad always maintains if you don’t use it you lose it. He’s not giving in, he’s got so much determination.

“Dad’s dad lived to 91, so it is in the genes. Hopefully I will follow them. His physio told him that he doesn’t know many 100-year-olds that are still walking around. I am so proud of him.

“He’s an inspiration really.”

Mr Vinecombe has two children, Denise, 65, and Keith, 61, three grandchildren, Claire, 45, David, 26 and Richard, 30 and two great-grandchildren, Millie, 14 and Isla, ten.

Mrs Rawlings said: “He got shot down over France, he escaped and the French Resistance picked him up and went to Paris, then he got picked up by the Germans and taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

“Sometimes it still upsets dad, it still gives him nightmares. Dad was one of the six men who pulled the carts of the bodies through the woods.

“He’s been really lucky, he’s had quite a traumatic life, he weighed six stone when he came back to England.”

War sites online show that Mr Vinecombe was in the Crew of Lancaster KB727.

It confirms that the KB727 was shot down by a night-fighter reported to be a Ju88, in the early hours of the morning on July, 5, 1944.

It details how Mr Vinecombe’s crew were first held in the overcrowded Frenes Prison, “a hideous place with even worse conditions”.

It is thought that Mr Vinecombe is the only surviving member of the crew.

Mrs Rawlings added: “He’s the sort of man who won’t give up, he’s very tenacious. He still plays bingo twice a week and goes to Sainsbury's with me every Monday.”