And a great-great grandmother enjoyed her 100th birthday with only her 25th party on the day

Women may well feel free to propose to their partners any day of the week these days, but the Irish tradition of female proposals on Leap Day is in full swing after a man was left “gobsmacked” when his girlfriend popped the question 450ft above Brighton beach.

“It was 9am and a leap year so Bobby didn’t hang about,” said lighting designer Steve Haw, who described how they had ascended the British Airways i360 observation tower next to Brighton Pier before legal secretary Bobby Davison popped the question early on Saturday.

“I am gobsmacked and really touched that Bobby went to such an effort to bring me to Brighton and propose on the i360. The whole thing just makes me love her even more.”

The couple, who met 13 years ago on an 80s Butlins weekend, were then serenaded by local singer Ella Croucher, who sang James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful, a song close to the couple’s hearts.



“It’s only fitting that an engagement between us would not be your typical proposal,” said Davison.

Meanwhile, thousands of people across the UK who were born on 29 February celebrated their birthday on the actual anniversary of the one-every-four-year occasion.

Doris Cleife, a retired hairdresser who turned 100 on Saturday, has only partied on the day 25 times and will enjoy the day eating biscuits and pate at a soiree with her family before another bash at her care home in Portsmouth.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Doris Cleife with family and friends as she enjoys a surprise birthday party. Photograph: PA

“I think to myself, I never dreamed I would get this far, I lost my mother when she was quite young and my granny died when she was 47 but here we are, and I have a sister who is 98,” she said.

When asked how it feels to only have had 25 birthdays, she said: “I don’t feel any different. I’ve waited all my life to be famous and now it happens like this.”

She said the secret to her longevity was eating well and walking whenever she could. “I have always worked hard, but I did a lot of walking, and I think walking is good for you, it keeps you fit, well at least it did me.”