The secret of living 110 years? Britain's oldest man says it's all to do with a magic potion from India

Reg Dean becomes Britain's oldest man on Sunday

He thanks an 'elixir of life' given to him by an Indian doctor during the Second World War



He has lived to see 26 prime ministers, received seven telegrams from the Queen and was alive when the Wright brothers piloted the first powered plane in 1903.

But Britain’s oldest man – who turns 110 tomorrow – says his longevity isn’t entirely down to his strict vegetarian diet or his favourite tipple, gin.

The Reverend Reg Dean instead attributes it to a ‘mysterious brown-looking’ elixir of life given to him by a doctor when he was an army chaplain in India.

Celebrations: Reg Dean celebrated his 110th birthday in November last year

‘He said to me, “I have concocted a drink that will make you live for ever”, or something like that, and would I like to take it?’ he recalled yesterday.

‘Well I’m very naive, I can’t say no, so I drank it and here I am.’

The former teacher and church minister was born on November 4, 1902, in Tunstall, Staffordshire.

Reflecting on all he has witnessed, he said: ‘I remember before the days of Tarmac, the roads were all dust heaps.

‘I can remember hearing about the sinking of the Titanic when I was at my uncle’s farm.’



Early years: Reg Dean pictured in 1903 aged 11 months and as a choirboy aged 12



Growing up: Reg Dean ordained as a minister 1932, left, and in the 1940's during his time with the British Army



Settled life: The minister is snapped smiling in the 1960s, left, and painting in the early 1980s



The three-times married minister, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, has one son and two grandchildren.

He was ordained in the 1920s and later volunteered as an army chaplain in Burma and India during the Second World War.



In 1958, Mr Dean became a teacher and later served as minister at the United Reformed Churches in Wirksworth and Matlock, before retiring 29 years ago, aged 80.

Mr Dean, who received telegrams to mark his 100th and 105th birthdays and one every year since, says he wants to live until he is 120. The world’s oldest living man, aged 115, is Jiroemon Kimura from Japan.