This 111-year-old New Yorker is oldest man in world… and admits he has 'no idea' how he's still alive

Alexander Imich from New York was born on February 4, 1903

This was the year that the Wright brothers took off in the first airplane

Mr Imich is baffled as to how he's managed to last for so long

He believes that being teetotal and eating lots of fish may have helped



The man who has officially become the oldest in the world admits that he has no idea how it’s happened.



Alexander Imich, from New York’s Upper West Side, has reached the grand old age of 111.



The supercentenarian (someone older than 110) became the oldest man in the world when Arturo Licata of Italy died on April 24, just one week before his 112th birthday.



Scroll down for video

Golden oldie: Alexander Imich, from New York's Upper West Side, has reached 111 years of age

He told NBC 4, however, that he’s not entirely sure how he’s managed to stay alive for quite so long.

He said: ‘I have no idea how this happened.’

Mr Imich was born on February 4, 1903 – the year the first Teddy Bear went on sale in America and the Wright brothers took to the skies in the first aeroplane.



He was born in Poland and eventually became a chemistry professor. He emigrated to the U.S in 1951 with his wife, Wela, settling at first in Waterbury, Connecticut.

He moved to New York when she passed away in 1986.



Mr Imich thinks his longevity can be partly explained by his sensible diet – he has never drunk alcohol and has always eaten chicken and fish regularly.



He also maintained an active lifestyle when he was younger, being a keen gymnast and swimmer.



He added that a lack of children may have helped, too.



There are currently 66 women older than Mr Imich, according to the Gerontology Research Group in California.

The oldest person in the world is Misao Okawa from Japan, who is five years older than Mr Imich.



OLDING BACK THE YEARS: EVENTS ALEXANDER IMICH HAS LIVED THROUGH Looking back: Mr Imich was alive when Albert Einstein first postulated his E=MC2 equation 1903 - The first Teddy Bear went on sale in America

- First flight made by Orville Wright in North Carolina

- Italo Marchiony granted patent for the ice cream cone

1904 - First mainline electric train runs in the UK from Liverpool to Southport

1905 - Albert Einstein formulates the E=mc2 equation

1906 - Rolls Royce firm created

1908 - First Model T Ford leaves the firm's Detroit factory

1909 - Construction of Pearl Harbor base begins

1912 - Titanic sinks

1914 - World War I begins

1916 - Albert Einstein presents his General Theory of Relativity

1918 - World War I ends

1923 - First transatlantic transmission of a voice takes place

1928 - Penicillin invented by Alexander Fleming

1929 - Great Depression of America

1933 - Assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D Roosevelt

1939 - World War II starts

1955 - Disneyland Park opened in California

1963 - JFK assassinated

1969 - First man on the moon

- Internet arrives

1977 - Star Wars released

1980 - Mount St Helens erupts

1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

1987 - DNA used to convict criminals for the first time

1989 - Berlin wall falls

1997 - Princess Diana dies

2001- Wikipedia is launched

2005 - YouTube launched

2009 - Barack Obama is sworn in