Last respects to world's oldest man Henry Allingham

At a moving ceremony in Brighton on Thursday 30 July hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their last respects to Henry Allingham the world's oldest man at 113 and a veteran of World War 1. He was given full military honours which included a flypast by five replica World War one aircraft.

In honour of the 113 years of his life a solitary church bell tolled 113 times. As six servicemen carried his coffin which was draped in the red, white and blue of the union flag there was spontaneous applause from gathering crowds.

Henry would jokingly put his advanced age down to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women"! He had spent the final years of his life in a care home on the English south coast.

Vice Admiral St Adrian Johns said: "Henry blew the dust off the history books for us, gave us an insight into our heritage and reminded us of our roots and those who have gone before us." Henry had been a direct link to the past and often gave talks in local schools to make sure that the events in World War 1 would not be forgotten after his death.

The world's eldest man is now an American 112-year old, Walter Breuning.

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