The Gordon Bennett Cup is the world’s oldest and most prestigious gas balloon race, the first one taking place on 30 September 1906 in Paris, France. It was suspended for World Wars 1 & 2 and only recommenced after WW2 in 1979. The aim of the race was to fly the furthest distance from the launch site. Originally sponsored by James Gordon Bennett Jr, a millionaire sportsman and owner of the New York Herald, it was resurrected in 1979 by the American, Tom Heinsheimer and
Continue reading →
Bertha Wood (UK; b. 20 June 1905) had her first book, Fresh Air and Fun: The Story of a Blackpool Holiday Camp published on her 100th birthday on 20 June 2005. The book is based on her memoirs, which she began writing at the age of 90.
The oldest competitive female bodybuilder is E. Wilma Conner (USA, b. 09 May 1935). She last competed in the 2011 NPC Armbrust Pro Gym Warrior Classic Bodybuilding Championships in Loveland, Colorado, USA, on 20 August 2011.
The oldest biological molecules isolated to date are around 125 million years old. They were extracted from the rib of an iguanodon which had been found in a quarry in Surrey, UK. The research was carried out by Liverpool University, the University of Wales and the Natural History Museum (all UK) and the results were announced in September 2003.
The oldest living US dollar billionaire is John Simplot (USA, b.4 January 1909), who had a net worth valued at $3.2 billion (£1.6 billion) when listed on Forbes.com on 8 March 2007, aged 98 years 63 days. Mr Simplot of Boise, Idaho, USA, self-made his fortune in the agricultural business, most notably in potato products.
Reginald Bray (UK) (b. 28 October 1902) is an active member of the bell ringing team of St Cyr and St Julitta, Newton St Cyres, Devon, UK, and is still ringing bells regularly. Bray became of member of the Guild of Devonshire Ringers 20 May 1922. As of April 2004, Reginald Bray was very much alive and well. He rang a ‘touch’ of grandsire doubles on 30th October 2003, two days after his 101st birthday.
The oldest baseball diamond is Fuller Field in Clinton, Massachusetts, USA, which has been proved to have hosted baseball from 1878 to the present day.
Donald Cripps (USA, b. 12 September 1929) parachuted off the 267 m high (876-ft) New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville in West Virginia, USA, on 19 October 2013, aged 84 years 37 days.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (UK, 4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002), who married the future King George VI on 26 April 1923 and was Queen Consort from 10 December 1936 to 6 February 1952, lived to the age of 101 years 238 days.
The oldest datable bridge in the world still in use is the slab-stone single-arch bridge over the river Meles in Izmir (formerly Smyrna), Turkey, which dates from c. 850 BC. Remnants of Mycenaean bridges dated c. 1600 BC exist in the neighbourhood of Mycenae, Greece over the River Havos.