On 1 February 2002, François Fernandez (France, b. 17 April 1906) and Madeleine Francineau (France, b. 15 July 1907) exchanged marriage vows at the rest home Le Foyer du Romarin, Clapiers, France, at the age of 96 years 290 days and 94 years 201 days, respectively. Total aggregate years between them at the time of the wedding ceremony was a record 191 years 126 days.
The world’s oldest convicted bank robber is J.L. Hunter Rountree (b. 1911, USA) who was sentenced to 151 months in prison on 23 January 2004 at the age of 92 after he pleaded guilty to robbing $1,999 (£1,243.08) from a bank in Texas, USA on 12 August 2003. He was not armed. On entering the bank, Rountree was carrying two envelopes, one of which had the word “Robbery” written on it. He proceeded to the counter and handed the bank clerk both envelopes. After asking
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The oldest, continuously used national flag is that of Denmark. The current design of a white Scandinavian cross on a red back ground was adopted in 1625 and its square shape in 1748. In Denmark it is known as the ‘Dannebrog’ or ‘Danish cloth’. Although Denmark was never part of the Roman Empire, similar designs were used by the Empire to represent provinces, as the white cross is symbolic of Christianity. The Scandinavian cross has its horizontal stripe slightly to the left hand side of
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The oldest continuous ice core covers 740,000 years of climate history. It measures 3,139 m (10,298 ft) in length and is 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. It was drilled at Dome C, Antarctica by the ten-nation EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) and announced on 9 June 2004.
The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart (USA) in 1964. He was awarded a US patent for it in 1970. It was described in the patent as an ‘X-Y position indicator for a display system’ and was nicknamed a mouse because of the resemblance of the wire to a tail.
The oldest complete set of cutlery in existence is The Altenstetter Service,a rare German basse-taille enamelled silver and parcel-gilt set created by the Renaissance goldsmith David Altenstetter in 1615. The service, which includes 12 knives, spoons, sweetmeat forks and three salt cellars, all intricately carved with animals, bagpipes and dragons, was expected to reach a hammer price of up to £500,000 (then $860,000) when sent to auction at Christies, London, UK, in December 2005. http://web.channel4.com/4homes/news_feed/index.jsp?id=20979 http://www.smpub.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000307.html http://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/11012005/10312005b.pdf
On 17 February 1996, at the Cricket World Cup, Nolan Clarke (Netherlands, b. 22 June 1948) made his ODI debut for the Netherlands in a group match against New Zealand at Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara, India, aged 47 years 240 days.
The oldest player to play in the Davis Cup is Yaka-Garonfin Koptigan (Togo) aged 59 years and 147 days on 27 May 2001 against Mauritius.
The record for the oldest documented age for a donkey belongs to Suzy, who reached 54 years old in 2002. Suzy was owned by Beth Augusta Menczer (USA) and lived in Glenwood, New Mexico, USA. Suzy died in 2002, during her 54th year. Suzy was originally bought in 1949 as a yearling (thus born in 1948) and lived on Moon Ranch, New Mexico until 1968. Suzy was bought by her current owner in 1973, who had her checked by a vet. The vet placed her
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The world’s oldest known breed of domesticated dog is the saluki, believed to have emerged in 329 BC. Saluki dogs were revered in ancient Egypt, being kept as royal pets and being mummified after death. There are carvings found in Sumer (present-day southern Iraq) which represent a dog, closely resembling a saluki, which date back to 7000 BC.