The world's oldest man, British man John Alfred Tinniswood, born in 1912, the year the Titanic sank, has died at the age of 112.

Tinniswood passed away at a retirement home in the English town of Southport, north of Liverpool , "surrounded by music and love", his family said.

He became the UK's oldest man in 2020 and achieved a world record in the Guinness Book of Records last April when Venezuelan Juan Vicente Pérez Mora, the previous holder of the longevity record, died at the age of 114 .

Tinniswood served in the Second World War in the Royal Army Pays Corps and married his wife Blodwen in 1942, with whom he had an only daughter, Susan, born the following year. After the war he worked for the Royal Mail and later as an accountant for the oil giants Shell and BP , before retiring in 1972. His wife died of cancer in 1986 after 44 years of marriage.

In his long retirement Tinniswood has devoted himself to volunteering at a church , Blundellsands United Reformed Church, as well as being a big fan of Liverpool Football Club.

In a BBC interview a few years ago he said he had been "quite active as a young man" and had "walked a lot", but that he didn't understand exactly what had led to his record-breaking longevity.

(Online Union)