Britain’s oldest person is celebrating her 112th birthday today and revealed the secret to her long life is a dram of whisky every day for the last six decades.
Grace Jones, known to her friends as “Amazing Grace”, reached the landmark age after the death of Olive Evelyn Boar, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, in August at the age of 113.
And, by coincidence, she also takes the title from another Grace Jones, a South Londoner, born 1899, who also died at the age of 113, in November 2013.
The new record holder however puts her longevity is down to a nightcap of Famous Grouse single malt whisky every evening for the last 62 years.
Mrs Jones, a Liverpudlian by birth, was born on September 16, 1906 – only five years after the death of Queen Victoria.
She has lived through 26 prime ministers and survived both world wars.
The mother-of-one, who lives in Broadway, Worcestershire, said: “I never miss my night cap. All I have is the whisky at night.
“Whisky is very good for you.
“I started having a nightly tot of it when I turned 50 so I’ve been having it every night for the last 60 years and I certainly have no intention of stopping now.
“My doctor said ‘keep up with the whisky Grace, it’s good for your heart’.
“I still feel the same as I did when I was 60.
“The best memory of my life was when I married my husband Leonard. He was a true gentleman, the son of a parson.
“We were always together and we loved one another.
“I feel fine. I feel full of spirit. I have received lots of nice cards and presents this year and they are still coming in.
“We will be here next year as well.”
The former millinery factory owner will celebrate her milestone birthday with family and friends at Buckland Manor, Worcestershire, a large country estate on Monday.
She will enjoy lunch – and of course a complimentary glass of whisky.
Her daughter Deirdre McCarthy, 80, said: “My mother is extraordinary. She’s still very particular over her appearance and insists on always looking her best.
“Once she married my father she very much became a lady of leisure.
“She enjoys meeting people and still reads a little and watches television.
“Each week her carer takes her into Broadway where she likes to do a little shopping if the weather is nice; she is in amazing health but her hearing is a little poor.
“She is glamorous, beautiful and intelligent. She is really alert and still with it.
“She loves her tot of whisky every evening before she goes to bed and why not. Whisky is her thing and she’s been having it for the last 60 years.
“I must say I certainly take after her in that regard, it’s the perfect way to unwind at the end of the day and it’s certainly done my mother no end of good.”
Mrs Jones, whose father was a vicar, wed chief engineer Leonard Roderick Jones in 1933 in Liverpool. They were married for 53 years until he died in 1986, aged 79.
She lived in Sidmouth, Devon before moving to relocate with her family in Worcestershire in 2005.
The record holder’s namesake, Grace Jones was the UK’s oldest person when she died on December 7, 2013.
The Londoner, from Berdmonsey, was the last living British person to be born in the 1800s and had lost her fiancé when he died on active service in the First World War.
The former seamstress became the UK’s oldest person in February 2012 but died just 14 days short of her 114th birthday on November 14, 2013.