'I'm giving up my cigarettes...after 95 years!' 102-year-oldest woman says

She lit her first cigarette as the lights were going out over Europe at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Since then she has reached for her trusty Player’s Navy Blue (or, latterly, Embassy) through the ups and downs of all the following decades.

Until now. At the astonishing age of 102, Winne Langley has kicked the habit after 95 years because she ‘didn’t fancy it any more’.

Mrs Langley, who would share cigarettes with her friends at infant school, reckons she hasn’t contracted cancer because she does not inhale.

The former laundrette worker, who lives in Croydon, South London, said: ‘Everyone used to smoke in those days, you did it to cope. We didn’t know about the health problems. I just don’t fancy it any more.

‘My eyesight is failing so in a few years’ time I might not be able to see the pack.’

Since her first puff in 1914, Mrs Langley averaged five cigarettes a day, giving a total of more than 170,000 in her lifetime.

Her cigarettes were always to hand during the Depression and the Second World War.

‘I lived close to Biggin Hill and you could hear the German rocket bombs’ engines cut out,’ she said.

‘Some bombs used to land pretty close to me. You needed a smoke after that. ‘We didn’t know if we were going to be alive from one day to the next, so we thought you might as well enjoy yourself while you’re alive.’

Mrs Langley has outlived her husband Robert, who died in 1968, and
her son, who died four years ago aged 72.

She said: ‘I’ve cut down in recent years and only had one every few days after dinner or in my bedroom. I can just about afford it but the price of cigarettes is disgusting, and the smoking ban is disgusting. You should be able to smoke where you want.’

Mrs Langley’s step-grandson Clive, 53, said: ‘Her doctors have told her there’s not much point stopping now. If she’s got to 102 without getting cancer I don’t
think she ever will.’

At a towering 8ft, is this the world's new tallest man?

At 8ft tall, Zhao Liang stands head and shoulders above the competition.

Which is lucky, as the 27-year-old is in the running to be the world's tallest man.

The current title holder is Bao Xishun ('the Mongolian mast'), who measures in at a measly 7ft 9in - a whole three inches shorter.

Mr Liang's claim came to light when he was admitted to Tianjin hospital, in China, for a routine operation on an old muscle tendon injury to his left foot.

Doctors confirmed his height as 8ft 0.7in. But his claim to be the world's tallest man has not yet been verified by Guinness World Records.


Mr Liang, who is now seeking official recognition, had been training as a basketball player when he sustained the foot injury over a decade ago.

He remained unemployed until 2006, when an art troupe in Jilin province employed him to perform magic tricks and play the saxophone and flute.

Mr Liang's parents are of normal height, with his father measuring 5ft 9in and his mother, 5ft 5in.

His mother Wang Keyun said that her son had a big appetite, eating eight hamburger-sized steamed buns as part of a three-course dinner.

'But I am so worried about his marriage, job and his health that my hair has turned white,' she added.

Liu Yuchen, a surgeon at the hospital, declared the operation on Mr Liang's foot a success.

He said that he would be able to walk normally in two months' time, but advised against any intense physical exercise.

Dr Yuchen said that Mr Liang was in good health and has no complications in relation to his height.

'Pregnant man' shows off five-month-old daughter on U.S. TV and says baby No.2 will complete our 'American dream'

The transgender man who gave birth to a baby has showed off his daughter on an American television show.

Thomas Beatie shocked the world earlier this year when he gave birth to daughter Susan, despite having had a sex change operation.

Now Beatie, from Bend, Oregon, has revealed he is 10-weeks pregnant with his second baby.

We are living the American dream right now and I couldn't be happier.

'I have my loving wife and this miracle of a baby, I couldn't be happier,' he told Good Morning America.

Beatie, 34, was a former lesbian who had chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, but chose to keep his female reproductive organs.

Beatie, who was born Tracy Lagondino, gave birth to Susan in June amid a blitz of media scrutiny.

He had been inseminated at home by his wife Nancy, 46, with sperm from a donor.

'She (Susan) is such a happy baby, she loves to smile and laugh,' he said.

'I had a natural birth. People do recognise me now, I am really surprised, New York is a big city but people recognise us instantaneously now I think.

'They say "That's the pregnant man".

'It is absolutely positive, 99 per cent positive. People when they meet us they just see us as a regular family.

'It is easy for people to see us as a family, because that is what we are, a husband, wife and child.'

Asked if he can understood why some people did not see his situation as 'normal', Beatie said: 'I think everyone is trying to find their own definition of normal.
'With all the differences in the world, different is clearly normal.'

Asked if he is still happy to be a man, he replied: 'Oh absolutely. There is nothing wrong with a pregnant man.

'It is just normal for us, it was completely the best decision for me to carry our child and we did not even give it a second thought.'

Beatie was also asked if he felt he could have given birth to Susan more 'privately'.

'I don't think it could have happened that way (privately),' he said.

'When I wrote the article for the Advocate, we were experiencing medical discrimination and we had legal questions we needed answers for.

'So we were talking to a gay and lesbian audience hoping to find answers and we couldn't find any. In our pursuit for answers this ensued.'

Beatie admitted that he had not spoken to his father since the birth of his daughter, but hoped to eventually introduce them to each other.

Asked if his family's negative attitude towards the pregnancy had been hard, he replied: 'Yes it has been hard.

'But Nancy's family has been incredibly supportive, her father and her brothers and sisters and children.'

And Nancy said that she was 'excited' about the couple having a second baby, even with the publicity that would surround it.

'I am so excited. Hopefully things will calm down and we can get on with our lives,' she said.

'It is neat to be able to educate people about different families and that is really what we are.

'There are so many different families out there and we are just another one.

'I have done this before (she has two other children) and what is wonderful is that I got to be on the other side of this and could support him through the labour experience and right through the pregnancy.

'I got to breast feed the baby, we are so closely bonded with her. He was able to carry her and I was able to breast feed her.'

Pictured: Monster crab with claws the size of a man's hand captured off the British coast

A monster crab - three times the size of average - and with claws bigger than a man’s hands - has been hauled from the deep.

The whopping 17lb crustacean measures an unbelievable width of more than two feet when fully extended, as well as having an impressive shell width of 12 inches.

It has an incredible a claw span of nine inches - big enough to break bones.

The enormous crab was captured by Paul Worsley, 39, on a recent diving trip to Lyme Regis, Dorset.

The shelled creature was so large that he was barely able to carry it to the surface.

Mr Worsley, from Aylesbury, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I’ve seen and caught crabs before but never one as big as this.

‘It must be at least three times the size of an average crab, if not more.’ Mr Worsley has since returned to Aylesbury with his impressive capture.

‘Now it sits next to me in my office but we’re going to eat it in the next few days.

‘It’s going to provide a lot of meat - enough to feed at least 10 people’.

It’s not just Paul who was shocked by the size of the crab. Local fishermen have also expressed their disbelief at its giant proportions.

Douglas Lanfear, who was captain of the boat Mr Worsley was using in his dive, believes it to be one of the biggest crabs ever seen in the region.