'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.’

The yoga supergran who can still assume the lotus position at the age of 83

Yoga instructor Bette Calman may be 83, but she's still bending over backwards to spread the benefits of the ancient Indian discipline.

The nimble grandmother can really pull some shapes and with her set hair and pearl earrings she looks as glamorous as Greta Garbo in a pink jumpsuit.

With 40 years of teaching under her belt, the Australian wonder is living proof that a lifetime's dedication to yoga will keep you flexible as a rubber band.

While others her age complain about aches and pains, Mrs Calman focuses on getting tough balancing manoeuvres right.

Mrs Calman from Williamstown, southeast Australia, can do all the difficult moves including the agonising 'peacock' where the body is held in a horizontal position by the strength of the arms alone.

The bendy granny can also pull off a tricky raised 'lotus', 'bridge' and a headstand with ease.

She can also put her head between her knees and hold her ankles putting her inflexible grandchildren to shame.

'I'm proof that if you keep at it, you'll get there. I can do more now than I could 50 years ago,' Mrs Calman said.

So when will she give it up?

'You're never too old. The body is a remarkable instrument.

'It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time. Forget age,' said Mrs Calman, the author of three yoga books including one called Yoga for Arthritis.

'Even a basic posture, or just going to a window and breathing deeply, can have big benefits.'

It's that spirit that has made Mrs Calman a legend.

She was a pioneer of the regime in Australia in the 1950s, ran yoga centres for 33 years and made regular TV appearances in the 70s.

She thought she would take it easy in Melbourne, but was drawn back to teaching as yoga interest grew.

'I came here to retire, but my daughter, Susie, who's also a teacher, kept being pestered for fill-in teachers at her health centre. That was eight years ago,' she said.

Mrs Calman teaches up to 11 classes a week with no sign of stopping and she keeps the 'corpse' posture strictly for her classes.

'Yoga keeps you young,' she said.

'Never have I gone to a yoga class and wished I was somewhere else, because I know I'm going to come out feeling on the top of the world. There'll always be yoga.'

Surrogate mother, 56, becomes oldest woman to give birth to triplets - but they are actually her grandchildren

A 56-year-old woman has become the oldest woman to give birth to triplets – but they are actually her grandchildren.

Jaci Dalenberg acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter, Kim, who battled with infertility after a hysterectomy, and has given birth to three babies, each weighing less than 3lbs, a minute apart.
The three girls - Ellie, Gabriella and Carmina - were delivered by emergency Caesarean and rushed to intensive care but all three have pulled through.

Kim, 36, already had two children from a previous marriage, but desperately wanted more children with husband Joe, 30, who she married in 2005.

But the mother-of-two was unable to conceive after she had a hysterectomy to treat cysts and fibroids seven years before.

The desperate couple went through two failed adoptions and considered surrogacy and adopting from abroad before Jaci stepped in.

The hospital manager had been researching surrogacy and was confident she could carry a baby despite her age.

Kim underwent IVF at Cleveland Clinic, where eggs from her remaining ovary were fertilised by Joe’s sperm.

The doctors had only performed one other surrogacy procedure, on a woman in her 40s who was not related to the biological mother, but they said Jaci was in 'perfect shape for her age.'

It took three attempts before Kim’s fertilised eggs successfully implanted in her mother’s womb, on 5 April this year.

But the drama was far from over as an ultrasound 10 weeks into the pregnancy revealed three babies, rather than the expected one.

Then, on 11 October, two months before the due date, Jaci was forced to have an emergency Caesarean because one of the twins was starving in the womb.

Jaci told Closer magazine: ‘When the babies were born, I was ecstatic. The hardest part was leaving them in the hospital when I was released four days after the birth.

She added: ‘I don’t feel like I want to care for the babies myself.

'I have already raised four beautiful daughters.

'My time for being a mother is over. I’m their granny and I have no plans to ever be pregnant again!’

Kim said: ‘It’s the most amazing thing any mother could do for her daughter.

‘Of course, we’ll tell all the girls how they were born – I want them to know what an incredible thing their grandmother did for us.

'I want them to know how special they are and all about their unusual start in life.’