Yorkshire woman, 105, says secret to long life is Marmite for breakfast - and sherry before bed

Sprightly Joan Prince has lived through five monarchs, 28 prime ministers and survived two world wars and a global pandemic. Surrounded by her family while celebrating her birthday, she said the secret to a long life is having Marmite on toast for breakfast and two glasses of sherry in the evening.

Joan said: "My mum used to slather it really thick, you're not supposed to do that. It's not done me any harm though. I have two glasses of sherry in the evening which helps me sleep, and they're the only things I do regularly. I've never smoked either. And I've danced a lot."

Joan got engaged to her boyfriend of two years, Granville Price, when she was 17 but was told by her mum Eliza that she couldn't get married until she was 21.

The couple then married on Boxing Day in 1939 and moved into their home in the Stocksbridge area of Sheffield where she still lives now.

The great-great-grandmother-of-seven adores ballroom but said Granville “couldn't dance a step”. However, that didn't stop her from dancing until she was 96.

Joan said: "I used to dance, garden, paint, draw, embroider, knit… now my eyesight is gone, I can't do that anymore. I used to sing a bit too, but I don't anymore."

Joan worked at her parent's fish and chip shop,Mill's, from the age of 14, where she cut up the newspaper. She was then 'promoted to behind the counter' at age 15.

Joan said: "The pubs were closed at 10 and we stayed open until 11, so everyone would come down - it used to be so busy. It cost three pence for the fish and the chips."

When the Second World War started, she ran a grocers' out of what is now her living room but had to close it in the 1970s when supermarkets started opening.

Joan said: "It wasn't easy, because everything was rationed. We started on the back foot, but I loved it, and only shut it down when they built the shops nearby, you know the supermarkets? Everybody went mad then, and I lost my trade completely. I closed it in the 70s and took over the fish shop."

Although the mum-of-three was surrounded by her family, she said she wishes her friends were still alive to celebrate her birthday.

Joan said: "I wish a lot of my friends were still around so they could come and enjoy it. I love being with people, and it's not a house that enjoys loneliness. I have never thought about going anywhere else. Even if I won a million pounds, I wouldn't move from my home."