Still going strong: World's oldest living person celebrates 117th birthday
This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.
- British woman Ethel Caterham marked her 117th birthday at a Surrey care home, surrounded by family and friends
- Guinness World Records recognised Caterham as the first British person known to have reached the age of 117
- Born during the reign of King Edward VII, Caterham is the last known surviving person from that era
Ethel Caterham, a British woman recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living person, turned 117 on August 21, 2025, reaching a milestone that virtually no human being in recorded history has achieved.
Caterham spent her birthday at the care home where she resides in Surrey, England, marking the occasion with family and friends gathered around her. Rather than dwelling on the extraordinary length of her life, she expressed quiet optimism, saying she was looking forward to seeing what the next year would bring.
**A First for Britain**
Guinness World Records confirmed that Caterham is the first British person on record to have lived to the age of 117, adding yet another remarkable distinction to a life already full of them. She was born on August 21, 1909, during the reign of King Edward VII, and is now considered the last known surviving person from that period of British history.
Her birth predates much of what the modern world takes for granted. In 1909, horse-drawn transport was still common on British streets, and aviation had only just begun to capture the public imagination. Over the course of her life, she witnessed the rise of commercial air travel, the invention of the internet, the arrival of smartphones and the emergence of artificial intelligence.
**More Than a Century of History**
Caterham's 117 years have cut across some of the most turbulent and transformative chapters of the modern era, including two world wars, the collapse of empires, the space race and the digital revolution. Few individuals alive today carry within them such a breadth of lived experience.
She has outlasted every other known person born in her era, becoming a living bridge between a world that no longer exists and one that would have been unimaginable to those who knew her as a child.
As she begins her 118th year, Caterham's story offers a rare and humbling perspective on the passage of time and the sheer depth of change that one human life can contain.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
Reporting originally appeared via TUKO. Read the full source for additional context.