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A British World War II veteran credits regularly chowing down on a serving of fish and chips for his longevity as he approaches his 108th birthday.
“Fish and chips, a full meal, a scoop full of chips and a fish,” Owen Filer told the BBC on Monday.
Filer, who was born in 1919 and is believed to be the oldest man in Wales, turns 107 on Friday.
He said he eats the deep-fried meal as often as he can — usually with “genuine” cod or hake — but has “never overeaten.”
But beyond indulging in his favorite meal when he can, the veteran said his only real secret to a long life is living “properly.”
“How I got here I’ll never know, but I’ve met a lot of people who have admired me and asked me how I do it,” he told the outlet.
“No secret recipe, except that I always worked all my life.”
“You just live properly, and I’ve always done it,” he added.
Filer — a father of four, grandfather of 10 and great-grandfather of 15 — said he never imagined living to 107.
“I thought it would be a better world I would be living in, but I didn’t think I’d ever make it,” he said.
Growing up, he said, neither he nor his family gave much thought to “old age” because they had bigger problems to worry about.
“We had no food, we had no money,” he said.
Filer served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, a historic infantry regiment of the British Army founded in 1689, before becoming a military police officer.
He was stationed in India when the war with Japan ended on VJ Day in 1945, the BBC reported.
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, honored his military service with a commemorative shield at a celebration on Monday, which also included a surprise screening of the 1955 comedy “One Good Turn” at Market Hall Cinema in Brynmawr — billed as the oldest cinema in Wales.
Fellow veteran Darren Foote, who helped put together Filer’s celebration, called him a “down-to-earth guy” who didn’t understand why people were making such a “fuss” about his milestone birthday.
“He doesn’t get it at all,” Foote told the outlet.
As for his attitude toward life, Foote said Filer rarely seems to think about his age.
“He still gets up in the morning, he puts a clean shirt on, puts his tie on, cleans his shoes, and he gets up with purpose,” Foote said.
“I think we can all take a leaf out of his book on that one, for sure.”