Henry Allingham 1896-2008 [or even 2009]

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:09 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham

I actually saw him from a hundred yards or so at a ceremony, and he had a weird sort of energy going on.

Plus: -

Allingham credited "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women - and a good sense of humour" for his longevity.

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:36 pm

Cliffy you do know its 2009 now yeah?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:39 pm

martyboy70 wrote:Cliffy you do know its 2009 now yeah?

Obviously not

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:45 pm

Interesting that for all the super-technology around, Trek's oldest basic human that actually lived through intervening periods, McCoy, is only about 150... I think we'll improve things before the late 24th century, personally. Maybe not in our lifetimes, but things'll get better.

CounterPunch · Post by **CounterPunch** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 1:07 pm

What an age to live to, was the oldest man in the world for all of.. what? 6 weeks??

Are any of his children alive? From the news report I heard it said he was survived by grandchildren, great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild, but no mention of any of his kids... That must be heartbreaking if its the case, outliving your wife and all of your children.

Zeeks · Post by **Zeeks** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:58 pm

Allingham credited "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women – and a good sense of humour" for his longevity.

See, this is what gets me about life in general- how can people absolutely say that drink and smoke are killers? I mean, I'm having the toughest freakin time quitting smokes, but I enjoyed them so much. What was this guy's secret? Is there a secret? Because he certainly doesn't look keeled over on an oxygen tank to me. Did the guy find God and refused to take things seriously in life? Massive amounts of sex? I guess I'm just in a place right now where I'm questioning the validity of everything I see and hear.

I do think he's impressive, though- he lived a full life, and this is another one of those dead people we should be celebrating with a Staples Center funeral because he ****in earned it.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:19 pm

Zeeks wrote:how can people absolutely say that drink and smoke are killers?

Empirical medical science -- use of both kills a lot of people. It's more likely than not that carcinogens will have an adverse affect, but some people will luck out, although a fair amount of evidence suggests alcohol in moderation tends to be better for health than abstinence.

You've also got the fact that stories tend to grow in the telling and/or be read into. It's more likely the guy enjoyed the occasional ciggy than smoked sixty a day, but people tend to take any evidence as validation of their own behaviour.

As for longevity, as long as health isn't abused overmuch, it seems to be mostly genetics plus a combination of purpose and reasonably positive attitude.

What's stupid is people seeking to legislate against stuff that can be self-destructive but can also be enjoyed responsibly, and failing to apply that across the board to things like extreme sports and fatty foods.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:32 pm

I remember reading somewhere that the tar isn't the most harmful thing in a cigarette, it's a lot of the lesser-known chemicals than have become more widespread over the past 20 years, and these tend to **** people up a lot more... so he could have spent 30, 40, 50 years as a pretty heavy smoker and taken in a lot less shit than someone who's been smoking since 1997.

But yeh, a lot of people do just get lucky.

Anyone else find it totally awe-inspiring just the sheer amount of stuff that happened across his lifetime? I mean, sure, he wasn't involved in much of it, but it's mad to think someone could live through so much, well, stuff. I mean, you've got to be fairly adaptive for that sort of lifespan even as just a normal chappy. I mean, imagine looking at a jumbo jet or something and thinking there wasn't even powered flight when you were born...

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:51 pm

Saying smoking and drinking can't be bad that lethal because it didn't kill him is like saying World War I wasn't that lethal because it didn't kill him either. The wild wild women are probably the more fun part. Despite the initial mental image of a 100 year old man at an orgy.

There can't be that many WWI veterans left at this stage can there?

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:57 pm

I'm up for it. And quite a lot of stuff gets predicted by fiction, anyway. The future as people have defined it in various ways is in many of those ways here, having snuck up on us over the years. With other things we know a lot of what we're trying to do but just haven't figured out how yet.

There's now a generation of kids that don't associate music with devices that have moving parts. Those painted wood blocks in old sci-fi shows are real storage technology.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:21 pm

CounterPunch wrote:What an age to live to, was the oldest man in the world for all of.. what? 6 weeks??

It's like that title has some sort of curse to it!

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:19 am

Cliffjumper wrote:Anyone else find it totally awe-inspiring just the sheer amount of stuff that happened across his lifetime?

Hell yep. Pocket calculators through to the internet, gramophones through to digital radio and iPods, Stanley Matthews through to Stuart Downing, silent movies through to hi-def, The Great War through to Gulf MkII...

Boggles the mind in a quite inspirational way. One of those things that crystalises exactly how much has happened/changed in the last century.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:33 am

Yep. And I don't think being a science fiction fan (if he were one) could have helped all that much. Certainly I can't think of anything made before 1995 that has a early 21st Century setting even close to what we got, and even then no ones cottoned onto mobile phones at that point. A lot of SF, especially on TV and film, tends to be about the Big Ideas. The impact of a computer that can sit on your table but doesn't try to take over the world or a phone you can carry but isn't as visual as a video phone wouldn't even occur to anyone in the industry. On a tangent, I recall reading somewhere a few years ago that the the technology to do video phones has been there for a couple of decades but no one has ever been interested, nor are they likely to ever be (because with a phone as it is now you can convey non verbally things to people in the room you don't want the caller to know, or easily hold the phone away from your mouth to say something you don't want them to hear. A lot harder to do without them noticing in a visual media). But it's instantly the way all future phones are shown to work even now, not because it's likely to happen but because it looks cool.

I think it was Dave Langford who said that if science fiction writers were actually any good at consistently predicting the future they wouldn't be writers, they'd be making a fortune investing in technology firms on the stock market.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:53 am

inflatable dalek wrote:On a tangent, I recall reading somewhere a few years ago that the the technology to do video phones has been there for a couple of decades

Not just the technology to do it, but actual video phones themselves.

Google it and loads'll crop up. They're there, available. It's just no bugger's interested.

And that's before you even get onto the subject of Skype, and Three's annoying cinema ad about free mobile skype calls.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:10 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Patch

Harry Patch as well. Spooooky.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:00 am

Patch was the final one wasn't he?

It seems so sad to lose such a connection with one of the most tragic and important events in human history as much as it was amazing to have people who still live from the 1800's and witnessed some of the most amazing and fastest changes to human society at any point.

Rurudyne · Post by **Rurudyne** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:45 am

CounterPunch wrote:That must be heartbreaking if its the case, outliving your wife and all of your children.

Considering what he credited for his longevity: I think he got over it.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:54 am

Because obviously men who've known a lot of women don't give a **** when their children and most significant other die.

Rurudyne · Post by **Rurudyne** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:02 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:Because obviously men who've known a lot of women don't give a **** when their children and most significant other die.

That isn't what I meant.

I only said: he got over it.