115-Year-Old British Woman Becomes the Oldest Living Person on Earth

With immense confidence, Ethel Caterham says, ‘I do whatever I like.’ The woman from Surrey, aged 115 years and 253 days, is now officially the oldest living person in the world according to Guinness World Records. She succeeds Brazil’s Maria Innocentia da Silva, who passed away at the age of 116. Ethel Caterham, residing in a care home in Surrey, UK, is the first woman from the UK to hold this title since 1987. According to The Guardian, Caterham, who lived through the Titanic disaster and both World Wars, attributes her longevity to never arguing with anyone. Her secret? Doing what she loves. Born in 1909, Caterham is the first British national to claim the title since Anna Williams held it in 1987. As the last surviving subject of King Edward VII, Caterham told BBC Radio Surrey in 2020 that she always kept things in perspective and avoided conflicts. Growing up as one of eight children, she lived with a military family in British India at the age of 18 before returning to England. In 1931, she met her husband Norman Caterham, an army officer, and they married in Salisbury Cathedral in 1933. They had two daughters and traveled extensively, eventually settling back in the UK where Norman passed away in 1976. Caterham has resided in Surrey for 50 years and has three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. ‘I’ve been around the world and ended up in this wonderful home where everyone falls over themselves to give me what I want,’ she said.