Sources: ‘YOU’ Report by Catherine O’Brien
For Daijiworld: Asumpta Periera, London

London, Sep 29: Life expectancy is something about which all of us eventually obsess. When we diet exercise or adopt a new stress-busting technique, we are searching not just for a tonic, but an elixir.

A unique celebration of being held in July 2006 the 100th birthday of Britain’s oldest surviving identical twins.

Britain’s oldest surviving twins, Violet Lucas and Rose Marlow, are about to celebrate their century. So what’s the secret of their longevity?

Violet Lucas and Rose Marlow were born on 7 July 1906 the average life expectancy of women was 49 years. But these have exceeded their expected lifespan twice over.  This is done without done single calories, pounding a treadmill or resorting to any of the health kicks that s preoccupy us in the 21st century.
 
‘My mother may not be as fast on her feet as she once was, but she can still push a trolley round Sainsbury’s’ Rose’s son says.

Violet who lives her own and cooks and cleans for herself is, if anything, even more sprightly.

Their memories of their early years are, understandably, hazy. Only with prompting from each other do the snippets emerge. Both, however, speak with searing clarity about how their lives were shattered by the death of their mother from cancer when they were just 12. They left school and put to work in the local sweet company. Their stepmother took money from their purses and failed to feed them when they came home in the night from work.  ‘We only survived because we had a good start’, Violet explains. They survived also because they had each other.

Violet was married for 49 years and had two children and Rose was married for 52 years with 2 children.

Rose and Violet have undoubtedly blessed with good health.  The guest list was included 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A cake was on order and congratulatory message are anticipated from the Queen. There is even talk of a place in The Guinnes