A 113-year-old Dutch woman became the oldest registered living person when the previous title holder died in Puerto Rico.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, known as ”Henny”, assumed the title when Ramona Trinidad Iglesias Jordan died on Saturday of pneumonia at age 114, the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group confirmed.
The group verified her age for the Guinness Book of World Records.
Van Andel-Schipper was born in Smilde, The Netherlands, on June 29 1890, the same year as former United States president Dwight D Eisenhower, British author Agatha Christie and American comedian Groucho Marx.
She reportedly still enjoys the traditional Dutch specialty of pickled herring every day and has an occasional alcoholic drink.
Van Andel-Schipper has rooted for Amsterdam’s soccer club Ajax since she was 28, and in an interview with the team in March she joked that the real secret to long life was ”breathing”.
Van Andel-Schipper lives in a home for the elderly in the city of Hoogeveen and complained in the interview that the other residents are ”hicks who don’t understand soccer” — Sapa-AP