Reg Dean

Thomas Reginald Dean (4 November 1902 – 5 January 2013)[1] was a British supercentenarian. Dean was the oldest living man in the United Kingdom.

Life

Dean was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire, on 4 November 1902.[1][2] Dean was ordained as a minister in the 1920s. He worked as an assistant chaplain in Singapore in the 1930s.[3] He served as an army chaplain in Burma and India[4] during World War II.[2][5][6] After his return to the United Kingdom, Dean moved to Derby in 1947,[3] and in 1958 he became a teacher, and worked as such in Belper in Derbyshire for ten years.[2]

Dean was a minister at the United Reformed Churches in Wirksworth and Matlock,[7][8] and retired from the ministry at the age of 80.[1][2] He was an enthusiastic actor, singer, and amateur dramatist[5] and in 1987,[6] he helped found the Dalesmen Male Voice Choir,[2] of which he was life president.[2] Dean supported Fair trade and he helped create Traid Links, in Wirksworth.[9]

Family

Dean was married three times.[3] His first wife went into the cellar of a house where she was staying in for a short period of time and the other people in the house accidentally locked her in this cellar, making her unable to get out and causing her to die of hypothermia.[3] His third wife, Anne, was a colleague of his; they later divorced.[3] Anne is still alive today and later remarried.[3] Dean had a son named Christopher, born in either 1949 or 1950.[2] He also had two grandchildren.[2] Christopher Dean leads the Syd Lawrence Orchestra.[9] One of his nephews was television presenter Nick Owen.[10]

Possible reasons for longevity

Dean was a vegetarian for thirty years. He attributed his vegetarianism, in addition to being lazy,[11] having good friends and a religion, and looking for the best in people, as the secret to his longevity.[2] Dean lived independently until 2007/2008, when he moved into a flat in Derbyshire.[5] He also mentioned just before his 110th birthday that when he lived in Mumbai just before World War I,[11] a doctor gave him a mysterious brown elixir ("this muddy mixture", as Dean called it)[11] and told him that "if [he would] drink this [he] will live forever"[9] or that if he would "drink this [he'll] live until at least 100".[11]

On every birthday since his 100th, Dean began wearing a flower on his lapel.[5] Apart from sight problems,[5] Dean said at his 108th birthday that he was still in good health.[2] On his 109th birthday, Dean joked that "[he] thought [the Queen had] forgotten [him]" when his birthday telegram from the Queen that year arrived late.[5] Dean said on his 109th birthday that he still hoped to live to his 110th birthday next year,[6] which he did. However, he was unable to attend a celebratory concert held the previous evening, and also had to receive his cake in bed due to not feeling well recently.[1]

He said on his 110th birthday that he thought that he would reach age 111 next year and (perhaps jokingly) that he might be able to reach ages 115,[3] 120,[12] and 130.[11] Dean died in January 2013, just two months after his 110th birthday. Dean was succeeded as the United Kingdom's oldest living man by 109-year-old Ralph Tarrant.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Reg Dean, Britain's oldest man, dies aged 110". BBC News. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "UK's oldest man Rev Reg Dean celebrates 108th birthday | Mail Online". London: Dailymail.co.uk. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dugan, Emily (4 November 2012). "110 not out! Britain's oldest man". The Independent (London).
  4. ↑ "The secret of living 110 years? Britain's oldest man says it's all to do with a magic potion from India". Daily Mail (London).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kevin Rawlinson (4 November 2011). "Britain's oldest man Reg Dean celebrates 109th birthday – Home News – UK". London: The Independent. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "BBC News – 'Britain's oldest man' Reg Dean marks 109th birthday". bbc.co.uk. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Rawlinson, Kevin (4 November 2011). "Britain's oldest man Reg Dean celebrates 109th birthday". The Independent (London).
  8. ↑ "The secret of living 110 years? Britain's oldest man says it's all to do with a magic potion from India". Daily Mail (London).
  9. 1 2 3 Reg to celebrate 110th birthday – Local – Bakewell Today
  10. ↑ "Reg Dean, Britain's oldest man, dies aged 110". BBC News (BBC). 7 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Britain's oldest man marks 110th birthday". BBC News. 4 November 2012.
  12. ↑ Britain's oldest man aged 110 credits 'magic potion from India' for longevity
  13. ↑ Ralph Tarrant Britain's oldest man reveals secret to hitting 109 years old: 'I smoked until I was 70 and still enjoy a drink!' | Mail Online. Dailymail.co.uk (8 January 2013). Retrieved on 1 March 2013.
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