Neighbours celebrate joint 101st birthday – and share secrets to long life
Two next door neighbours are both celebrating – their 101st birthdays.
Josie Church and Anne Wallace-Hadrill have lived side-by-side in Oxford since the 1980s.
The great-grans share something else in common – the same birthday after being born on the same day in 1924.
Josie said: “I think life has gone quite quickly.
“Anne was very busy when she was younger, so was I, and was very productive and creative.
“She did a lot of painting and tapestry, and she was always busy, and I was always busy doing something else, somewhere else, because that’s the sort of life we live.
“I don’t think we’ve thought much about the time passing. It’s just passed.”
Both women threw themselves into volunteering and creative activities after their husbands died.
Josie’s husband, Peter, passed away shortly in the 1990s and the women formed a friendship.
Anne, who grew up in Hampshire, first moved to the house following the death of her husband, John Michael Wallace-Hadrill, an historian.
She read English at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a radio mechanic during the Second World War.
St. Hilda’s was an all-female college at the time, but Anne says: “We weren’t forbidden from seeing men.
“We were expected to live decent lives.”
She says she enjoyed university, but it was both a lot of fun and a lot of work.
She met her husband at a family gathering.
After graduating, Anne worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary.
She said: “I was always interested in words. It was my trade.”
She was very proud to receive a medal for her service from the Royal Navy last year, described as “long overdue” by the representative who gave it to her.
Originally from Manchester, Josie did her training at Preston Royal Infirmary and remembers the introduction of the NHS.
She said training was “three years of hard work”.
“In those days,” Josie said, “You had to live in and you couldn’t get married, and it was very strict. People wouldn’t put up with that sort of life now.”
Her time nursing during the Second World War included a “chilling” experience of caring for SS German soldiers.
Josie said: “They weren’t very nice. They didn’t wish to be taken care of by us. They were very difficult patients. “
She moved with her husband to Oxford so he could continue his degree at University College, interrupted by the war, and they “lived the life of an undergraduate”.
Half of the undergraduates had been to war while the other half were young students just matriculating.
Josie said: “Oxford was very strange because each college had a large intake of older people who’d gone through the war and were taking up their university places.
“So you’d get the old men and then the young 18-year-olds coming in from school.
“Oxford wasn’t like it is now. There were quite a lot of married undergraduates, which you don’t get, I don’t think, now.”
After marrying, she worked for a while and looked after her family.
Her husband was a housemaster at a boys’ boarding school, and she was the house nurse, meaning she had an “interesting” few years looking after 120 boys.
She has three “wonderful” children – Chris, Pamela and Andrew.
Anne’s son James lives in Poole and Andrew in Cambridge.
They don’t remember the moment they discovered they had the same birthday but enjoyed the celebrations arranged for them last year.
“We live in the most amazing road. It’s like one big, extended family,” Josie said.
“Everybody knows everybody else. If you have a problem, you just give a shout and somebody will come.
“It was wonderful, we had a lovely day last year. It was quite unexpected because I didn’t know anything about it.
“It’s just an amazing street. I think we are lucky.”
As for tips to lead a long life, Josie says: “Just live.
“There’s not much you can do. You just go on from one thing to the next.
“You do what seems to be needing doing, and then you do that, and then something else takes its place. You just go on from one thing to another.
“We don’t engineer our lives. I think they’ve just engineered us.”
They were both born on April 1, 1924.
“I’m a busy mum but I still go on multiple holidays – and I leave my kids at home”
Meet the busy mum who still manages multiple holidays each year – by dropping her kids off at their grandparents’ then jetting off for 24 hours.
Monica Stott, 37, from Wrexham, northeast Wales, has become a fan of mini breaks – also known as extreme day trips (EDTs).
These short and sweet holidays involve her leaving her house at 5am and returning home by midnight to sleep in her own bed again.
The mum-of-three, with kids aging from five to ten, tends to plan her trips mid-week to get cheaper flights, stating that all her journeys have cost under £40 per country.
For example, she flew to Dublin for just £22, and a ticket to Budapest only cost her around £15.
Monica also says that midweek is ideal for arranging childcare – since her kids are already going to be at school all day.
They then stay with their grandparents for the day, and she is back home with them by the time they wake up the next morning.
Overall, Monica says that it is mostly men who don’t understand the trips – while she claims that mums usually get the appeal.
She added: “It is really cheap, much cheaper than having a day out in the UK.
“I think a lot of people don’t get it. I personally find that it is always the men who think it is a waste of time. They say that the airport is too stressful.
“It feels like this is for mums who are really busy and want to have a holiday but will never have time to get away without the kids.
“Busy mums with jobs and children are really keen on the idea.”
Monica first had the idea when she began flying to Dublin for the day to meet clients and realised that it felt like a holiday.
She said: “I had a client in Dublin so I used to pop over for meetings and while I was there I would make a day out of it. Then I realised that it did feel a bit like a holiday with the exception of the meeting in the middle.
“As I have gotten older, I have more responsibilities. I have three children, a dog, and a garden where all my plants will die if I go away for a week.
“I just love the adventure of having these quick trips. I am always surprised that it feels like I have had a holiday.
“It is a lot easier to arrange with other people as well. If you say is anyone free next Thursday, then they can come but nobody is ever free for a weekend away.”
Monica’s favourite holiday so far was her day trip to Reykjavik, where she explored the city and then spent her afternoon relaxing in a spa.
She has also been to places like Bergamo and Alicante.
Since beginning her trips, the mum says that she has begun seeing many other people on the plane who are doing the same as her.
In the future, she is hoping to do even more EDTs with plans to take all of her children on individual adventures for their birthdays.
And she says that despite the long days being exhausting, it is always worth it in the end.
Monica said: “It is a long day but it is really fun and there is something about the adrenaline of knowing that you are only there for a day.
“It is so strange coming home and going to bed because you feel like you have been away for so long, but you got out of the bed that morning.”
Rupert Grint lookalike is stopped daily but says “it’s nice to have attention”
A man who is mistaken for Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran says he is stopped for photos daily but “it’s nice to have the attention”.
Lewis Parker, 33, was first told he looked like Rupert Grint while watching Harry Potter with his mum, Lorraine, 54.
The fan said he was bullied for being “ginger” and looking like “Ron Weasley” – and even dyed his hair to avoid being called names.
But now he has turned his negative experience into a positive and is paid to be a lookalike – doing meet-and-greets, birthday parties, and events.
Lewis, a marble mason, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, said: “In the first movie, my parents noticed the resemblance straight away, and it progressed, and my mum wanted to go to a lookalike company.
“I have worked closely with other Harry Potter look-alikes for 10 years, and I’ve appeared on the Chanel4 lookalike in series two and episode three of the series. I’ve done Celebrity Birthday Parties, and it’s just been a magical 10 years.”
Lewis said he is stopped daily by people wanting to take photos of him – and only notices at the last moment that he’s not the Harry Potter star or Ed Sheeran.
He said: “I get stopped on a daily basis. This Sunday, I took my children around a car boot sale, and two people stopped me and had their phones at the ready. A lot of people are bold and ask, “Are you him?” and I explain what I do.
“I’ve never met Rupert Grint but have met Chris Ranking, who played Percy Weasley, Jason Donovan and Jonathan Ross.”
Lewis uses his likeness at meet and greets at festivals, Harry Potter-themed events for councils, and he has visited the Hogwarts grounds.
Lewis said: “My family have been really supportive. I wasn’t one for fame and it’s nice to have so many followers and for having a viral video you want some recollection after it.
“There are times where I do like it and it’s nice to have the attention and it’s nice to have the lead the life of a celebrity in a way just with out the money.”
“Deliriously” happy widow and widower get married again – aged 90
A widow and widower say they are “deliriously” happy after remarrying – aged 90.
Sheila and Timothy ‘Tim’ Harris, from Coxheath, Kent, said “I do” once more and tied the knot at Saint Nicholas Church, Linton on Thursday (March 20).
The smitten couple first met each other six years ago at the Village Tea Rooms in Headcorn after being introduced by their daughters.
Sheila had been married to husband Ron Macdonald for 55 years – but after a lengthy battle with his health, he died in November 2017.
Meanwhile, Tim lost his beloved Brenda to throat cancer the following February.
Neither expected they would wed again.
But the two hit it off straight away and Tim, who had been heartbroken, said the “lights just came on” when they met.
He said: “I was being looked after after my wife died by her gang of friends and they’d invited me to have lunch with them.
“So I had several lunches and I paid, and Michelle, Sheila’s daughter, said ‘I’m going to bring my mum if that is all right’.
“I said ‘what a flipping cheek’ and going through Sheila’s head was ‘If you think you’re matchmaking my girl you’re making a big mistake’.”
But instead, the golf enthusiast said he was left “most impressed” with Sheila.
Speaking on meeting her future husband for the first time, she said: “He very kindly opened a tin of lemonade for me and I thought how jolly nice.”
Tim added: “Going through my head was that she was a very attractive lady – she’d got lovely hands and nails, lovely eyes, a lovely mouth.
“Within a month we were pretty much an item and we’ve been deliriously happy ever since.”
The two have discovered they share many similar interests – both had played tennis, badminton and squash locally, at times taking part in friendly matches.
Now, the pair have developed hobbies together- with Tim joining Sheila’s church choir.
After lockdown, he moved into her bungalow after Sheila kindly offered to help care for him and his bad shoulder.
And, on Valentine’s Day this year, Tim popped the question.
He said: “We said well, we’re still crackling on at 90 and we’re having lovely holidays, cruises and we’re both pretty fit and we thought we must get married.
“So I bought Sheila a nice engagement ring and then next thing we saw a lovely vicar and said we would much prefer a church service than a registry office and it all ploughed ahead and it was just wonderful.”
Sheila added: “The day was absolutely beautiful because the sun shined all day.”
Although there is not an official honeymoon booked, the newlyweds will be taking a trip to Rottingdean next month and embarking on a cruise in June.
And for those who have lost a beloved but are perhaps looking to find love again, Tim offered some words of advice
He added: “Get out and about. Find love and find someone who can have a bit of give and take.
“Obviously, make sure you have things you like together and just make sure there is lots of love.
“I’ve moved in from a four-bedroom house to Sheila’s little bungalow and of course, my possessions have been cast to the winds really – but we just belong together, we are just so happy.”
Woman who survived cancer twice gives birth to “miracle baby”
An overjoyed woman has given birth to a “miracle baby” after surviving cancer twice.
Rebecca Moss, 28, was first diagnosed aged 20 in 2016 with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a blood cancer, and then again four years later aged 24 in 2021 with Ewing Sarcoma, which affected her lungs.
She was told by the doctors the chances of her and husband, Kris, 29, an agricultural contractor, ever having a baby naturally were “extremely low” as the treatment would have affected her fertility.
But against all odds Rebecca gave birth to baby girl Rubylee May Moss.
Rebecca said: “I am very lucky and very grateful to have her, she is just so precious.
“Rubylee is brilliant, just perfect and she eats so much – she’s like her dad.”
The now mother from Wilberfoss, in Yorkshire, had two years of chemotherapy and radiotherapy before doctors declared the Ewing Sarcoma tumour which had affected her rib cage and lungs as not active in July 2023.
This means that every three months she has a check up and a CT scan to check if the cancer has reactivated.
In late July 2024 Rebecca began “feeling sick” fearing her cancer had returned.
Rebecca said: “I had a CT scan coming up and they ask you if you are pregnant.”
“I was feeling sick at the time and I was worried that the cancer may had come back.”
“I did a pregnancy test on the off chance and it came up positive but I thought it must be a mistake because of everything my body has been through.”
A couple of days before the CT scan, on August 2, Rebecca had an ultrasound to doublecheck if she had a baby on the way.
Rebecca said: “It turned out I was 11 weeks and four days into my pregnancy.
“The lady doing the scan had tears in her eyes and I had to go off and cry as it was such a shock.”
“I told Kris, but then we were worries whether or not we’d be able to keep the baby, but we got in touch with the team in Leeds and they were great.”
Around seven months later Rebecca gave birth to her daughter who weighed 7lb on Thursday February 20.
She was named Ruby after Kris’s grandma and Lee after 22-year-old TikTok star Leah Smith, from Woolton, Merseyside, who had Ewing’s Sarcoma like Rebecca and died last year and May after her grandma.
Rebecca, from Wilberfoss, Yorshire, became friends with Leah as they share the type of same cancer.
She said: I never got to meet her, but she helped me after I was diagnosed.”
Before she became ill with cancer for the second time Rebecca worked as a beautician.
She now studies media make-up, special effects, and hair design degree at York College.
She finished the first semester but has since been deferred until January 2026.
For now Rebecca said she’s enjoying being mum to Rubylee, who is now four weeks old, and her dog Smokey a cockapoo.
She said, “I’ve pretty much got my hands full.
“It just goes to show you shouldn’t give up hope as you never know what’s round the corner.”
Music teacher who ‘discovered’ Michael Jackson reveals when she knew he was a star
The music teacher who ‘discovered’ Michael Jackson can still remember when she first heard his voice – as he sang a hit from the Sound of Music.
Anita Hill, 91, of Gary, Indiana, who honed Jacko’s talent before he became the face of the Jackson 5, has spoken out ahead of a new biopic coming out later this year.
Hill ‘discovered’ the King of Pop by putting him in a choir as a little boy after hearing the unmistakable melody in his voice in the tune Climb Every Mountain.
Before that even Jacko’s parents didn’t know he could sing.
“Michael, which is slated to hit theaters on October 3 will star MJ’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson — the son of Jermaine.
Hill shared her thoughts on the upcoming film, memories of his early days, and reflects on the tragedy that ultimately took over Jackson’s life.
“He looks like him automatically,” she said of Jaafar. “No surgery or nothing. He looks just like him.”
Although Hill doesn’t know if her character will be in the film, she expressed hope that the story will capture the essence of Jackson’s impact.
“I hope it covers all of that. Things that he did to make people happy, and all of the things that he tried to do and the way he kept going, he kept singing,” she said.
“Whatever happened, he was right there and he enjoyed it. He loved it,” she added. “And he has family, and now they’re trying to imitate him. So he was a leader.”
As his music teacher at Garnett Elementary School in Gary, Hill recalled the early years of the King of Pop before he became the face of the Jackson 5.
She was sent to the school by the Gary Community Center as a second music teacher when she first encountered young Michael.
“There were two music teachers, another lady and myself,” Hill recalled.
“When I was there, the principal asked me to prepare a program for the teachers association that was having a meeting.
“I had to try to walk around and find something to do.
“So I listened to all my different classes and I heard a couple of boys singing pretty good, and I told them to come to the office, let me listen to them.
“And I started listening. Michael, who was probably six years old at the time, his voice was so melodious and stayed on pitch and he was very good.”
Hill taught him “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music,” despite him being so young that he couldn’t read yet.
She says his parents — Joe and Katherine — were unaware of his vocal talent until they saw him perform at the school event.
“His parents didn’t know he could sing either,” she said. “They heard him for the first time.
“So after that, they started using him and I started using him myself because I was in charge of the choir, had a hundred kids in the choir and he was the only little one.
“I didn’t use little children. I had fifth and sixth graders, and he was so good I just added him with the group.”
Hill noted that Jackson was much younger than the other choir members, but his talent made him stand out.
“He was a baby and he was not really old enough to be in the group that I put him in, but he could sing and had a beautiful voice,” she said. “His memorization was fantastic.”
She also recalled how his natural showmanship became apparent early on.
“I just realized when I was thinking about him yesterday, when he was in the choir that I had, they marched in to a rhythm,” she explained.
“And by him being the smallest, he led the group in the march to the stage and we did our performance.
And also some of the songs we had dancing with it, and he would dance just as well as the big ones. So I just realized that started his dancing career also.”
Hill described Jackson as “very nice” and “very kind,” saying he had an effect on his classmates.
“The main thing about him volunteering to sing, other little kids started singing too,” she said.
“In fact, they were angry with me because I didn’t put them in the choir. I did it with him, but I couldn’t explain to them that it was because his voice texture was different.”
She also remembered how dedicated Michael was to his talent.
“Every time I would ask a volunteer, his hand would automatically go up,” she said. “Anytime you ask him to sing anything, he would sing it. And if he didn’t know, he would try.”
Even at a young age, Jackson’s abilities were beyond those of his peers.
“There was no comparison in voice. None. None whatsoever. He could sing low like a bass, he could sing high like a tenor. His voice could fluctuate up and down.”
Although she recognized his immense gift, she admitted she never imagined just how far he would go in his career.
“I didn’t really think he’d get as far as he did, even though he was good,” she said. “I was really shocked and happy.”
Reflecting on his life struggles later on, Hill shared her thoughts on his challenges with fame and health.
A far cry from the little boy Hill knew in the 1960s, Jackson was twice accused of child molestation and became addicted to prescription medication over the years.
He died on June 25, 2009 from propofol intoxication at the hands of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray – just weeks away from performing his comeback “This is It” shows in London.
“I really think he became addicted to drugs unintentionally,” she said.
“You want to feel a certain way, and I think he just wanted to feel good and that was it. A lot of them do that.
“In order to be a performer, you have to feel a certain way to get out there on that stage in order to do like you did every day.”
Hill also reflected on Michael’s changing appearance over the years, particularly his skin condition.
“When he first did the song for me, he had a little small afro and he was tiny,” she said.
“And then as the years passed, actually, some of his skin looked like it changed on its own, because you can’t really change your face without changing the body.
“But his whole body, his arms — I think I could see his arms and hands — and they were all the same color as the rest of his body. So that’s what always concerned me.”
In 2009, Hill spoke at Jackson’s memorial at Steel Yard baseball stadium in Gary.
Recently, two Jackson brothers visited Gary when a music program was named after the Motown group.
“Tito and Marlon were here and I went to a program,” Hill said.
“One of the schools here started a music program, a new building, and named it after the Jacksons. I took a picture with them. They come to the city quite often.”
She also attended a performance honoring Jackson’s legacy in 2020.
“I went to New York to see the films they had about him,” she said. “They selected other children that could imitate him.
“The boys were good. They really imitated him pretty good, but they weren’t Michael.”
As an influential force behind the legendary King of Pop, Hill shared words of encouragement for those striving to achieve their dreams.
“Whatever you start, keep on doing it,” she said. “You are going to become successful if you don’t give up.”
“I’ve been digging graves for 40 years – I love the nature and peace of a cemetery”
The UK’s longest serving gravedigger has no plans to hang up his shovel – after working in cemeteries for more than 40 years.
Mick Woods, 61, says he enjoys being out in nature and using his hands to give people a “respectful” send off.
Mick has spades of experience after digging more than 20,000 graves in cemeteries around Nottinghamshire since he started in 1984.
The grandad still digs more than four graves a week at Mansfield Cemetery and says the deepest can take nearly two days to complete.
Mick, who lives near the cemetery, said: “At the end of the day you can go home satisfied that you’ve helped someone with their bereavements and know that their loved ones have been laid to rest with respect.
“It’s a long process and in their grief they need to know their loved ones are respected from the minute they go from the undertaker to the last place where they’ll be laid to rest.”
Mick started digging graves after working as a gardener aged 16 before getting a job at Mansfield Cemetery in 1984.
He admits that the essential job can be risky and he has escaped being buried himself on several occasions due to graves collapsing following heavy rain.
On another occasion the ground gave way around the edge of a grave and Mick almost tumbled into the hole but was saved when he scrambled out.
He said: “Everyday is different and I like being outdoors, you have to take the rough with the smooth with the weather and you get to meet some interesting families and you get to know all about their loved ones.
“At Mansfield we’re up to about 40,000 graves, and when I started there were only about 20,000, so I’ve done about 20,000 graves or even more.
“We go in peaks and troughs but it averages out about three or four a week over the four cemeteries that we work over.”
While the average grave used to take half a day to prepare, Mick can now have one ready in under 45 minutes thanks to modern machinery.
He added: “In the early days when we used to do everything by hand and it could take all day or more to dig a six foot grave.
“These days we do get the tractor to do most of the digging and then we have to go down and make sure the measurements are right and that we haven’t disturbed the coffin if it’s what we call a ‘reopen’.”
Mick and his team usually carry out exhumations when people move away and want to relocate the remains of their loved ones to a cemetery nearby.
Mick says his job requires him and his team to have a good sense of humour and have people make jokes at his expense.
He added: “When people asked me what I do, I just blurt it out – grave digger/gardener – that’s what am and what I have done for last 40 years.
“You do get the odd joke like – ‘you must work in the dead centre of Mansfield’ or ‘your job must be dead boring’ but I just let them wash over me. I am quite happy doing what I am doing and that’s the main thing.”
Despite his gavedigging career, Mick admits he still hasn’t decided if he wants to be buried or cremated when his own time’s up.
He added: “I don’t really know which I want, buried or cremated, to be fair.
“It’s a funny one, I’m getting to that age where I should be making my mind up where I want to be.
“I always joke with the girls at the crematorium that I’m going to go up the A614 and be chucked over the hedge and let the pigs eat me. So I really don’t know.
“I’ve dug family graves where we’ve had wives, husbands and uncles. Thankfully I’ve never had to dig one for my own family.
“Usually we do try and dig a couple of days in advance so we’re ready for the day the funeral takes place.
“I don’t know many people who have done it for as long as me, they all seem to come and go.
“Obviously the old boys who trained me have all gone now. It looks like I’m going to be here until retirement and then put my shovel up at the end.
“I’m the longest running digger, I’m the dad of the team.”
Villagers win ‘David and Goliath’ battle to save last working phonebox
Battling villagers have won their fight with BT to save their last working red phone box after the telecom giant said it was only used nine times last year.
Residents of Sharrington, Norfolk, were determined not to see the iconic red K6 disconnected and even queued up earlier this month to use it.
The K6 was the first red telephone kiosk to be used extensively outside London and many thousands were installed.
BT wanted to disconnect the box – which is one of only a handful of its kind left in the county – due to its lack of usage.
However today (March 25) it was announced the phone would stay working in the small village.
Steffan Aquarone, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, said: “It just goes to show you that communities can achieve incredible things when we stand together to protect what matters to us.
“The K6 phone box is a lifeline in this small, rural village.
“When BT said they were planning to remove it, the whole of Sharrington stood up and said ‘absolutely not’.
“It’s so heartening to know that this phone box sign will continue to light up this small, rural corner of North Norfolk for many evenings to come.”
Derek Harris, who is led the resistance against BT, had previously described the campaign as a ‘war’.
He said: “It’s a David and Goliath situation.
“It is a war between the village and BT and we are trying to enlist as much help as we can.
“We want this phone box to remain functioning.”
The 89-year-old, who has lived in the village for 50 years, added: “We are an elderly population who are not great with technology.
“Some of them do not have iPhones and I am not sure they even have land lines.”
Locals claim some elderly locals still rely on the box and because mobile phone coverage can be unreliable in north Norfolk, it is a useful lifeline for ramblers.
Many villages which have seen their phone boxes disconnected have kept them as mini-libraries and information centres or to house defibrillators.
A BT spokesperson confirmed they had decided not to remove the phone.
Girl, 5, Believed to Be the Only Person in the World Named Snow White
Meet the only girl in the world called ‘Snow White’ – who is her mum and dad’s little princess.
Mum Lisa Morphy, 45, picked the name for five-year-old Snow-White Jennifer Morphy after she feel pregnant with a much-wanted girl after having three boys.
Lisa, from Northampton, said: “We knew she’d be our little princess. When my son suggested we call her Snow-White, I thought it was amazing.
“Everyone thought I was mad when I told them the name.
“She loves it – if people call her Snow, she corrects them – and she tells everyone how she’s a princess.
“Airport check-ins can be hard, and people turn around or whisper when I call her name in public, but I don’t care.”
Lisa had three kids before she was hospitalised with a cyst wrapped around her ovary.
Doctors had to remove 75 per cent of one of the ovaries and she was warned it would be unlikely she could fall pregnant again.
But she had always dreamed of becoming a girl mum so was delighted when she found out she was pregnant with a daughter in late 2018.
Lisa and husband Richard, 43, who owns a road sweeping business, knew she’d be the “princess of the household”.
She has a Disney-themed bedroom, loves singing and dancing, and a ‘princess’ attitude bossing around three older brothers.
Lisa is also mum to Jack, 23, William, 16, and Teddy, 12.
The mum loved the name “Snow” but Teddy suggested “Snow-White”.
Lisa said: “Richard was on board, and I loved it.
“Snow White is the OG Disney Princess and I know she’d be a princess in a house full of boys.”
The parents had a few raised eyebrows from their own parents when they shared the moniker.
Lisa said: “The older generation didn’t really get it – they said she’d be bullied, but people bully regardless of name.”
She said when they went to register their daughter’s birth at six weeks, the staff had to go and make a call to ensure the name wasn’t copyrighted by Disney – which fortunately it wasn’t.
Lisa said they introduced Snow-White to Disney when she was very young and she has a Snow White themed bedroom as well as a selection of costumes.
The family are going to see the new Snow White movie, starring Rachel Zegler, next week and Lisa says her daughter is very excited.
Lisa said: “She’s a total princess- she makes my 16-year-old carry her down the stairs in the morning.
“If she gets told off by us, she goes to one of her brothers to get a cuddle. They’re super protective of her.”
The family are used to heads turning when they address her out in public.
But they all adore the name and think it suits her perfectly.
Lisa added: “Not everyone understands it, but we’ve raised her to be proud of her name and she’s very confident in who she is.”
Man who claims to have the world’s oldest cat celebrates her 30th birthday
A man who claims to have the world’s oldest cat says she has just celebrated her 30th birthday – complete with a cake with her face on.
Leslie Greenhough, 70, believes his tortoiseshell moggy, Millie, who was born in 1995, is currently the oldest living feline.
The moggy was first owned by Leslie’s late wife, Paula, 55, who first got Millie in 1995 – when the kitten was three months old.
Leslie said the cat’s long life is down to “lots of treats” including “cuddles on the sofa” and Buxton water.
And to celebrate three decades, Leslie decided to a get a cake made with her face on complete with 30 candles.
A big fan of attention, Millie starts her day “messing” about with Leslie before jumping up onto his knee to sit on the back of the sofa in the sun.
Leslie, a former storekeeper, from Stockport, said: “It was a fantastic day, it is such an achievement that she has turned 30.
“I had a birthday cake made with her face on. It was such a hot day she was licking all the cream off.
“My life ambition is to get her in the Guinness Book of records, but I can’t prove her age.
“The only person who can do that is my late wife who sadly died five years ago.”
Leslie met his wife on plenty on the dating site Plenty Of Fish in 2012, and he was introduced to Millie after he over heard her ‘meowing’ in the background of the calls.
The couple got engaged in 2013 on Valentine’s Day and married two years later in 2014.
Leslie had owned a cat once before as a child, named Blackie, but hadn’t had a pet in several decades, until meeting Millie.
He said: “Blackie used to follow me everywhere she was born in a paper mill and such a sweet thing.
“Millie was such a sweet cat when I first met her.
“Over the years Millie was bullied by other cats the her neighbourhood, so she stopped going out and became more of an indoor cat.
“She’s developed a cautious attitude – she’s very shy.
“I think that’s helped her live longer.”
Leslie’s wife Paula sadly passed away four years ago, in 2020, after contracting Covid-19.
His wife’s passing also affected Millie, who struggled to eat after losing her owner.
He said: “It was incredibly difficult on both of us.
“Millie and I had bonded before she died, she would sit on my lap and my wife said she could see how much the cat loved me.
“I think Millie knew my wife wasn’t well.
“Millie wouldn’t eat anything at first, I used to give her prawns and chicken, but over time she’s back to eating cat food.”
Now 30, Leslie credits Millie’s longevity to 12pm wake-up calls, Buxton water and a diet of prawn and salmon.
“She keeps herself to herself, she will wake up around dinner time and I will mess about her with for 30 minutes”, Leslie said
“She only drinks Buxton water and has a diet of salmon, prawns, chicken and tuna.
“Millie likes to do her own thing, I will find her either asleep behind the sofa or asleep in my bed.
“Sometimes she will play out in the garden – a cat is a cat really.”
