A WOMAN thought to be Britain's oldest virgin has celebrated her 105th birthday - and said the secret to long life is celibacy.

A WOMAN thought to be Britain's oldest virgin has celebrated her 105th birthday - and said the secret to long life is celibacy.

Retired secretary Clara Meadmore said she never wanted a family and happily lived with her cats before moving into care in January this year.

She celebrated her birthday on Saturday at the Perran Bay nursing home in Truro, Cornwall, and along with cards from the Queen and relatives she marked the occasion with a drop of wine. She said: "People have asked me whether I am a homosexual and the answer is no. I have just never been interested in sex. I imagine there is a lot of hassle involved and I have always been busy doing other things."

Miss Meadmore was born in Glasgow in 1903, two years after Queen Victoria left the throne, and she remembers the Titanic sinking and the outbreak of the First World War.

Her friend Josie Harvey said: "She was fiercely independent and that allowed her to live a long life."