THE 108-year-old Worcestershire veteran who has become the last surviving Briton to serve in the First World War has described war as “boring”.

Claude Choules was born in Wyre Piddle, near Pershore, in 1901 and served on board HMS Revenge during the Great War before transferring to the Royal Australian Navy in 1926.

His daughter, Anne Pow, told an Austrailian newspaper how her father shrugged off the milestone when she told him about the death of 111-year-old Harry Patch.

When she broke the news, Mr Choules smiled and said to her: “Everything comes to those who wait and wait.”

Mrs Pow said he had often told her that war was mostly very tedious punctuated by moments of extreme danger.

The 80-year-old said her father had been a little more fiery as a younger man, but she believed it was his calm demeanour in later life that helped him live so long.

Mr Choules initially lied about his age so he could join the Royal Navy as a 14-year-old in 1916.

While onboard HMS Revenge he witnessed the surrender of the German Imperial Navy in 1918.

During the Second World War, Mr Choules was an acting torpedo officer and chief demolition officer on the western side of Australia.

As the acting torpedo officer at Fremantle in the Second World War, Mr Choules disposed of the first German mine to wash up on Australian soil.

He was also tasked with destroying harbour and oil storage tanks at the Fremantle port in case of a Japanese invasion.

Mr Choules remained in the Royal Australian Navy after the Second World War, spending his final working years at the Naval Dockyard Police before joining the crayfishing industry, at Safety Bay, south of Perth.

Mr Choules, who has three children, 11 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren, now lives in a retirement village in Perth.

He was married to his wife Ethel for 80 years until her death at aged 98 and was a regular dancer up to just a few years ago.

He is now believed to be one of three surviving veterans from the First World War.

The other two are American Frank Buckles, 108, and Canadian John Babcock, 109, who both live in the United States.