LUDLOW and south Shropshire and Tenbury and the Teme Valley are home to a higher than the national average proportion of older people.

The death of Olive Boar, who, at 113, was the oldest person living in the UK, provides cause for thought. In my career, I have interviewed half a dozen people who have lived to be 100 – all but one of them women.

Of the 20 oldest people to have lived in Britain just two are men and of the 100 oldest in the world, 93 were women. The longest authenticated life was a French lady, Jeanne Calment, who died in 1993 aged 122 years and 164 days.

Females live longer than males in all societies. The average life expectancy of a woman is five per cent greater than for a man. This does not just apply to humans, it is true of chimps and apes. It is also true of dogs. Life expectancy in dogs varies hugely, largely linked to breed and size, but the average is about 12 years. On average a bitch lives two years longer than a dog.

But why do females usually live longer?

Men generally undertake more hazardous occupations and activities, take more risks and are much more likely to take their own lives. These are social and environmental factors, but biology plays a big part.

Women carry a spare X chromosome, linked to longevity, and oestrogen is an antioxidant, mopping up chemicals that damage cells, it lowers bad cholesterol and increases good. Some experts believe that the higher heart rate of women during part of the monthly cycle has the same benefit as moderate exercise.

But the male hormone testosterone damages the cardio vascular system and increases the wrong type of cholesterol. Historic research shows that eunuchs, castrated before puberty, significantly outlived their peers who had not been through the procedure. However, the queue to take up this passage to a possible few extra years of twilight would be a short one!

Socio economic circumstances and a family history, especially on the female side, also influence life expectancy.

The Queen, 92, illustrates this well. Her mother died aged 101, maternal grandmother aged 75, a very respectable age back in 1938, when she passed away, and her maternal great grandmother was 85 when she died in 1918.

No one can control gender, the circumstances into which they are born or how long their relatives live. We can make a difference through our lifestyle, what we eat and drink, taking exercise and not smoking. But the best bet for a long life is to be born a girl into an affluent family surrounded by long lived female blood relatives.