An older adult male wearing a light gray sweater vest over a red collared shirt stands in an indoor living room setting with floral-patterned furniture, artwork on the walls, and soft lighting. 13:30
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Three people over 100 on how to keep going

Three people past 100, each living in a different part of England, talk about how they got there and what keeps them going. more

Clifford Crozier asks to be called Cliff. He was born in Birkenhead, on the Wirral in Cheshire, and he's 101.

Cliff Crozier, an elderly man with white hair and a mustache, sits indoors near wall art and looks ahead. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Clifford Crozier, 101, was born in Birkenhead and asks to be called Cliff.

He has been retired for 38 years, and it suits him. "It always pleases me, though, that I can keep robbing the government with my pension," he says. He doesn't dwell on his age. "It's just that you keep going. A hundred and one is only a number, and you live for the day."

Some days he sits in his chair with what he calls a pile of fond memories. He sorts through the people he has known and, with a laugh, pairs them up in his mind. There are quite a few, he says, who would be very happy together, "because they are such lovely people."

Amelia Tereza Harper goes by Tereza, the Czech way, and she's 103. "A hundred and three, my goodness me," she says. "Three is my lucky number. I have always been lucky. I've never been unlucky, touch wood." Then she spots some. "Oh, there's wood underneath there."

Her luck has had its tests. As a young girl in Czechoslovakia, she lived with her grandparents because her father was a prisoner of war. When he was released, the family came over to England to be with him.

An older adult male wearing a light gray sweater vest over a red collared shirt stands in an indoor living room setting with floral-patterned furniture, artwork on the walls, and soft lighting. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Three people past 100, each living in a different part of England, talk about how they got there and what keeps them going.

These days, everything makes her happy. She loves talking to people and doing things, and going out shopping most of all. "Once I go out shopping, I don't want to come back," she says, and laughs.

She feels she has done nearly everything she ever wanted to do, and she holds on to the good parts. "I've got beautiful memories, you know," she says. "I can live happily forever after because of my lovely memories."

An elderly couple stands smiling beside a lake, holding hands near the water's edge, with trees around them. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Happy memories of the people they love are part of what keeps them going.

John, the third of them, lives in another part of England, and like Cliff he still gets around on foot. Between them, the advice is plain. Be as independent as you can, but don't be shy about asking for help when you need it. One of them hardly counts failures at all, because a cake that goes wrong just becomes a pudding.

"As long as I can be helpful and keep going," one of them says. "That's the main thing."