![Does my hair look OK? World's oldest person turns 117 in style](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2016/11/_2/740x404/pic_1480441207_3.jpg)
Does My Hair Look OK? World's Oldest Person Turns 117 In Style
Sumaira FH Published November 29, 2016 | 10:00 PM
![Does my hair look OK? World's oldest person turns 117 in style](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2016/11/_2/740x404/pic_1480441207_3.jpg)
ROME, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Nov, 2016 ) - Emma Morano, humanity's last known survivor of the 19th century, turned 117 in style on Tuesday, dressing up for the occasion and demanding to know "does my hair look all right?" before having her photograph taken.
The oldest known person alive can hardly see, is very hard of hearing, has been largely bed-bound for the last year and has not left her small second-storey flat in Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy for over two decades.
But her doctor, Carlo Bava, said his patient remained alert and continued to have a reasonable quality of life. Bava told AFP she was very aware of all the fuss being made about her reaching the latest milestone in a remarkable life that began on November 29, 1899.
"She is very lucid, very present," Bava said. "She was very happy and honoured to get a telegram of congratulations this morning from President (Sergio) Mattarella. "There was a television crew there and she got flowers.
She had dressed up and she was very proud. She posed for a photographer and even asked if her hair looked good. "So I think you can say she is on good form." - No veggies, thanks - ====================== Morano has reached a ripe old age despite an extraordinarily tough life, even by the standards of many of her contemporaries, and following a diet that flouts almost every piece of established medical wisdom.
"I eat two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth," she told AFP in an interview last month. She has long eschewed vegetables and her consumption of fruit is limited to the occasional handful of grapes or snacks of Apple puree.
Her prodigious egg habit started when she was diagnosed with anaemia at 20 and a doctor told her to start eating two raw and one cooked every day: a habit she maintained until her appetite began to ebb slightly around the age of 110.
When she still had teeth, she was also fond of chomping chicken and lean raw steak. Along with her fondness for pure protein, she has always had a sweet tooth meaning visitors were usually advised to come bearing gifts of Colomba, a cake rich in egg and butter that Italians associate with Easter, or Pannetone and Pandoro, traditional Christmas treats of a similar ilk.
- Very strong character - ========================= But it wasn't clear if she would be enjoying any of the birthday cake she received on Tuesday. "The last time I ate a little, but then I did not feel good," she confided to AFP last month.
Bava suspects that Morano has thrived despite her unusual diet, not because of it. "I think her secret is genetic. All of her family lived very a very long time," the doctor said. "The diet she has had would have destroyed the liver of most people.
But with Emma, I think she could even eaten pebbles and she would still have lived a very long time. "What might be more important is that she has always had a very strong strong character. It has always been her who decides what she does or doesn't do." Morano herself has attributed her longevity to having the courage to take the life-changing decision of leaving a violent husband in 1938, shortly after the death in infancy of their son, her only child.
It was always an unhappy marriage. Years before, her true love had gone off to fight in World War I and not come back. Leaving a husband was no easy thing to do in the Church-dominated Italy of the 1930s and Morano worked in a factory producing jute sacks to support herself.
"Back then, the workers in those factories were constantly breathing in dust and yet her lungs are fine -- that's genetics," said Bava.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
![Cricket: England v West Indies 3rd Test scoreboard](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019914.jpg)
Cricket: England v West Indies 3rd Test scoreboard
![Finance minister briefs Chinese officials on refor ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019922.jpg)
Finance minister briefs Chinese officials on reform agenda, engagement with IMF
![Finland says Russian vessel violated its territori ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019912.jpg)
Finland says Russian vessel violated its territorial waters
![Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019266.jpg)
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
![West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019264.jpg)
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
![Ukraine court orders detention of suspect in murde ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019262.jpg)
Ukraine court orders detention of suspect in murder of nationalist ex-MP
![Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris ope ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019015.jpg)
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
![Rana Sanaullah Khan joins Paris 2024 Olympics inau ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019638.jpg)
Rana Sanaullah Khan joins Paris 2024 Olympics inauguration reception
![Glowing tributes mark 69th birthday of President Z ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019637.jpg)
Glowing tributes mark 69th birthday of President Zardari at Governor's House
![Players unaware of spying scandal as Canada Olympi ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019635.jpg)
Players unaware of spying scandal as Canada Olympic coach sent home: official
![Naqvi hails Pak women cricketers for going down fi ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019013.jpg)
Naqvi hails Pak women cricketers for going down fighting against SL
!['Sabotage' on French rail network before Olympics: ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019634.jpg)
'Sabotage' on French rail network before Olympics: What we know
More Stories From World
-
Biden talks Gaza ceasefire efforts with king of Jordan
5 hours ago -
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder pleads not guilty after stunning US capture
5 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked ex-presidents going to observe polls
5 hours ago -
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
5 hours ago -
Khan Yunis fighting displaces 180,000 Gazans in four days: UN
5 hours ago -
Trump slams rivals as he meets Netanyahu in Florida
5 hours ago
-
Obama & his wife, Michelle, officially endorse US VP Kamala Harris for president
5 hours ago -
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
5 hours ago -
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
5 hours ago -
S.African police detain 95 Libyans at suspected military camp
6 hours ago -
'Slapping therapist' guilty over UK diabetic woman's death
6 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked flight of ex-presidents going to observe polls
6 hours ago