Coronation Street's William Roache Turns 80: A Life In Pictures

He holds the Guinness world record as the longest soap actor and now Coronation street star William Roache celebrates another milestone today after turning 80.

With a MBE to his name and countless female admirers, the veteran actor who has played Ken Barlow on the soap since 1960 has showed no signs of slowing down.

Nobody would agree more than is 43-year-old girlfriend Emma Jesson, who claims that the OAP actor has more energy than most men 50 years his junior.

Her intimate revelation came weeks after Roache made headlines when he confessed to sleeping with 1,000 women during his Ken Barlow haydays.

During an TV appearance on Piers Morgan's show, the former weather girl revealed how irresistible she found him: "The first meeting was breathtaking. He's very charismatic and he's got this twinkle, everybody's very drawn to him.

"William Roache MBE is 80 years old and he doesn't look it. He runs rings around me.

"I don't know what his secret is but he's still got the schedule of a 30-year-old... 5.30am starts and 10pm finishes. It's incredible."

However, the father-of-four has had his share of heart after losing his second wife Sara, who he was married to for 31 years, suddenly in 2009.

Following her tragic passing he said he would never find love again but was credits Jesson for changing his life around when they started in 2011.

According to ITV, Roache is planning to mark his 80th birthday with a big party.

IBTimes UK has a look back at the life of the world's longest running soap star...