World's oldest man celebrates 113th birthday with a glass of milk

Francisco Nunez Olivera, the Spaniard recently declared the world's oldest man, has celebrated turning 113 in his village in western Spain.

Olivera, who has lived through two world wars and the Spanish Civil War and who fought for Spain during the colonial Rif War in the 1920s, celebrated the milestone on Wednesday (13 December) in the village of Bienvenida in the region of Extremadura.

The oldest man in the world, who has fathered four children and has nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, started the day with his usual breakfast of sponge cake and a glass of milk before opening letters of congratulations, local media reported.

He was declared the world's oldest man in August following the death of Holocaust survivor Yisrael Kristal, a month shy of his 114th birthday.

Olivera put his longevity down to a diet of homegrown vegetables and a daily glass of wine, good genes, a life of work and to "not be weak and stay in the house".

"I worked in the fields all my life," he told El Mundo last year. He was also said to have gone on daily walks around his village until he was 107.

Olivera it not the only one in his family with longevity. His brother Luis is 95 and his sister Jacoba, who also lives in Bienvenida, is 93. His two surviving children are María Antonia, 81, and Milagros, aged 78.

When asked how the family are able to live such long lives, Milagros put it down to "a gentle routine in a quiet village, being his own boss, not arguing with the family and enjoying the good life that revolved around the field, his house and the village bar," reports The Local.

Oliveria is said to be one of 30 people aged over 90 in Bienvenida.

Mayor Antonio Carmona added: "He's an living example of the quality of life in the municipality, but also of the pollution-free skies and countryside and stress-free work of the traditional way of life."