OLDEST GARDENER?

STILL GOING STRONG AT 103

A 103-year-old Dorset gardener reckons he is Britain's oldest worker. Jim Webber started working on the land aged 12 and has clocked up 91 years since. And in all that time the great-grandad has never had a holiday. Widower Jim turns out in all weathers to tend a half-acre garden at his local New Inn pub in Stoke Abbott. Jim, who still has a full driving licence, arrives on his Ferguson tractor carrying all his tools - including a chainsaw. He refuses to charge more than €5 euro an hour and, when asked when he's going to retire he jokes: "When I get old." Jim, who ran a farm until 1975, said: "I tried stopping work but I was bored and miserable. If I feel tired a drop of whisky soon puts me right." Mary Ward, 47, who runs the New Inn with husband Richard, said: "Jim's amazing. He's always mowing, digging up tree roots or pruning and tidying." Jim's daughter Kathy, 68, said: "Father has barely stayed in bed past 4am for 100 years. He just loves his work and can't sit still for a minute."

Horticultural.