A former butcher and boxing coach who has turned 100 says it is all down to his “wife’s smile.”

Charles Cain, of Nascot Road, Watford, was married to wife Beryl for 71 years before she died in April.

The couple met at a dance in Croxley Green when Beryl was 16 and Charles was 22, and the two fell in love.

They went on to have two sons, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Son Paul said: “My dad always used to say it was my mum that kept him going. She had the most amazing smile.”

After his retirement,Charles and Beryl became avid players of bowls at Abbots Langley Bowling Club and were also members of the local 50-plus club with which they would go on group holidays and to see shows in London’s west end.

Charles, the last survivor of 13 children, was born in Chester Road, Watford, in the final months of the First World War on June 11, 1918.

He worked as a butcher, but did not get called up for service during the first two years of the Second World War because butchery was seen as a reserved occupation.

But he eventually went on to join the RAF, when he was stationed in India as an armourer preparing planes with guns and bombs for the Burmese front. He also served terms in Jaipur and Karachi, which is now Pakistan.

Apart from war service, his only other vocation was as a butcher - a job he entered as a school leaver in the early 1930s at a shop in Watford where sheep were slaughtered on the premises.

He later worked at shops in Harrow, Eastcote and in Headstone Lane, before moving to a shop near the family home in Abbots Langley village, where he worked for around 15 years before his retirement, aged 65.

With his great-grandaughters, Alex, Natasha and Shona

Watford Observer:

Having boxed in the RAF, he later became boxing coach to his nephew, a professional fighter called “Killer Cane” from Watford.

Paul, 70, said one of the reasons for his father’s long life was that he’d always been very active.

He said: “He always had the most amazing hand-to-eye coordination. Even at 90 he could hit everything he wanted on a dart board, and he was just as good on the bowling green.

“When we were growing up we always had meat most days which a lot of families didn’t have back in those days.

“When I was about seven we still had rationing but as a butcher, if there was any meat left over he could bring it home.

“It wasn’t always the best stuff but it was edible, and my mum was a good cook.”

He loves watching TV channel Movies for Men and following the cricket. He also enjoys playing cards, particularly cribbage, as well watching sport and movies on TV.

He celebrated his birthday with family and friends at his home, where he was delighted to receive a telegram from the Queen, marking his 100 years.

His friend, Terry Fitzgerald, added: “He’s a brilliant old boy.”