Woman celebrates 100th birthday by smoking 170,000th cigarette

A defiant smoker celebrated her 100th birthday by lighting up her 170,000th cigarette from a candle on her birthday cake.

London, August 28 : A defiant smoker celebrated her 100th birthday by lighting up her 170,000th cigarette from a candle on her birthday cake.

Winnie Langley started having a puff only days after the First World War started in June 1914 when she was just seven-years-old, and has used up five a day ever since.

Langley says that tobacco has never had a bad effect on her health, and insists that she has no intention of quitting, despite the nationwide ban forcing smokers outside.

She has outlived a husband, Robert, and son, Donald, who died two years ago aged 72.

The former launderette worker said she started the habit in 1914 - just weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28 - which sparked the First World War.

The 100-year-old, who is awaiting her telegram from the Queen, said smoking helped calm her nerves during the two World Wars.

"A lot of people smoked during the war. It helped steady the nerves," The Sun quoted Langley, as saying.

Even with numerous health warnings, Langley insists that smoking has never made her ill because she "never inhaled".

ANI