World's Oldest Paper Boy is nearly 100 years old - PHOTO

Ted, 90, took up the part-time job in 1942 to top up his income but loved it so much he never stopped.

During a career spanning seven decades, the pensioner has dropped more than 500,000 papers through doors.

There have only been two days when his customers have not received their papers - and that was when bad snow storms prevented the copies from getting to him.

He has had just two holidays; both in the 1960s when he took his family to Butlins and a neighbour looked after his round.

And even when Ted broke his back in the 1950s he arranged for his late wife Betty to deliver the papers in their village while he was laid up.

I enjoy doing the round because you meet people and have a bit of a chit chat.

Now he has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest serving paper boy in history.

"I love my round. I don't make any money out of it now, I do it for the village and because I enjoy it and it keeps me fit," he said.

"I can't believe I am a record holder at my age, but I don't feel any different."

Ted moved to the village of Winterborne Monkton, near Dorchester, Dorset, in 1938 and worked on a local farm as a tractor driver.

But he decided to become a paper boy four years later aged 22 and has been doing it on his bike ever since.

"I enjoy doing the round because you meet people and have a bit of a chit chat."

But Ted has recently had to swap his bike for a Peugeot 106 while he recovers from a hip replacement operation.

Amazingly, he has two jobs in his 'retirement' - he also mows the lawns of the houses and caravan parks near the village.

His daughter Angela Matthews, 50, says: "It's good that dad is still able to do it, it keeps him active and looking so young.

"He is very committed to his round. When I was younger we only had two holidays. Dad was never one for travelling too far out of Dorset."

Guinness is now in the process of contacting Ted to verify his claim and officially crown him a world record holder.


/Sky News/

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