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Elizabeth Harfleet with a copy of How To Live 100 Years.
Elizabeth Harfleet with a copy of How To Live 100 Years.
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How to do the ton

Helen Tither
30/ 4/2008

FOR years, Elizabeth Harfleet wondered how her great aunt Lillie had lived to the grand old age of 103. Now it seems she might have found the answer, after unearthing a battered little book of herbal remedies hidden among some long-forgotten inheritance.

Covered in faded brown paper, the small volume of tinctures and treatments was so unassuming it had been overlooked for years, since Elizabeth's aunt died in 1973. But something about it made her peel back the dust cover.

There, with a cheery picture of an old chap smoking a pipe, lay the title that could hold the clue to Lillie's longevity - How To Live 100 Years. Priced at one shilling (5p) and sold by J Robinson & Sons of Bradford, it was complete with her great aunt's notes.

"I was only a little girl when great aunt Lillie was alive, although I remember going to her 100th birthday party," recalls Elizabeth, 46. "I remember she had an interest in health and remedies - my dad used to copy some of them, like putting boiled onions on my neck when I had mumps - but I have to admit I wasn't all that interested at the time.

"But now, I find it fascinating. It's funny, really, how herbal remedies are coming back in fashion - it looks like Lillie was ahead of her time."

Breast cancer

Unfortunately, Elizabeth doesn't know much about her aunt's life, other than she was born in 1870 to a rather well-off farming family and survived breast cancer to live to her grand old age, never marrying or having children. But she can see from the book that Lillie (born Mary Elizabeth Hogg) does seem to have followed its recommendations devotedly, making her think there could be something in its common sense advice and old-fashioned cures.

"My dad, who passed away eight years ago, said she was a very determined lady who got what she wanted. She was obviously determined to live to 100 and this is how she did it."

Manchester-based Elizabeth unwittingly followed in her aunt's healthy footsteps by training to be a nutritional therapist. Today, she finds herself recommending just the kind of herbal preventative ideas that Lillie followed all those years ago.

Which is why she is now trying to trace the original publishers of How To Live 100 Years - in the hope of republishing an updated and revised edition.

Herbs

"I think it's something that more and more people are interested in now - everyone is on the look-out for natural remedies and ways to use herbs. We're going back to that old advice to find some of it makes really good sense.

"Of course, some of the advice in this book is outdated now - like smoking rosemary in a pipe to cure respiratory problems - but other ideas are really interesting. I've tried to find the original herbalists who published it, with no luck. I think by combining these old-fashioned tips with some of my nutritional therapy background, we could come up with something really interesting."

Covering everything from pills and potions to common sense advice, many of the products listed in the book, from Hair Restoring Pomade to Golden Health Tablets, sound pretty archaic, although others would probably be best-sellers if they were re-released.

"The most practical and effective herbal reducer of superfluous flesh," boasts the book, of its Anti-Fat Tablets. "The natural curve of the human form can only be displayed when this is not disfigured by fleshy grossness."

While other remedies, like the Raspberry Leaf Tablets, even come with commendations. "I must recommend these if you are looking for a speedy confinement - and who isn't?" writes reader Mrs W.G.S. "I took these tablets, was baking all afternoon, went into hospital at 5.30pm and baby had arrived by 9pm. The doctors and nurses were surprised at the speed."

But if it all sounds a little too healthy to make living to 100 any fun, Elizabeth reckons her aunt still liked the odd treat. "I remember she always had a twinkle in her eye," she says. "And we always had to take her a tin of toffees - which just shows a little of what you fancy does you good."


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Most recent 1 of 1 user comments

   Sounds like snake-oil to me. You're far more likely to live to 100 nowadays, at it isn't because of herbal remedies.
Norbury
2/05/2008 at 20:03
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