Longest Marriage Ever Recorded

Merika · 06-22-2005, 07:48 PM

LONDON (AFP) - A British couple recognised as having had the world's longest marriage ever recorded were celebrating their 80th anniversary, and revealed the secret to wedded bliss as never letting arguments fester.

Or, as 105-year-old Percy Arrowsmith put it more succinctly, the regular use of two words: "Yes, dear".

Arrowsmith and his 100-year-old wife, Florence, were married on June 1, 1925, around the time a little-known politician, Adolf Hitler, was putting the finishing touches to "Mein Kampf".

A series of newspapers featured their story on Wednesday, with Mrs Arrowsmith attributing the success of their union to hard work and never going to bed with an argument unresolved.

"It has not been easy, but worth every minute because he is much more than my best friend: he is the love of my life," she said.

"We don't argue much these days, only when I want to watch the soaps (soap operas) on television, which he hates."

The Arrowsmiths have been certified as record-holders by the Guinness Book of World Records, the reports added, beating a Japanese couple who stayed together for 78 years and 296 days from 1926.