He existed and even thrived on a diet of "subrancid cheese and milk in every form, coarse and hard bread and small drink, generally sour whey," as the physician William Harvey wrote.

[4] Thomas Parr purportedly had an affair when he was more than 100 years old, and fathered a child born out of wedlock, for which he had to do public penance in the church porch.

[6] As news of his reported age spread, 'Old Parr' became a national celebrity and was painted by Rubens and Van Dyck.

In 1635, Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, visited Parr and took him to London to meet King Charles I, presented as a "curious piece of nature".

The carriage and escort attracted large crowds as it travelled towards London, with people stifling the old man in an attempt to touch him and hear him speak.

"[9] Parr was treated as a spectacle in London, but the food and environment caused him to die within only a few weeks, on 13 November 1635.