Q: What do you get a 100 year old woman?
A: The correct birthday.
In 2014 Evelyn Frost of Tamworth, Staffordshire celebrated her birthday. In the UK, those who reach the century mark are entitled to get a personal letter from the Queen, and Mrs. Frost was eager to do so.
(In case you’re approaching your hundredth birthday and are British, here’s the link you can use to apply.)
One of the requirements, understandably, is proof of age. Mrs. Frost did what anyone would do, and applied to receive a copy of her birth certificate.
An aside: one of the difficulties of writing an article is maintaining any sense of curiosity when the reader knows what’s coming.
From the Daily Mail:
Instead of listing her date of birth as April 17, 1914, the certificate revealed it was April 16.
Her son Dennis said: ‘We were looking at sending off for the Queen’s letter and we had to send off her birth certificate.
‘She has never had one before and when it eventually came through she couldn’t believe it.’
She celebrated her hundredth birthday on the proper day, April 16th… and then on the 17th as well. As Eveyln said on the 16th, having a party on the earlier date “felt a bit weird”
She did get her congratulatory note from the Queen. And, because a British citizen is able to get subsequent congratulations on every fifth year after 100, she will be eligible for another missive next year, on April 16, 2019. Feel free to send her a card, too, if you’d like; she seems feisty enough to appreciate the gesture.
Question of the night: what present would you like to get for your next birthday?
