Jeanne spent her life in Arles in the South of France. Photo by Jan Buchholtz on Flickr.
Jeanne Calment died on 4 August 1997 aged 122 years and is the oldest known human to have lived.
So what was the secret to her longevity?
No doubt it was a combination of factors; She exercised, riding a bicycle until she was 100, ate a lot of chocolate and olives, smoked and considered laughter very important. Although longevity ran in her family and she lived a life of comfortable wealth, it was her positive attitude which most stood out, summed up when she said:
”If you can’t do anything about it, don’t worry about it”.
A lawyer Andre-Francois Raffray bought Calment’s apartment in 1969 when she was 94. Raffray said he would pay her 2,500 francs a month until she died while she continued to live in the apartment. An arangement made under the French en viager system. After that, Raffray would own the apartment.
This was a disastrous investment, as Raffray died at 77, two years before Jeanne, owing her more than $180,000, which his family was still paying when she died.