A World War II veteran who just turned 105 shared his secret as he appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain
Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell floored GMB viewers with his “ageless” appearance(Image: ITV screengrab)
A World War II veteran who just turned 105 shared his secret as he appeared on Good Morning Britain.
Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell, the last surviving World War II Mosquito bomber pilot, was on the ITV show on Thursday (May 14) and viewers were “amazed” at how youthful he looked.
Hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley quizzed him about his secret, and Colin shared that being “lucky” had a role as he paid tribute to his late wife of 73 years. He also told the presenters that he avoids negative people “like the plague”.
Colin was talking about a recent return to the skies and writing his bestselling book, Bloody Dangerous, when Richard said: “Colin, I, I just don’t know how you manage to be so trim and fit and so strong.” “You’ve got you’ve got a quick secret of 105, haven’t you, of how you managed to be so fabulous?” Kate added.
“Well, I’m not fabulous,” the former pilot replied. “But I’m very lucky. And that plays a very large part in one’s life. I’ve been very lucky all the time. I was lucky to be married to the best woman in the world for 73 years.
“And unfortunately, I lost her eight years ago. But, you know, you just have to get on with life, don’t you?”
Richard suggested that after every mission he flew, Colin’s chances of coming back safely from the next one went down.
But the centenarian said: “No, I disagree with you. It’s like flipping a coin. You stand the same chance when you flip a coin as it is when you’re coming back from an operation. The chances of survival are exactly the same for every trip that you go out, except that you’re most vulnerable in your early stages when you haven’t got experience.
“Because without experience see, until you’ve actually been out and experienced being shot at… nobody can tell you what it’s like. But when you’ve experienced it and you know how, then you become less vulnerable.”
After Kate commented on his “positive” view, Colin replied: “Well, you would need to be positive. I like positive people, and I avoid negative people like the plague.
“Let’s put it this way. It was a job that had to be done. I think I lacked quite a lot of imagination, which was in my favour. I think I was pretty thick. But I got on with it because, as I said, it was a job that had to be done.”
Viewers watching at home were impressed by Colin’s story and youthful appearance, with several posting messages on X.
“105!? Woah, Amazing…! What a man,” one said on the platform, which was formerly Twitter. “105, good for him,” said another.
One wrote: “Colin Bell, where’s his knighthood!!! 105 still going strong and he’s amazing, totally on the ball still. Thank you for your service Sir.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX