What qualifies for a Guinness World Record? How does one get that title or award?

People or organizations need to apply on the Guinness World Records website and wait until a representative confirms the application. The records include tallest building in the world (Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE), most FIFA World Cup wins by a player (Pelé), and the tallest living man (Sultan Kösen).

One of these records includes the oldest living male in the world.

And, for 2020, that record goes to Robert “Bob” Weighton of Alton, Hampshire, England.

On March 30, 2020, one day after his 112th birthday, the Guinness World Records officially confirmed Weighton as the oldest living male person in the world.

“My grandson Magnus told me in the car whilst we were travelling in Alton. I remember saying: ‘Oh goodness me, fancy this, little Robert Weighton. It’s unbelievable.’ I was taken aback,” Bob recalled.

But because of the crisis and social distancing rules, an adjudicator from Guinness World Records was unable to meet Bob in person. The staff of the assisted living home Bob lives in made sure to celebrate his birthday and record though. They sang the Happy Birthday song for him and presented him with the Guinness World Records certificate.

Bob received the record and award when Mr. Chitetsu Watanabe, the previous holder, passed away at 112 years old and 365 days last February 23, 2020.

“I’m sorry that someone has had to die for me to get this title,” Bob said. “I’m not celebrating anything, my family and I are just taking things as they come.”

Bob was born on March 29, 1908 in Hull, East Yorkshire, England. He was one of seven children.

His life had been a very colorful and adventure-filled life that took him to Taiwan, Japan, Canada, and the US before he finally moved back to England.

Bob studied to become a marine engineer but when the shipping industry went into decline, he moved to Taiwan. He studied Mandarin in Taiwan before he taught at a missionary school.

It was also in Taiwan where he reconnected with an old classmate, Agnes, who was also teaching in Taiwan. They got married in 1937 and gave birth to their first child, David, in Taiwan.

They moved back to the UK in 1939.

He eventually found himself in Canada before he moved to the US because of World War II. The British military hired him to decipher enemy intelligence messages because he knew Japanese.

They had two more children, Peter, and Dorothy, while living abroad.

Once the war ended, they all moved back to England, where Bob taught at the City University in London, England until he retired at the age of 65 in 1973.

James Rodger of Birmingham Live asked Bob what his secret was for living a long life.

“By avoiding dying – there’s no reason otherwise. I have had the usual scares, flu, influenza, malaria, two or three operations; I ought to be dead but I am a survivor, if you like,” Bob joked.

With his three children, he has 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

And with his long life and encountering thousands of people every day, he had one observation about people. They may have evolved but they have still stayed the same.

“Visually and in physical terms, it’s changed enormously, in what human beings are – not at all,” Bob said. “The basic concerns of human beings of meeting and interacting with other human beings is exactly the same – ‘can this person be trusted?”‘

Unfortunately, though, his record only lasted for two months.

On May 28, 2020, Bob passed away peacefully in his sleep after a battle with cancer.

“Bob was an extraordinary man, and to the family not really because of the amazing age he reached. A role model to us all, he lived his life interested in and engaged with all kinds of people from across the world,” his family announced. “We are so grateful that until the very end Bob remained our witty, kind, knowledgeable, conversationalist father, grandfather and great grandfather, and we will miss him greatly.”

Would you like to learn more about Bob? Watch the video below.

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Source: Guinness World Records, Guinness World Records, news, PEOPLE, Birmingham Live