DOLLY Jackson of Hereford marked her 105th birthday on Tuesday in fine style with her nephew and his wife. But there was no celebratory cigarette - the grand old lady has just given up the 'weed' after smoking for more than 90 years!

She moved to Hereford from London in the summer to live with Roy and Pearl Beebe.

Born in Chiswick in 1898, she was one of 16 children. She left school at 14 and initially worked for a laundry before the First World War.

She looked after five brothers and sisters for a time but eventually decided she wanted some pocket money and went to work in a munitions factory.

On her first day she was given the job of applying paste to munitions boxes but this didn't last long, as when she came to take some of the paste from a bucket a huge rat ran up her arm!

As the war ended she worked in a pub and was a barmaid for a number of years. She first married at 27 but her husband died of pneumonia in the 1950s. She re-married, aged 62, "fed-up" with being alone. Her second husband died aged 91 a few years ago.

Dolly was delighted to receive her second telegram from the Queen this week; she received her first when she celebrated her 100th birthday.

And her secret? "I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't stay up late and I say my prayers." She had smoked since the age of 14 but she finally gave up a few months ago!