When centenarian Duncan Peat met Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital he shared a secret to his longevity which could easily be applied to politics.
Mr Peat met Ms Ardern yesterday morning, together with his daughter Gay Allcock.
Mr Peat, who turned 100 on Saturday, served with the 26th Battalion in World War 2 and later worked for New Zealand Railways for many years. He told Ms Ardern about an incident during his service in the North African Campaign, near Tobruk in Libya, which had always stuck with him.
"The first time we got bombed by the Germans from the air, we all threw ourselves on the ground, on the concrete, and you can’t bury yourselves there. Then a voice called out ‘look up, look up’ and the bombs were a hundred yards away. You know, we never looked down again."
Asked by the Prime Minister about the secret to long life and good health, Mr Peat said it was simple: "Don’t tell lies."
