From 4 to 100, Briton stays at same home for 96 years

London, March 18 : A 100-year-old British woman has become the longest ever resident of a house in this country by staying in the same dwelling for the past 96 years.

Muriel Noyce's family moved into the house, which then had neither electricity nor an inside toilet, 10 days after Britain declared war on Germany in 1914.

Recalling how the world has transformed during her 96 years in the same house, she said: "You never had to lock your door and people were much more polite."

Noyce was four when her father William started renting the two-bedroom terrace in Romsey, Hampshire, at 10 shillings a month.

Oil lamps and candles were lit in the house and it was heated by paraffin heaters and a coal range that they cooked on. The family bathed in a tin tub and had to cross a stream in the garden to use the outside toilet.

Two bedrooms were a squeeze for 13 people.

Noyce said: "Mum and Dad had the back bedroom and I used to sleep in their room with four of my siblings - we slept top to toe on a double bed. In the other bedroom, another six slept top to toe."

She said: "I never left home and married because I had to look after my parents. When I had the opportunity to leave, I didn't meet Mr Right."

Electricity was added in 1948 and Muriel bought the house for 500 pounds in 1959. A year later, an inside toilet was installed.