As a new reporter for The Sun, I was assigned to a human interest story about a man who was supposed to be the oldest person in his village and perhaps the oldest person in the world. I was intrigued to meet the gentleman, and happy to do the interview. When I was done I showed my editor my notes (which I had written on a napkin) of what the old man had said:

"How old am I? Let me add up the days."

"I ‘ave spent as many years as the days that fog covered the world.
I ‘ave lived as long as it took Tiberius to sail a parsec at sea.
For each of Nemo’s cables, a minute I 'ave endured.
As many years as Arthur N. Ford’s answer to the unknown.
I saw the long 'and pass by as often as the traveller circled the sun."

After seeing my notes my editor would not print the article until I could provide the old man’s age.

How old did he claim to be?

(In reply to On the side of reality - and a thought by brianjn)

Further to this, "planet" meant "wanderer" but could that be construed as "traveller"?

The issue with both of my suppositions however is that  have nominated one 'traveller' without imposing anything eclusive.

Posted by brianjn on 2007-11-01 23:39:07