Did anyone read that report in the papers yesterday from the government's Department for Work and Pensions which predicted that 10 million people alive today in Britain - one in six of the population - will live to be 100? Frightening thought, isn't it? Having said that, I am proud to be able to report that for the first time ever (well, as far as I know) my own family will enjoy the kudos of having a centenarian in its ranks! My mother-in-law, Mrs Evelyn Maud Hall, of Poole, Dorset, will join the band who get a card from Buckingham Palace when she reaches her 100th birthday on Wednesday, January 5. She was born Evelyn Maud TROTH on January 5 1911 in Coventry, Warwickshire, the elder daughter of William John Troth (who served in both the Boer War and WWI) and his wife, Emily, nee Watson. I have prepared special laminated copies of her birth and marriage certificates and also of her entry in the 1911 census, aged under 3 months, to present to her on the big day. Her entry in the 1911 is easily found, though interestingly enough, there was another Evelyn Troth who was of virtually an identical age, born at Paddington, London. The surname, TROTH, is fairly uncommon and the vast majority of Troths seem to have come from the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire and spread into surrounding Midlands counties. My researches suggest Troth is one of those names that overwhelmingly stem from a particular area and, thus, it may be that all Troths are ultimately related. As I have said, Bromsgrove figures hugely in the records of Troth births. My mother-in-law was eight months pregnant with my wife, Stephanie, when Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe launched its blitz on Coventry on the terrible night of November 14 1940. My wife was born just four weeks later. They were no more than a couple of miles from the city centre but Hitler's bombers missed them, for which I have always been extremely grateful! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Roy, Pass on our congratulations. It's a wonderful event. I was privileged to attend my great grandmother's 100th as a 3yr old back in 1950. It's some of my earliest memories. Thanks also for the lovely story. It's amazing what can happen in a lifetime. Peter