Ninety-five and a television fan – that’s Mrs. Susanna Childs, 23, Coronation Avenue, Rushden, who celebrates her birthday today.

Mrs. Childs enjoys every minute of her old age. After bringing up a family of 13 children, she can now relax in front of the TV screen and laugh with her favourites – Charlie Chaplin and Wilfred Pickles.

She watches all the programmes, even race meetings and football matches.

In fact, “television is her life,” says her daughter, Mrs. A. P. Cumberpatch, with whom she has lived for the last five years.

But, strangely enough, Mrs. Childs has never been inside a cinema.

Mrs. Childs will spend today quietly with some of her family – but a full family gathering would demand a larger house than 23 Coronation Avenue.

Lost Count

Eight of her children are still living in Rushden and there are some thirty grandchildren. As for great-grandchildren, she has lost count.

A native of Riseley, Mrs. Childs married at 18, when she came to Rushden. Her husband, Mr. Griffin Childs, died 25 years ago.

Still active about the house and in very good health, Mrs. Childs has a second hobby – reading. She has been hard hit by the lack of newspapers, which she likes to read every day.