Long life? I think we’ve cracked it

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/07/life-eggs-catherine-shoard-notebook

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There’s a sign on Susannah Mushatt Jones’s kitchen wall. It reads: “Bacon makes everything better.” You could legitimately quibble with this. Not better for the pig, of course. Plus, what about concerns around the cholesterol and sodium content, as well as links between bacon and chronic pulmonary disease and diminished sperm morphology? But it’d be hard to argue to her face: Jones is the world’s oldest living person. On Monday, when she turned 116, she credited her longevity to a regular breakfast of bacon and eggs. Regular as in she’s eaten it every day for 100 years.

The fry-up turns out to be something of a staple for the supercentenarian. Charlotte Hughes (1877–1993) said her advanced age was down to a “stiff brandy and bacon and eggs”. Ditto Edna Parker (1893–2008), who topped up with sausage. The spanner in the works is Emma Morano, who, alongside Jones, is the only person still alive who was born in the 1800s. Eggs? Yes, she says: ever since she was a teenager, she’s had three raw ones every day. Bacon? Not so much.

So if Jones’s sign was a red herring, and it’s true that eggs and eggs alone are the secret to extended life, it’s both good and bad news. Good because their cheapness levels the playing field in terms of life expectancy; bad because their current ubiquity means the approaching elder care crisis just got a bit more serious. No further encouragement is needed for people to endlessly eat eggs.

Last week in London the latest in the new wave of single-ingredient restaurants opened: Egg Break, which specialises solely in eggs. The month before it was Chicken & Egg Shop, also run by the team behind Soho House, again majoring on the egg. These joints join Bad Egg and at least four other egg-only eateries. All are frequented almost wholly by the hipster. Just imagine how many of them will still be around this time next century.

Back to Back

Back to the Future is one of the best movies of all time. But despite its epoch-hopping, it is still a film rooted in its own era and informed by mid-80s values. I saw a 30th anniversary screening on Saturday, soundtracked by a live orchestra, which made an already thrilling watch an almost dangerously exciting experience.

There is just one jarring note in Alan Silvestri’s score of swelling cellos and happy horns, and it comes near the end. Not at the moment Marty realises he’s made it back safely from 1955. Not at his first glimpse of his much-missed girlfriend. Not after his realisation that as well as successfully fending off the advances of his teenage mother and ensuring she and his father get together, he’s given them the confidence and self-respect to ensure they don’t in later life become cowards or alcoholics. No. The music peaks when Marty McFly twigs he’s now the proud owner of a black Toyota 4x4.

Related: Digital grief isn’t necessarily insincere | Catherine Shoard

Where beagles dare

Perilous times to be a pet in Hollywood. Wag your tail at a movie producer and chances are they’ll start working out a way to weaponise you. Turning an animal into an armament is all the rage these days. The trouble in Jurassic World is largely down to someone wanting to send genetically modified dinosaurs into battle alongside US troops. New Marvel movie Ant-Man hinges on a similar idea: what if you could make insects into miniature killing machines who you’d control by telepathy after you’d shrunk yourself down to their size? What could possibly go wrong? So it’s cheering that, although it’s made about a 25th of Jurassic World’s box office take, audiences in the US are still going to see Max, a drama about a German shepherd suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after a stint in Afghanistan. Actual animals have, lest we forget, been involved in actual combat for many years. Maybe one day we’ll have a biopic of second world war heroes such as Simon, who dispatched rats even while under fire and was promoted to the rank of Able Seacat before dying of his war wounds; or Rob the collie, who made more than 20 parachute descents into Africa and was rewarded with a lifetime supply of biscuits. Sorry for the spoilers.

@catherineshoard