EVERYONE knows smoking and drinking are bad for your health, but try telling Fred Dickinson that - he is 104 tomorrow.

The Hartlepool man says he has smoked 20 cigarettes a day for more than 80 years, enjoys his daily pint and eats fatty foods all the time - but he still feels fit.

"I don't understand it because they say these things are bad for you and I feel champion," said Fred, who is celebrating with about 120 family members and friends at Seaton Carew Golf Club tonight.

Mr Dickinson was born in 1899, when Queen Victoria was on the throne, Britain was going to war with the Boers, and Guglielmo Marconi had just sent the first radio signals.

He has lived in three different centuries and outlived all the people he grew up with, as well as most of their children.

When he turned 18, the country was still in the midst of the First World War. Mr Dickinson joined the Royal Navy, but by the time he completed his training the armistice had been signed.

Originally from Lincoln, he moved to Hartlepool in 1924 to work as a mechanic installing heavy machinery for Cerebos.

During the Second World War he was head of the region's civil defence, coordinating the blackouts during air raids, something that earned him the MBE.

His first wife, Muriel, died shortly after the couple celebrated their golden wedding, but Mr Dickinson found love again.

Aged 90, he tied the knot with Hilda, ten years his junior.

She died in 1998, and Mr Dickinson lives alone in their marital home.

Yesterday, he received a visit from the town's MP after leaving a message on his answer machine inviting him to his 104th birthday party.

Peter Mandelson said: "He is one of the finest characters in the town."