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British woman proves age just a number by skydiving on 102nd birthday

Before her first-ever parachute jump, Manette Baillie said that one "must always look for something new," as she admitted after the skydive that it was "a bit scary" and that she had shut her eyes before jumping

LONDON, August 26. /TASS/. WWII veteran Manette Baillie celebrated her 102nd birthday by jumping out of a plane, The Daily Telegraph reported.

In successfully completing the jump from an altitude of almost 7,000 feet with an instructor in East Anglia on Sunday, she became Britain’s oldest-ever skydiver. The woman, who was once married to a paratrooper, served with the Women's Royal Naval Service during World War II.

Before her first-ever parachute jump, she said that one "must always look for something new," as she admitted after the skydive that it was "a bit scary" and that she had shut her eyes before jumping.

Still, Baillie said, she had no fear. She decided to skydive after learning about a friend’s 85-year-old father doing a parachute jump. Baillie called on people in their 80s and 90s "not to give up anything," advising them to "just keep going."

Baillie marked her 100th birthday by driving a Ferrari on a sector of the Silverstone circuit, a famous racetrack in England, at a speed of 130 miles per hour (more than 200 km per hour) with an instructor.

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