Mobile phones are a menace to the young, 109-year-old says

Mrs Hodnett said life had taught her that people "can be very kind, but they can also be very cruel"

One of Britain's oldest women has advised young people to seize the day and avoid the "menace" of mobiles.

Marjorie Hodnett, who lives in Formby on Merseyside, turns 110 on 1 April.

Speaking ahead of her birthday, she said mobile phones were the biggest development in her lifetime, but added that she did not think "anybody under the age of 16 should have one".

"They've got to get to know people as human beings, not things on a phone," she said.

Mrs Hodnett was born in Harlesden in London just under four months before the outbreak of World War One and said that while she only had a vague memory of her father leaving to fight, the airships used by Germany in bombing raids over the capital were clearer in her mind.

"I can remember I kept hearing zeppelin, zeppelin, zeppelin," she told BBC North West Tonight.

"I thought 'that's a nice word', and that's the first word I learned to say."

Mrs Hodnett was born in Harlesden in London just under four months before the outbreak of World War One

She said the conflict and its aftermath showed how people "have gone through so much for us" and pointed to the fight for women's suffrage, which saw campaigners face heavy consequences for their actions before the law was changed in 1918 to grant some women voting rights, as another example.

"When the women were trying to get votes, I think they were actually tortured sometimes," she said.

"Women had a rotten time.

"People can be very kind, but they can also be very cruel."

'Take every opportunity'

The 109-year-old said another early memory was trees being cut down near her home to make way for Wembley Stadium and its original iconic architecture in the 1920s.

"I remember that stadium going up - those two towers were known across the world," she said.

"Now it looks like any other stadium [and I'm not fond of the arch."

Mrs Hodnett, who later lived in Plymouth before moving to Merseyside, married twice but both husbands died young and she spent her working life in the classroom, something which she said she felt she was always destined to do.

"I was a teacher when I was a child," she said.

"One of my first birthday presents was a blackboard and easel."

Marjorie Hodnett married twice but both husbands died young

She said being in education had always kept her interested in young people and their lives.

She added that her main piece of advice for them would be to "always take whatever opportunity presents itself".

"If you don't, you'll always go on wondering: 'What would have happened if I had have taken the opportunity?'"