Firefighters from Dogsthorpe, where Len Shaw used to work, paid a special visit to his Fletton home to present him with a card and flowers to mark his amazing milestone.

The centenarian was just 10 years old when he got his first taste of working with the fire service.

He was a messenger boy for the station in Whittlesey, his birthplace, running to pumps and helping to carry water to the scenes of fires.

So when the Second World War broke out, his knowledge of the role led him to being enlisted into the brigade, serving in the city as well as Southampton, Leicester and Norwich.

During his 25-year stint, he tackled the huge blaze at the Robert Sale store, in Cowgate, as well as one at a confectionary factory in Norwich, when he remembers a melted river of chocolate "running down the street".

Mr Shaw also saw a bomb being dropped near the city's former Black Bridge, and missing it by a whisker.

He retired in 1963 at the age of 56, and went onto caretaking jobs for St Thomas More school and city businesses.

But it is his fireman days that he will always cherish.

He said: "I look back on it as a happy time. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

"My brother got married at the end of the war and I took over from him as messenger. I used to run from the pump to the fire. They told me to release the pressure if they wanted more water. I always wanted to be a fireman. I used to parade in the field in my dad's helmet."

He added: "I was on the turntable at the Robert Sale fire. It was a major fire in Peterborough. There was no water in town, so the Americans came and got water from the river and filled the wells."

Mr Shaw was honoured with three medals – including for long service – and they and his other memorabilia are being looked after by his young grandson.

Daughter Judith Bates (65) from Valence Road, Orton Waterville, Peterborough said: ""Everybody loves him and he doesn't have a cross word to say about anybody.

"When the war broke out, he was enlisted into the fire brigade because they found out he used to help.

"He used to help firemen in Whittlesey, where he used to live, as a boy.

"They didn't have engines or water carriers in those days, so he would help out, taking the water where they needed it, sometimes by horse and sometimes manually. But he has always been helpful and would do anything for anybody.

"He worked into his 70s. He still wanted to be active and didn't want to be sitting at home."

She said keeping fit, with an occasional drop of his favourite tipple Guinness was the secret to his long life.

She said: "He used to walk into town regularly. He packed up smoking on my first birthday. He goes for the occasional drink and likes fresh fruit and vegetables.

Son Brian (68) said: "He didn't really talk about the fires, but mum used to know when he had been fighting a fire because he used to reek of the flames. He's been brilliant.