Britain’s toughest OAP - 78-year-old black belt in KARATE

The widowed mum-of-one only took up martial arts six years ago at the age of 72 when someone knocked on her door and said a class was starting nearby. Fighting fit Phyllis quickly fell in love with the sport and now attends three or four sessions a week. The retired wages clerk spars against people in their 30s and says she often comes out on top despite her slight figure. Incredibly, pint-sized Phyllis has worked her way through all the first dan ranks and received her black belt on April 24 this year. The pensioner, who lives on her own in Dudley, West Mids., said she would know how to defend herself if she was ever mugged by a “hoodlum youth”.