When Queenie Cooper was born, women had yet to win the right to vote, the Liberal Party was in power and Joseph Thomson won the Nobel Prize for Physics after discovering the electron.

Mrs Cooper celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday (Weds), but can still recall life in the early 20th century. Born in Oxford, she went to East Oxford School at the age of five.

She remembers each child being inspected daily by a teacher to make sure they had clean hands and a clean handkerchief pinned to their dress. She added: "May 1 also stands out vividly in my memory with dancing around the maypole in the playground."

After leaving school, she worked for her father, a tailor, before marrying Percy Cooper, one of the first directors of Headington United Football Club, at Cowley St John Church on December 29, 1932.

She has a daughter Joyce, who lives in Wales with her husband Peter, a grandson and two great grandchildren. Mrs Cooper now lives at Anchor Court sheltered housing in St Clement's.

Manager Julie Brooker said: "Everyone here at Anchor Court loves her. She is always such a happy person and joins in every event and party we have."

Mrs Cooper was entertained by children from East Oxford School in Union Street, where she was once a pupil, who visited to sing carols to her. During Queenie's birthday party, her family mixed with her friends at Anchor Court.