AN ACT of teenage gallantry towards a girl abandoned by her date triggered a lifelong romance between one of Oxfordshire’s longest-married couples.

Vic and Mary Biddulph, of Manor Road, Witney, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Saturday.

The couple, who have six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, met as young factory workers in Wolverhampton in 1935, marrying amid the Second World War five years later, on March 6, 1940.

Seventy years on, Mrs Biddulph, 93, still describes her husband, 91, as her toyboy.

She said: “We first got together when I was 17 and Vic was 15. He had a friend who was a year older than him, and he made a date with me one night after work. I stood at work to meet him and he never turned up. He ditched me.

“Vic was waiting in the wings and said he would walk me home. When we got to the end of the street, we walked a bit further.”

Strapped for cash and in the midst of war, they said their wedding was “a fiasco”.

Mr Biddulph said: “I was in the Army and managed to get a couple of days leave which was changed at the last minute. My brother was meant to be the best man, but he was in the Army and could not get there.

“It was a very small affair in Wolverhampton. We went off to Birmingham and booked a hotel, but because it was expensive and we didn’t have any money, we spent the second night with Mary’s sister.”

After Mr Biddulph retired as advertising manager for Wolverhampton’s Express and Star newspaper, the couple, who enjoyed ballroom dancing and cycling in their youth, moved to Witney to be closer to their family.

Son Mike Biddulph, who died in 2004, was a reporter for the Oxford Mail, and their granddaughter Maddy also worked for the newspaper.

Asked the secret of a successful marriage, Mr Biddulph said: “I suppose we like each other, we have common interests, and most of the time we are both fairly easy going.

“If we’ve got faults, we tend to tolerate them.”

His wife added: “I have always liked him, and I still do, fortunately.”

The couple’s family joined them to celebrate their platinum anniversary with a pub lunch on Saturday.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk