A Cowley couple have just returned to England after celebrating half a century of happy marriage with a holiday in sun-soaked Mauritius and South Africa.

On the holiday Robert Harris said he and his wife Margaret, toasted their golden wedding anniversary and reminisced about their honeymoon in Jersey in 1956, which cost them just £15 for the flight and £28.50 for the hotel for a fortnight.

The couple met at the former Hollyoak Dance Centre in Headington in 1954.

Mr Harris said: "I lived in Marston and she lived in Cowley. We got the taxi home together at the end of the evening, but I had to walk from Marston and it was pouring with rain so I asked her if I could borrow her bike. She said yes I could as long as I gave her my watch."

"It was a nice watch, but I think her bike was worth more so I took her up on the offer. But I did return it later."

Robert proposed to Margaret at Port Meadow in Oxford and they married on March 31, 1956. Both worked in the Morris car factory in Cowley for a number of years.

Mr Harris said: "After a few years we decided to start a family. I carried on working at the factory until I was made redundant and went into the building trade as a tiler."

The couple's holiday in Mauritus was their third visit the tropical island since they got married.

They also visited Cape Town in South Africa.

Mr Harris was delighted to finally catch a whopping 177lb marlin fish after trying for 10 years.

Mrs Harris said: "He also caught a 150lb tuna It made his holiday. He was king of the island that day, it was wonderful."

Asked the secret to a fulfilling marriage, Mr Harris said: "If the woman wants to do something you should let them do it. I think generally if you keep a woman happy, you are happy."

Mrs Harris added: "The truth is he really wears the trousers, he just lets me think I do. I think all the years together are wonderful, you have just got to work at it. It's been great, I would not change it for the world."