Cult following .... Olive is world's oldest internet blogger
REAL LIFE: Your True Stories
By Dave Masters
LONDON, England (THE SUN),
December 5, 2007: "I don't think I'm going to make it," whispered 108-year-old Olive Riley as she lay clinging to life in her hospital bed.
As her family gathered around her, fearing the worst, thousands more friends faced an anxious wait of their own - tracking her progress on the Internet.
For great-great-granny Olive happens to be the oldest blogger in the world.
Her very own website - called The Life Of Riley - has proved a cult hit since launching in February, clocking up more than ONE MILLION hits.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun from her home in Australia, she chuckles: "I'm definitely the only resident in my retirement home with a website.
"But the Internet is perfect for us older people because we're not mobile and it's a great way to stay in touch.
"It's so nice to get emails and messages from people all over the world.
As a child ... Olive, centre, in a family photo"I've had thousands from Australia but also as far as away as Iceland, Russia, America and the UK."
Former barmaid Olive - who was born in 1899 - has fans across the world and was recently invited to appear on top US talkshow Jay Leno. Unfortunately she was too frail to make the 10,000-mile trip.
She is one of a new wave of pensioners - dubbed The Silver Surfers - who have fallen in love with the internet.
Old friends ... Olive with MikeBut despite having her own page, Olive is the first to admit she isn't the most net-savvy granny. "I write about all sorts of things in my blob," she says, unaware of her error. It's a sweet, innocent mistake that her friends and family have given up trying to correct her on. Her ramblings, no matter how mundane, have been drawing in thousands of readers every day. Topics range from what hair products she's buying to details about her late and great relatives. But there was an especially huge spike in readers when she was rushed to hospital in November - with 353k registered in just 24 hours.
"I could just slip away," she had told friend Mike Rubbo - who keeps the world up-to-date with what Olive's doing via the site - before making a brave recovery. The 68-year-old documentary maker maintains the page with a pal and records weekly chats with Olive which he transcribes and puts online. He also makes videos of chats for the site and also posts them on YouTube. Olive can't actually use a computer herself because her eyesight is so bad these days. Mike discovered Olive while making a programme for Aussie telly about centurions and offered to help start up the site.
Olive - who was one of thirteen children brought up in New South Wales - gasses about all sorts of things in their meetings.
One of Mike's favourites was when she revealed how she had ALL of her teeth removed in 1930. She recalled: "I went down to the dentist and he said, 'You’ve got a couple of decayed teeth there.' "I said, 'take ‘em out.' “'What, now?' he replied. (I was on me lunch hour, yer see.) 'Yes, now!' I said so he took ‘em out. "Then, I said 'while you’re about it, you might as well take the lot out.'"
Olive likes a sing song too - with renditions of her favourite old tune Blue Heaven on there.
And she's also a keen stamp collector and likes talking about them on the site, which is often packed with images of her old favourites.
At the ripe old age of 108, Olive is full of beans and enthusiasm when it comes to using the web to meet new people. And she certainly recommends it to other people her age who are stuck indoors all day.
"People ask me why I do this blob", she says.
"I say it’s because I can lie in bed just before I go to sleep - that’s when I do most of my thinking - with a smile on my face enjoying all the things that have happened."
© 2006 News Group Newspapers Ltd.
