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At the age of 97, Henry Kerr has married 87-year-old Valerie Berkowitz after wooing her for four years.

The pair, who met at a residential home in Golders Green, north London, tied the knot in a ceremony at the home on Sunday followed by high tea for 80 guests.

Mr Kerr said when he asked the now Mrs Berkowitz Kerr to marry him she "burst into a hysterical laugh".

She agreed after Mr Kerr said he would not ask her again.

The pair have a combined age of 184.

'Young at heart'

Mr Kerr said: "By the time I was in my mid-90s I found that I was looking at this young lady, I (fancied) her.

"I thought to myself, 'How ridiculous, how could she react to a silly old codger like me'?

"And quite casually one day I said to her, more out of curiosity really, I said, 'What would you say if I asked you to marry me'?

"She burst into hysterical laughter, put down her head on the table and laughed till tears ran down her face."

His new bride said she had succumbed to Mr Kerr's wooing of her, which had included poetry.

Mrs Berkowitz Kerr said: "When he said to me, after every day saying will you marry me, that 'I'm not going to ask you again', I thought, I'll accept. And I said, 'the marriage is on'."

Mr Kerr, who describes himself as young at heart, said it was important to get married to stop others from gossiping.

"What pleases me is people not now saying, 'You know they are living together, they are sleeping together'."

The pair began their honeymoon with a simple stroll in the garden of their home.