'When I started beer was 5p a pint:' Britain's longest serving landlady has no plans to retire despite 60 years behind the bar

• Olive Wilson, 79, took over the Royal Oak in Ockbrook, near Derby in 1952

Britain's longest serving landlady has spent 60 years behind the bar, and still has no plans to stop pulling pints anytime soon.
Olive Wilson, 79, took over the Royal Oak in Ockbrook, near Derby in 1952.
Over the years her reputation has grown and in 2003, to celebrate her 50 years as publican, brewers Coors created OWB – Olive Wilson’s Brew.

Legend: Britain's longest serving landlady Olive Wilson has spent 60 years behind the bar, and still has no plans to stop pulling pints anytime soon

When she began her career she had no experience behind the bar and said it was unusual for women to work, let alone be landlady.
The grandmother-of-four was reluctant and thought she would only spend a few years at the pub with her husband Lewis before they moved on.
'The customers were all men and I did my ironing behind the bar if it was quiet,' said Mrs Wilson told The Mirror.
She said that on Saturday evenings men would play darts and women would bring their knitting to the pub.
To get punters in she hired a television knowing few people in the village would be able to watch the Coronation.

Start of her career: Mrs Wilson took over the Royal Oak in Ockbrook, near Derby in 1952

Working lady: Mrs Wilson pictured in the 1960s bringing in coal for the fire at the pub

But she was shocked when people brought in their own sandwiches and flasks of tea.
She explained that when she started out the prices were very different to now.
'It cost 11 old pence for a pint of mild and a shilling (5p) for a pint of bitter.'
Mrs Wilson said the range of alcohol was limited and it was only cask ales that were sold along with port and sherry.
Licensing hours were 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 10.30pm.
The couple eventually bought the pub with Lewis's retirement money, but Mrs Wilson's name is still above the door as it was when the couple began working at the pub - her husband worked on the railway during the day. 
Since his death in 1994, she now runs the pub with daughters Jean Hornbuckle and Sally Parrott, but said she that they still do not stock modern drinks such as alcopops. 
Her reputation has preceded her and Mrs Wilson has won many accolades including CAMRA’s rural pub of the year twice.
In 2000, Cottage Brewery in Somerset named its Olive’s Oil ale after her.
Over the years Mrs Wilson has witnessed many changes and cites the 2007 smoking ban as a positive move saying she hated the smoke. 
Mrs Wilson believes the secret to her success is clear: 'I have always been interested in people and I’m a very good listener.'
I learned to love it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else now.'

Open for business: Olive Wilson (left) pictured with mother-in-law Doris (centre) and Olive's husband Lewis outside The Royal Oak Pub.To get punters in she hired a television knowing few people in the village would be able to watch the Coronation

Keeping it in the family: Since her husband's death in 1994, she now runs the pub with daughters Jean Hornbuckle (right) and Sally Parrot

Beasts from above: Stunning views of African wildlife and scenery from a £65,000 helicopter safari

From tranquil desert lakes and majestic cloud-wreathed peaks, to circling camels and a herd of mighty elephants thundering across Kenyan grasslands; these aerial images reveal the breathtaking beauty of the African landscape and the wildlife that calls it home.
The epic scenes were captured by a photographer high above the ground on board a £65,000 helicopter safari for wealthy wildlife spotters.
From his vantage point in the air, Martin Harvey was able to gain a bird's eye view of the country's awe-inspiring landscape; soaring over Kenya's remote valleys, lakes and craters, and dipping to low to glimpse Cape buffalo and African goats in their natural habitat.

Wildlife: These camels in the Chalbi Desert in northern Kenya are among the African animals captured from above in these stunning pictures

'Seeing the wilderness of Africa from above is a unique experience, and viewing large numbers of animals from above is awe-inspiring,' said the 57-year-old.
'It's an incredible experience and gives one a completely different perspective than one gets from the ground.
'Taking pictures from the air is also great fun,' he added.
'It's probably much more dangerous driving on Africa's roads.'

Mr Harvey took the photographs while accompanying wildlife enthusiasts on the pricey helicopter safari - one of the more exclusive ways to feast your eyes on the ample scenery Africa has to offer.
'They are very wealthy people who want to enjoy an incredible adventure,' Mr Harvey said.
Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake, and an aerial view of a traditional Masai boma are among the many highlights seen from above in the series of images.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the photograph of Lake Turkana, located in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, shows lush fields of grass - but its water is bright green due to the water's extreme levels of alkaline.
In one picture a group of Pokot people, who traditionally herd sheep, are shown investigating the blue helicopter instead.

Epic: An incredible shot of Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's largest permanent desert lake, which is home to crocodiles and turtles

Africa from above: A herd of goats gather at the Koroli springs in northern Kenya's Chalbi desert

Iconic: The helicopter provided a spectacular view of a herd of African elephants - a member of the group of iconic African animals known as the 'big five'

African life: An aerial photograph of a Masai boma, or enclosure, in Kenya, home to a family of Masai people

Stampede: A herd of Cape buffalo can be seen making its way across the Kenyan grassland in this aerial photograph

Breathtaking: Kenya's Lake Turkana - the world's largest permanent desert lake - was captured from the sky by a photographer in a helicopter

Tranquil: Lake Logipi is a saline, alkaline lake lying in the arid Suguta valley in northern Kenya

Majestic: This stunning shot of Kenya's Mount Ololokwe was taken from the vantage point of a helicopter

Bird's eye view: The Magado Crater is located at the north east tip of the Nyambeni mountain range in Kenya

Lofty peak: Seen in the distance is Mount Kenya, which sits just south of the equator and is the country's highest mountain. It is the second highest in Africa overall

Sweeping views: The shadow of the helicopter can be seen on the rock face as it flies through Painted Valley, within the Suguta Valley

Curious: A group of Kenyan people gather around the safari helicopter for a closer look after it lands

Exclusive: Wealthy wildlife spotters pay £65,000 to embark on one of the helicopter safaris

Mr Harvey specialises in aerial shots, and has also taken to the skies over Africa in a hot air balloon and an aeroplane in his efforts to capture the continent's vast scenery from above.
The photographer trained his lens hippos and giraffes on the ground below, and a herd of antelope dashing across floodplains in Botswana.

On the move: Sunlight glints on the water as a herd of lechwe antelope runs across floodplains in Botswana's Okavango Delta

Spectacular sight: Photographer Martin Harvey has described witnessing the movements of large groups of African animals from the air as 'awe-inspiring'

Beasts from above: A herd of Cape Buffalo move through the flood waters in the Okavango Delta in Botswana

New perspective: An aerial view of the enormous herd of buffalo in Botswana

Rippling sands: The dunes of the Namib Desert in Namibia are captured to striking effect in this photograph taken from the air

Mother and child: An baby hippo and its mother can be glimpsed below the surface of the water in this photograph taken in Botswana

Desert scene: An aerial shot of a salt pan in the Namib Desert, Namibia

Drifting through the clouds: This aerial shot of the Namib Desert was taken from a hot air balloon

Out for a stroll: Martin Harvey snapped these two giraffe as they made their way across grassland in Botswana

Unrecognisable: Seen from the air, this picture of Sossusvlei in Namibia is almost unrecognisable as a desert landscape

Blazing heat: The sun beats down on the sand dunes of Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert in this aerial shot

Bath-time: A group of hippos photographed close to water in Botswana's Okavango Delta

Bounding around: Lechwe - or antelope - like the ones in this photograph are a familiar sight in Botswana

Out of this world: This picture of the Namib Desert could be mistaken for the surface of another planet

On the march: African elephants - including a baby - march in single file in Botswana

Arid: An other-wordly looking aerial view of the Hidden Vlei, an area of the Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert

Shifting sands: Another beautiful aerial image shows the sand dunes of the Namib Desert as seen from the air

Lush: The greenness of the surroundings in this photograph of buffalo in the Okavango Delta contrasts with the arid scenes over the Namib Desert

Pictured with their arms around each other relaxing on holiday, Berezovsky and Abramovich were once great friends... until a £50-per-second court battle drove them apart

• Berezovsky sought more than £3bn in damages from Abramovich
• Claimed Chelsea owner 'intimidated' him into selling his shares in Russian oil firm for a fraction of their worth
• Alleged Abramovich broke promise by selling stake in aluminum company
• Judge brands Berezovsky an 'unimpressive and inherently unreliable witness' who gave 'dishonest and deluded' evidence that was 'made up as he went along'
• Berezovsky: 'A legal decision cannot rewrite history. History happened.'
• Four year private court case was Britain's biggest and cost £100m

How times have changed since Boris Berezovsky was pictured with his arm around the shoulder of a smiling Roman Abramovich on holiday in 1996.
However, after a costly court defeat against his former friend, the Russian-born businessman displayed an out-of-context smile as if he hadn't a care in the world - almost as relaxed as he was in the holiday shot.
He had just seen more money slip through his fingers than most people could ever dream of owning.

Old friends: Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich holiday in the Spanish resort of Sotogrande in 1996

Follow the lead: Berezovsky and Abramovich, then both lawmakers, walk in a hall during a break in a session of the State Duma, Russian parliament's lower house, in Moscow

But if losing his five-year legal battle for £3.2billion in damages was a painful experience, Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was determined not to let it show.
There was a slight tremor in his hand as he reached across the courtroom desk for a glass of Evian, and the surface of the mineral water shook violently as he raised it to his mouth and took a gulp.

 

But it was the only visible clue that he had lost his claim against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich – the most expensive private case ever brought in a British court.
Moments later Mr Berezovsky, 66, attempted to shrug off the devastating financial consequences of his defeat in the ‘battle of the billionaires’ as he left London’s High Court.
He smiled broadly, telling reporters: ‘I feel perfect... Life is life.’
But losing the case has raised serious questions about how much money is left in the bank accounts of the man who was once Britain’s richest asylum-seeker, who fled to London after a spectacular fall-out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pleased: Roman Abramovitch outside court earlier in the hearing and right, his accuser Boris Berezovsky arriving today for the conclusion of the case

Russian oligarch Berezovsky (centre) addresses the media outside London's High Court today after losing his case against Abramovich

The court defeat not only means that he has missed out on the £3.2billion he was seeking in damages from Mr Abramovich over claims that the Chelsea boss blackmailed and intimidated him into selling off his share of a Russian oil business for £800million, a fraction of its true worth of up to £4.25billion.
It also means that he faces a legal bill asking him to pay the lion’s share of the estimated £150million costs for bringing the case. Both sides assembled teams of Britain’s best – and most expensive – legal brains and the bill was estimated to have risen by almost £50 per second for the four-month courtroom trial.
Mr Abramovich’s lawyers told the court they were worried that Mr Berezovsky had already started selling off his multi-million-pound property empire in an apparent attempt to hide his assets from them.
The case centred on a claim that Mr Abramovich exploited Mr Berezovsky’s  political connections to build his Sibneft oil business in Russia, but betrayed him after the latter fell out of favour with the Kremlin.
Mr Berezovsky claimed Putin had personally threatened to jail him if he did not relinquish his stake in another business.

An artist's sketch of Berezovsky, (far right), in the High Court, today shows him receiving the news that he has lost his damages claim against Abramovich

Entourage: Abramovich (second right) is surrounded by his legal team and body guards as he leaves the High Court after one of the first days of the trial last October

A sailing boat passes the luxury yacht 'Pelurus' owned Abramovich, in the harbour of Luebeck, northern Germany. It was on board such a vessel that Abramovich and Berezovsky first me

Sport: Abramovich and his wife Irina watch Chelsea football club at Stamford Bridge

Those arguments were demolished in minutes by High Court judge Dame Elizabeth Gloster as she handed down her judgment in the case.
She ruled that Mr Berezovsky had failed to prove his claims, and gave a devastating critique of his performance as a witness, saying he had ‘deluded himself into believing his own version of events’.
She said: ‘I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept which could be moulded to suit his current purposes.
‘At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along... He would have said almost anything to support his case.’
Abramovich, by comparison, was ‘truthful and reliable’, she said. Mr Abramovich, currently the world’s 68th richest man, did not attend court for the hour-long hearing. The 45-year-old had always denied any business partnership with Mr Berezovsky and said he merely paid him for political protection in Yeltsin-era Russia.

Wealth: Berezovsky claimed that Abramovich intimidated him into selling shares at a discount in Russian oil firm Sibneft, which later became Gazprom, pictured

His spokesman said he was ‘pleased and grateful’ for the verdict, adding: ‘Mr Abramovich has always had great faith in the fairness of the English legal system.’
The case revolved entirely around events in Russia but was heard in Britain because Mr Berezovsky filed legal papers here. He reportedly handed the writ to Mr Abramovich in person in London, in the Sloane Street branch of Hermes, passing it over the designer scarves and handbags with the words: ‘I have a present for you.’
Increasing numbers of wealthy Russians are trying to have their disputes settled in Britain as they claim they cannot get a fair trial without political interference in their homeland.
Mr Abramovich tried to have the case heard in Russia but Mr Berezovsky claimed he would face assassination if he returned, and won the right for it to be heard in London.
It is a victory he may now regret. Speaking outside the court, he said he was ‘absolutely amazed’ by the verdict and accused the judge of trying to rewrite Russian history.
‘My confidence in English justice has been undermined by the judge’s decision,’ he said, adding: ‘I got the impression that Mr Putin himself wrote this whole judgment.’
In Moscow, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov hailed the verdict, telling the state news agency: ‘It’s always pleasant when slander is called by its own name.’

BORIS BEREZOVSKY

WORTH: $3bn
EDUCATION: Doctorate in applied mathematics
RISE TO WEALTH: Started as a government official and author but bought a former state company in 1989 selling Soviet made cars and servicing foreign vehicles
BIG BREAK: Took control over ORT Television in 1994 and gained major political influence that was able to shape the outcome of elections.
CLAIMS: Abramovich exerted pressure to make him sell shares cheaply and deliberately devalued a company. Sought $3bn in damages from Abramovich for for blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract.
CONTROVERSY: Fell out with Vladimir Putin. A Moscow court convicted him in 2007 of embezzling £4.4million and branded him a member of an ‘organised crime group’
HOBBIES: Politics, maths, art and reading

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH

WORTH: $13.4bn
EDUCATION: High school drop out
RISE TO WEALTH: Worked as a street-trader and mechanic. Sold imported rubber ducks from his apartment before manufacturing his own toys.
BIG BREAK: Bought the former state oil firm Sibneft with Berezovsky in 2005 for $100m and added billions to its value.
ACCUSED OF: Acting as an enforcer-type figure for Putin and intimidating Berezovsky into selling shares in Sibneft for a fraction of their value. Also accused of selling a stake in aluminum firm to devalue Berezovsky's holding 
CONTROVERSY: Admitted in court that he paid huge bribes (in billions) to government officials and obtained protection from gangsters to acquire assets
HOBBIES: Luxury yachts and Chelsea Football Club

A MASSIVE FORTUNE FROM THE ASHES OF COMMUNISM... BUT IS THERE ANY LEFT

In 1997, the height of his success, Boris Berezovsky was considered the most powerful of the post-Soviet oligarchs and was said to be worth £2billion.
But just three years later, following a spectacular fall-out with the Kremlin, he fled Russia and claimed he was forced to hand over many of his business interests, or sell them for a fraction of their worth.
The former maths professor had risen from a modest background in Moscow. He was close to former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and used his political connections to prosper in the chaotic days following the collapse of communism.
But after a public spat with Mr Yeltsin’s successor Vladimir Putin over the sinking of the Kursk submarine, his political protection was effectively withdrawn.

Defiant: Berezovsky leaves in a car after his defeat. Asked how he felt, he replied in English 'Perfect'. He said that the decision would not affect history

Since claiming asylum in Britain in 2003 Mr Berezovsky has led a life of luxury – albeit one that has been overshadowed by at least two assassination attempts.
He travels in a fleet of identical black-glassed, armour-plated cars to confuse would-be attackers, and his main home at £40million Wentworth Park in Surrey, surrounded by a 172-acre estate, was protected by former French legionnaires.
But Roman Abramovich’s legal team told the High Court they were alarmed by rumours that Mr Berezovsky had begun selling off his multi-million pound property empire, including Wentworth Park.
The lawyers said they feared he ‘may have been disposing assets in recent months’, ahead of being hit with a legal bill of up to £150million for his failed action against Mr Abramovich.
Intriguingly, Land Registry documents show another of the oligarch’s residences – a £4.5million mansion in exclusive St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey – had a mortgage taken out against it in 2008, the year after Mr Berezovsky launched his claim against Mr Abramovich.
A year later, Mr Berezovsky was forced to sell his 360ft yacht Darius because he needed the cash.
He sold it to a Dubai millionaire for £217million and then refused to pay the broker, Edmiston, the fee that he owed.
That case also ended up in a London courtroom, and Mr Berezovsky lost. Since then he has continued to spend huge sums funding political parties and campaigns opposed to Vladimir Putin.
Last year he was also forced to pay a record £100million to his second wife as part of their divorce settlement.
Some observers believe he is now running out of money after his decade in exile. But others claim he has hidden his fortune in offshore accounts.
Mr Berezovsky refused to comment on the courtroom claims that he was trying to dispose of his assets. He said he never discussed his properties because of the FSB, the Russian secret service. It was not clear whether he feared assassination or the threat of further investigation.
Leaving flanked by his glamorous younger girlfriend Yelena Gorbunova and a hulking bodyguard, Mr Berezovsky said he would consider whether to appeal against yesterday’s ruling.
But if reports about his dwindling wealth are correct, his advisers may question whether he can afford to risk another roll of the dice in London’s law courts.