'We were champions of England. I left because I missed mum's cooking': Portsmouth's oldest-living player Peter Higham

The accompanying clue for three across had particularly stumped Peter Higham on this occasion.

Described as a ‘sprain’ and consisting of five letters, it prompted a lengthy stand-off as he agonised. Eventually, struck by a bolt of inspiration, he identified ‘wrick’ as the answer.

At the age of 95, the former Pompey, Bolton, Preston and Nottingham Forest striker undertakes two i Paper crosswords every day to maintain his mental sharpness.

Coupled with fulfilling a 45-minute exercise routine up to five times a week, with lively sessions including 30 sit-ups, 25 squats and yoga moves, the ex-Royal Marines Commando is in remarkable health.

Wigan-born Higham possesses the distinction of being Pompey’s oldest-living player, having featured in their 1949-50 First Division title-winning season as an amateur while in National Service.

And having stolen the show at the Blues Hall of Fame he attended in April 2025, those present will testify the sprightly nonagenarian remains quite a character.

‘It’s in the genes, you know’

‘You’ve got to be careful around me, I have a jinx on me!,’ laughed Higham in an interview with The News.

‘I played for Pompey and I’m the only one left. I played in the great Preston team with Tom Finney and they are all dead now. I was also in a really good Nottingham Forest team - and now I’m the only surviving member. So watch out!

‘It's in the genes, you know. My mum was almost 100 when she died, her sisters - my aunties - were all in their 90s. We’re long livers on that side of the family, while I’ve exercised all my life. I’ve always been healthy.

‘As you get older, you need to exercise and people are amazed when I tell them I’m 95. I still live in my bungalow and, while I don’t go to the gym, I have devised cardio-vascular sets of exercises which I follow four or five times a week at home.

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‘I do them in my bedroom, it’s a big bedroom too, my window opens onto a beautiful back garden and I let the air in. I start off with 25 stretching exercises, working from my head down my legs. Then I go onto bending exercises, which are simple deep knee bends, then I do squats.

‘For stomach exercises, I lie on the bed and do two sets of 15 sit-ups every day, then I carry out a type of yoga, it’s drawing the bottom of your stomach where it meets your groin and helps prevent prostate. I don’t suffer from it, my weeing is good.

‘I also exercise my brain, I’m a big believer in crosswords, two a day, which I have religiously done since the age of 56. Sometimes you get stuck and go back, then it hits you “Crickey, I do know the answer to this!” and you remember.

‘I know I’m 95, but I’m not really!’

Higham entered National Service in November 1948 and served with the Royal Marines, with his commando training centre based at Lympstone, Devon.

However, in November 1949 he was stationed in Portsmouth - and, within four months of his arrival, was playing for the reigning champions of England.

With leading scorer Ike Clarke injured for Birmingham City’s visit to Fratton Park in February 1950, Blues boss Bob Jackson put his faith in Higham, a centre-forward who was classed as an amateur.

The 19-year-old had previously featured twice for Pompey, consisting of an outing in the reserves and an appearance for their third team.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror ahead of the game, Jackson said: ‘Higham was picked because we wanted someone with punch in the backline - and he shows promise of having it.’

And the serving Royal Marine was handed a first-team opportunity alongside England internationals Jimmy Dickinson and Peter Harris in Pompey’s pursuit of successive Division One titles.

‘So I turned them down - the champions of England.’

Higham added: ‘As well as football, I was a good Rugby League player, I was a winger, very fast, and I also took the kicks. The Lympstone camp commando found out about me and asked whether I wanted to play Rugby Union for the Royal Marines.

‘However, in my final few weeks stationed there, I got a very bad tackle in a game which injured my Achilles tendon. It was an accident, but funnily enough that’s how I ended up being at Pompey.

‘I was going to be stationed in Portsmouth for the last of my National Service and Pompey’s trainer had a reputation for curing joint injuries. We knew they were interested in signing me - so my camp commando said he’d put in a word.

‘So I met the gentleman, who advised me to put 12 pieces of thick felt into the heel of my boot and then fasten it up. He then told me “Take one of the felt away every day and I will guarantee that, at the end of the 12, your ankle will be 100 per cent better - and it was.

‘It was genius, how he had that knowledge I will never know, but that trainer cured my ankle and I was able to play again.

‘In my barracks in Portsmouth, I was in charge of the gym, cleaning it and taking classes. Then I got permission from the Royal Marines to train with Pompey’s first-team for a week, just to get to know them better - and stayed there a fair while longer. I would take the trolleybus from the barracks to Fratton Park every Tuesday and Thursday night.

‘As I was still in service in 1950, I played as an amateur, I couldn’t turn professional and they couldn’t pay me, but I was doing well in the reserves. Then Bob Jackson, the manager, told me: “Peter, you are playing in the first-team on Saturday”. It turned out Ike Clarke was injured and, as a striker, I was to take his place against Birmingham.

‘Well, I set up Peter Harris for the first of his two goals that day. I received a pass and burst through two Birmingham defenders, then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter. I pushed the ball for him to run onto and score.

‘I still remember it very clearly, an assist on my Football League debut in a 2-0 win wasn’t bad - and then Clarke replaced me the following game at Derby County.

‘Bob Jackson had me in the office and he said: “Peter, when your National Service is over, we would like to sign you as a professional”. The problem was I was aged 19 and hadn’t been home for ages, I missed my mum’s cooking!

‘So I turned them down - the champions of England.’

According to the Portsmouth Evening News’ The Ranger in February 1950, Higham shone on his debut, demonstrating ‘a nice little trick of gliding the ball past the centre-half and if taught how to exploit that can be extremely dangerous - when he knows how to shoot’.

Indeed, Birmingham’s impressive future England goalkeeper Gil Merrick warranted newspaper praise for thwarting Higham and his new team-mates in a 2-0 success for title-challenging Pompey.

Jackson’s men would go on become First Division champions once again on the final day of that 1949-50 season, following a 5-1 triumph over Aston Villa in front of 42,295 at Fratton Park.

However, in an era without substitutes, Higham didn’t play any further part in the campaign and, upon completing his National Service in November 1950, rejected the chance to stay and instead returned to his Northern roots with a move to Bolton Wanderers, where Nat Lofthouse was starring.

‘The Preston manager was Scottish - and only liked the Scots’

‘Pompey treated me so well, they were First Division champions, the top team in England. Had I lived nearer, I would definitely have signed for them, but I had five football clubs and a Rugby League side interested,’ said Higham.

‘Three of them were from Lancashire - Liverpool, Preston and Bolton. Sheffield Wednesday was another. Liverpool were nothing in those days. I later played against them for Preston and Nottingham Forest before Bill Shankly became their manager.

‘Wigan Rugby League also wanted to sign me when I finished my national service, but I decided to stay in football and join Bolton, only to never play a match for them with Nat Lofthouse there.

‘Then I moved to Preston and scored a hat-trick in my first game against Sheffield Wednesday. We won 6-0 and it was a perfect hat-trick - a header, left foot and right foot.

‘After three years, I had a row with the manager, Frank Hill. He was a Scottish fella who didn’t like youngsters and only liked the Scots.

‘I was playing well in the reserves and the centre-forward got injured, but he didn’t put me in his place. I went to see him and said "What's the idea?”. He told me to go away and wouldn’t speak to me!

‘One of the directors at Preston came to our house one night and said “I’ll tell you why he won’t play you, he doesn’t like Catholics”. Which I am. Another reason not to pick a young Englishman!

‘That’s when Nottingham Forest came in for me. Billy Walker was the manager and I went down with my dad in my car to sign for them, no motorways then, it was through Matlock and Buxton over the hills to Nottingham.

‘I sat in Walker’s office, he sold the club to me - and then gave me my first-ever signing-on fee. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a £10 note, which I had framed and put on the wall at home.

‘They paid Preston £8,000 for me and I was put on £15 a week, the maximum wage, but you also got £2 for a win and £1 for a draw. The maximum wage later went to £17 and had reached £20 by the end of my career.’

Following 10 goals in 15 appearances for Preston, Higham’s August 1955 switch to Nottingham Forest would yield the most productive times of his playing career.

Wearing the number nine shirt, he was an integral figure in Forest’s promotion from Division Two in 1956-57, behind champions Leicester City, marking a return to the top flight after an 18-year absence.

In total, his three seasons at the City Ground totalled 21 goals in 68 appearances, before being sold to Division Two strugglers Doncaster Rovers in March 1958, where future comedian Charlie Williams, then a centre-half, would become his team-mate.

‘I scored against Notts County wearing a boxing glove’

Higham added: ‘When I joined Forest, my digs were with Mrs Fletcher - I will never forget her name. She had this beautiful detached house in West Bridgford, living there with two teenage sons.

‘My team-mate at Preston, Eric Jones, followed me to Forest and lived in the same room. We shared a double bed, sleeping head to toe. We were Morecambe and Wise long before them!

‘It was so cold that winter, Mrs Fletcher never had a fire, there was no heating on. I phoned my mum, who was a big knitter, and asked if she could knit me and Eric a couple of big polo neck jumpers - she did it in a week. We slept in those jumpers in bed at night, along with pyjama bottoms, it was so cold. There was frost inside the windows!

‘We would ask Mrs Fletcher what was for breakfast the next day and she would usually say: “I’m not sure, I don’t think I’ll cook”. So Eric and I used to go out for meals instead.

‘She was pinching money off Forest. She was getting paid to look after us, but didn’t do anything, never cooked, never had the heating on in winter. There were always dead mice in the traps, they threw themselves on them to commit hare kare - and I soon realised why her husband had left her.

‘It was going well football-wise, though. We played Notts County in February 1956, a local derby. You could throw a cricket ball from the City Ground to Meadow Lane, which I did. We had a South African goalkeeper who did the same, he was a good thrower too.

‘I was a good header of the ball and, during the match, we had a corner. As I went up for it 12-yards out, I got a push in the back by a Notts County player. My face was going to hit the goalpost, so I put up my hand to stop myself, only to break two fingers on my left hand.

‘At half-time, our trainer, Tommy Graham, could see I was in trouble with my hand and told me: “Pete, I’ve had a word with the referee and you can play the second half wearing a glove on that hand”.

‘Great. Then he opened up this big bag and took out a left-handed boxing glove! Well, I put it on and scored our third goal while wearing it - a sweet half-volley from 18-yards out following a right-wing cross.

‘We won 3-1 and the headline in the local paper with a picture of me wearing the boxing glove was “Higham delivers knock-out blow to Notts County”.’

Life after football - a male model and teacher

After moving to Doncaster, Higham would score on his debut against Fulham, albeit a consolation in a 6-1 home hammering, with Jimmy Hill, at the time also chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, grabbing five goals.

The striker would go on to represent Wigan Athletic, Morecambe, Stalybridge Celtic, Rhyl, Buxton and Mossley, before hanging up his boots at the age of 37.

Higham later worked as a male model and coached in America, Zambia and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), although his career would settle into teaching, having spent two years studying physical education and geography as a mature student at Chorley College.

He said: ‘When I played for Wigan, they were a non-league club and had been taken over by a Dutch fella, who was a multi-millionaire that lived in Ross-on-Wye.

‘He made his millions from selling carpets from cruise liners, beautiful carpets as well. He once gave me one as a reward for scoring lots of goals for them, it was worth thousands of pounds.

‘I earned more money playing non-league than I ever did in the Football League. I was on the maximum wage of £20, plus the manager would give me £10 out of his own pocket for every goal I scored.

‘When I finished playing, I did quite a lot of modelling men’s clothes. I was a good looking fella and one time I did the Liverpool Show, which lasted a week. You would come out to the James Bond theme and the crowd were clapping away. I got to keep the clothes too.

‘My brother Jack, who was 18 months older than me, worked as a teacher and ended up teaching the forces in the Far East.

‘On one flight, he stopped over in Singapore for a break and, with four hours to kill at the airport, decided to go for a walk. He went down this street and looked into a shop window - and there was a photograph of me advertising hair gel!

‘I’ve done plenty in my life - and I’m not done yet. It makes me sad thinking about people no longer with us, big friends.

‘But I’m still here, doing my crosswords. I’ve always been healthy.’

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