A grandfather has revealed the secret of his youthful appearance - in just 31,092 easy steps!

According to colleagues at the East Oxford Health Centre, in Manzil Way, site supervisor Vic Middleton is forever on the go.

So, when they challenged the 66-year-old grandfather of five from Cherwell Avenue, in Kidlington, to guess how far he walked a day while looking after the centre, he thought he would make things a bit more interesting - and raise some cash for charity.

Mr Middleton said: "It has always been a bit of a joke that I never stop. If I am not running up and down Cowley Road to the post office, then I am doing 101 things around the centre.

"Everyone at work would always have a laugh with me and say: 'Vic, you never stop, it must be why you look so young'.

"So, I thought I would start taking bets on how many steps I do a day to raise a bit of money for charity."

Mr Middleton started charging £2 a time for estimates on how many steps he covered a day from 6am to 4pm.

Armed with a pedometer, a device worn on the body which measures the number of steps the wearer takes, he enlisted the help of Margaret Simon, one of the managers at the centre, to be his independent adjudicator.

Ms Simon said: "Vic is a wonderful person to work with, nothing is too much trouble for him. It is so typical of him to do something like this for charity."

According to the experiment, carried out on Wednesday, April 16the final number of steps taken over the 10 hours was 31,092.

Ms Simon added: "We worked out how many miles he walked - which is is at least 10. They say to be healthy and keep fit, you should be taking at least 10,000 steps a day. Well, if Vic is doing over three times that, he is obviously a very fit man "

The £260 Mr Middleton has raised will be donated to the Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre.

Mr Middleton said: "A few people have got themselves pedometers now. They say that if this is what it takes to keep them as fit as me, then they are going to give it a try."