A pair of pensioners crowned ‘Britain’s happiest couple’ are living up to their billing after “not even coming close” to having an argument throughout the pandemic.
Lovebirds Barry and Lesley Holmes said isolating together was a piece of cake as they have spent almost every hour of the day for the past 50 years side by side.
They insist that since that since meeting as teens before marrying in 1969 they have only had one heated row – over a new sofa.
Barry, 72, said the secret to his long and healthy marriage to 73-year-old Lesley was simply “getting along with each other” and having a “good laugh”.
He added: “When the lockdown happened it wasn’t a massive difference to us because we were together all the time anyway.
“People ask how we’re so happy together and all I can say is that we get on with each other really well, we just enjoy spending time together.”
Lesley said: “We have been keeping really well throughout the lockdown, we haven’t had any problems at all.
“We’re always finishing each other’s sentences and making each other laugh.
“I just love him, the excitement I got when I first looked at him is still there.”
The couple said while their relationship has remained unfazed it has been difficult not being able to see their two children and four grandchildren.
Barry added: “Not seeing the family has been the hardest part.
“We are very close knit and we would see them all at least once a week, not it has been weeks since we last saw them.
“Hopefully by Christmas things will be okay but if not it’ll be the first one in 50 years Lesley and I will be alone for.”
The couple first met as teenagers at a family gathering and instantly hit it off.
They dated for a couple of years, but broke up when Barry was 17.
During the 18 months they were apart, Barry realised what Lesley meant to him and asked his cousin if she was seeing anyone.
His cousin confirmed she was single and asked if he was going to ask her out, to which Barry replied: “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
He popped the question when the couple reunited after their break-up.
The couple have only ever had one argument when they were much younger and moving in together for the first time.
Lesley said: “We were getting a new sofa – Barry was at work and I went to pick it up, but they didn’t have the colour we wanted.
“Barry refused to move into a new house with the old second hand sofa we already had and the next day he went to the store and got a new one.
“We’d lived with his mum before and I think the pressure of the move got to him.”
The couple, of Fleetwood, Lancs., were named the country’s happiest couple after entering a competition run by jewellers Beaverbrooks.
