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Perry Langston trained as an agronomist and went out to the Solomon Islands in the twilight years of Empire to work in a technical capacity for a Catholic mission and he never went home.
Perry went to Christmas Island – an isolated coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific – in 1966, just a few years after the British stopped using it for nuclear tests, which makes him one of the island’s most enduring residents.
He is still there, now 74, slightly stooping, spectacles on nose, with a sharp and intelligent face.
He seemed to revel in his lack of material wealth. He quoted Gandhi to me: “Meet your needs and limit your wants.”
He may be poor by Western standards, but surrounded by his island neighbours and his grandchildren he will never fear a lonely old age. Read More on BBC News
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