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The shark-baiting, tank-commanding granny!

She has already driven a tank and swum with sharks in aid of the RNLI this year – and now 77-year-old Jean Shields wants to drive a high-speed racing car. Jean, President of the RNLI’s Troon Fundraising Branch, raised almost £500 for the charity by diving in alongside huge tiger sharks at Deep Sea World at North Queensferry.

‘Our family have always sailed, we are all sea people,’ said the grandmother of six. ‘My grandson has been on the Largs lifeboat crew for 10 years and everywhere me and my husband went we found a lifeboat station to make a donation. He always said that if you don’t put in, you can’t take out.’

The next experience on Jean’s ‘bucket list’ is to get behind the wheel of a Formula One racing car. ‘Why should it matter what age you are? My view of life is that I would rather be doing, rather than sat worrying about aches and pains,’ says Jean. ‘If you are able to do it, why not do it? I don’t think age is a barrier to anything, as long as you have got your health, it’s all about your attitude to life.’