John Tinniswood, the world’s oldest living man, has died at his care home on Merseyside surrounded by “music and love”, his family said. He was 112.

The former accountant was born on 26 August 1912, the same year that the Titanic sank; the year the character Tarzan first appeared and the doomed Polar explorer Captain Robert Scott wrote his last lines: “It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more – R. Scott – For God’s sake look after our people.”

It was also 20 years after the founding of the football team he followed all his life, Liverpool FC, meaning he lived through all eight of his club’s FA Cup wins and 17 of their 19 league title wins.

Tinniswood was verified as the world’s oldest living man in April, when he was 111. It followed the death of 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez from Venezuela.

He was asked many times what the secret was to his startlingly long life. “Just luck,” he told Guinness World Records earlier this year. “You either live long or you live short, and you can’t do much about it.”

But it was also a life of moderation. “If you drink too much or you eat too much or you walk too much, if you do too much of anything, you’re going to suffer eventually,” he said.

Tinniswood kept up with the news every day and managed his own finances.

The only diet he ever followed, he said, was eating fish and chips every Friday but he also conceded he just ate “what they give me”.

Tinniswood had lived at the Hollies rest home in Southport since just before his 100th birthday.

In a statement, his family paid tribute to a man, they said, who had many fine qualities.

“He was intelligent, decisive, brave, calm in any crisis, talented at maths and a great conversationalist,” they said. “His last day was surrounded by music and love.

“John always liked to say thank you. So on his behalf, thanks to all those who cared for him over the years, including his carers at the Hollies care home, his GPs, district nurses, occupational therapist and other NHS staff.”

Tinniswood was born and brought up in Liverpool, meeting his wife, Blodwen, at a dance in the city and marrying her in 1942, which he later recalled as one of his fondest memories.

During the war he served in the Royal Army Pay Corps, responsible for administering finances, organising food supplies and locating stranded soldiers. He was the world’s oldest surviving male veteran of the second world war.

He went on to work as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972.

Tinniswood and his wife were married for 44 years before Blodwen died in 1986. He is survived by his daughter Susan, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Tinniswood was a record holder but not the record holder. The oldest officially verified man ever was Jiroemon Kimura from Japan, who lived to the age of 116 years 54 days and died in 2013.

The world’s oldest living woman, and oldest living person, is Japan’s 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka.

When he was asked this year asked how the world had changed over his lifetime, Tinniswood laughed and said: “It’s no better in my opinion, or hardly any better, than it was then. Probably in some places it is, but in other places it’s worse.

“The world has gone smaller because of modern travel, principally caused by the aeroplane. But since then, I can’t think of anything else that’s made the world much different. That’s only my opinion. Otherwise, it’s about the same.”

His advice for younger generations was: “Always do the best you can, whether you’re learning something or whether you’re teaching someone.”