FITNESS fanatic Max Moore has proved there’s no shelf-life for romance after meeting his new girlfriend online – at the age of 82.

And finding love again came as quite a shock for the widower from Greenmeadow.

He was puzzled as to why he was receiving messages from a number of women – and then discovered his daughter set up a profile for him on confidential dating site Two’s Company, without his knowledge.

The dad-of-four, whose wife Thelma died from bowel cancer in 2012, first met Jean Wallis about two years ago after his eldest daughter, Tanya Fellows, who lives in Australia, set up the profile.

“Thelma and I were married when she was 18 and I was 21, and I never thought she was going to die from her cancer,” said the one-time RAF physical trainer.

“But before she died she said if she ever died then they’d have to find someone to look after me because I’d be useless on my own. I had absolutely no idea that Tanya set it up. She only put my basic details, like my name and age and a photograph.”

Jean, 79, kept cropping up on Max’s list of top potential matches, but he did not think anything of it until she sent him an email asking him if he wanted to give her a call.

“So I gave her a ring and we talked about everything, absolutely everything.

“And I spoke to her every night on the phone for four months,” he said.

In December 2012 Jean arranged for the pair to meet up in person in Amesbury, and since then their relationship has blossomed into a comfortable companionship.

Now, not only do they speak to each other on the phone every night but they meet up once a week, alternating between Swindon and her home in Hampshire.

The Mr Britain 1952 runner-up has also never been in better shape, and still attends regular sessions at DW Sports Fitness gym in The Orbital Retail Park three times a week, following the same routine he used to train the recruits at RAF Lyneham.

“When I retired I just wanted to get back into the shape I was when I left the RAF,” said Max, who embarked on a successful career in sales when he left the RAF.

“Now I don’t think I’ve ever been in better shape. I had a 34-inch waist when I was in the RAF and weighed 11 and a half stone. It went up to 15 stone at one point but once again I’m 11 and a half stone and I’ve a 34-inch waist.

“But I cannot find a medium 34-inch leather belt.

“It has to be leather, and I can’t find one anywhere.”