From wartime chance encounters to modern day ‘meetings’ on an app, these real-life stories are sure to restore your faith in love.
The romantic tales, spanning the last 90 years, were all shared by biography-writing service StoryTerrace, which works with people to record their stories – or those of their loved ones – in a book to keep forever.
Below is just a small collection of the heart-warming British stories heard by the company, which uses questionnaires and interviews to help piece together the twists and turns that make up a lifetime.
They serve to show just how much romantic relationships have changed since the Second World War.
Star-crossed lovers whose romance survived WWII
British Army officer Stanley Green met his German wife Anneliese while he was serving during the Second World War. The couple, pictured together, eventually settled in the UK
The couple overcame the Russian occupation – and the social taboo – to wed and settle in London. Pictured, German-born Anneliese (left) and British-born Stanley (right) in their youth
Anneliese and Stanley, who later settled in Kent, had two children and remained married until their deaths in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Pictured, Stanley as an officer during the war
British Army officer Stanley Green met his German wife Anneliese while he was serving during the Second World War. The couple overcame the Russian occupation – and the social taboo – to wed and settle in London. Here is their story.
Born and raised in London, Stanley volunteered for the territorial Army at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Then just 15 years old, Stanley served in the 60th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (TA) of the Royal Artillery. Their regiment answered to RAF Fighter Command, and their mission was to help protect British cities and RAF airfields from air attack.
His firsthand experience made him all the more determined to join the Army when he was old enough.
Stanley, who rose to the rank of an officer in the Horse Guards, served with the British Forces in Egypt, Palestine, Israel and Syria before advancing towards the European front.
In April 1945 Stanley, then in his early 20s, was part of the Allied Forces who liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
It was in Germany that he first saw Anneliese, swimming in a nearby river. Little did he know that the young German woman would one day be his wife.
The pair were inseparable but Stanley had to return to the UK, leaving Anneliese behind in Soviet-controlled Berlin.
However he worked to help his love escape and eventually she followed him to Britain, where they married in a small ceremony in Lewisham, east London.
Anneliese and Stanley, who later settled in Kent, had two children and remained married until their deaths in 2008 and 2009, respectively. They were both 85.
Married for 73 years
True love: Joe and Florence Glaister tied the knot the day before the Second World War was declared and remained married for 73 years. The pair met in 1931
Family first: The couple, pictured, welcomed a daughter, Marjorie, and a granddaughter, Dawn. They remained married until their deaths. Florrie died in 2012 and Joe in 2013
Joe and Florence Glaister tied the knot the day before the Second World War was declared and remained married for 72 years.
Joe Glaister and his wife Florence (née Thompson) were both born in tiny hamlets in the Lake District in the 1910s.
Their paths crossed in 1931 when Joe, on leave from his role as a Radio Officer in the Royal Navy, visited the Thompson family farm with his brother.
The Glaister brothers, whose family were the local blacksmiths, were on hand to help mend a horse-driven mowing machine. However it was young Florence, affectionately known as Florrie, who caught his eye.
The couple wed on 2 September 1939, the day before the Second World War was declared. Joe spent the war travelling the world before returning to the UK.
The couple welcomed a daughter, Marjorie, and a granddaughter, Dawn.
They remained married until their deaths. Florrie died in 2012 and Joe in 2013.
Their great-grandson Rory added: ‘Such is the importance of their 72 year marriage, that my parents decided to arrange their wedding on my great-grandparent’s wedding anniversary.
‘With our family defined by the relationships that brought us together, it gives me hope that the key to happiness does indeed run in the family.’
Love letters and a life in Peru
Adventurers: Not long after the Second World War, Alfie and Isabelle travelled separately to Peru as missionaries. The couple met and tied the knot in Lima in 1951, pictured
Love letters: Alfie and Isabelle became acquainted in 1950 after the two groups met for tea. Alfie was working in the coastal town of Tarma, while Isabelle was based in the capital of Lima, more than six hours drive away today. Pictured, the couple on their wedding day in 1951
United in faith: The couple remained in Peru until 1952, where they raised their children and carryied out valuable work setting up at schools, farms and health centres across the country
Lifelong love: The couple, pictured on their 50th wedding anniversary, later returned to the UK
Brits Alfie and Isabelle Douglas met while they were both working as missionaries in Peru in the 1950s. The pair exchanged love letters across the country before tying the knot and making the country their home.
Shortly after the Second World War, Alfie Douglas left his home in Dollingstown, Northern Ireland and boarded the Reina del Pacifico passenger ship for a fresh start in Peru.
At around the same time a young woman named Isabelle, from Edinburgh, travelled the same route and headed for the South American country.
The pair did not know each other but were both Christian missionaries, working with different groups. Alfie and Isabelle became acquainted in 1950 after the two groups met for tea.
Alfie was working in the coastal town of Tarma, while Isabelle was based in the capital of Lima, more than six hours drive away today.
To stay in touch, the loved-up couple exchanged romantic letters in which they declared their feelings for each other.
The couple married in Lima in 1952 and remained in Peru for another 20 years, where they raised their children and carryied out valuable work setting up at schools, farms and health centres across the country.
The couple returned to the UK in 1972.
Isabelle carried her husband’s love letters with her in her handbag until her family filed them away for safekeeping. Alfie died in 2004 and Isabelle in 2016.
A dating app success story
Brought together by work: Kestell Duxbury, 27, first spotted his wife-to-be Sally when he was volunteering in Cambridge in 2015. Pictured, the couple on their wedding day last year
Breaking the ice: Kestell was later ‘lucky’ enough to come across Sally on Tinder and said it was the ‘push he needed’ to make contact. The couple tied the knot last year, pictured
Kestell Duxbury and his wife Sally were brought together by work but only spoke for the first time after he spotted her on Tinder. They married last year.
Kestell Duxbury, 27, first spotted his wife-to-be Sally in 2015, when the pair were both volunteering at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Cambridge.
Kestell, a social media coordinator, said he noticed a ‘gorgeous’ girl on the same trainee course as him, but ‘never said anything to her’ because he ‘didn’t know what to say’.
But months later Kestell, who travelled in from Bedfordshire, was ‘lucky enough’ to stumble across Cambridge-based Sally, a volunteer advisor, on Tinder.
He said: ‘I was lucky enough to come across her down the line on one of the dating apps, and it was the push I needed to make contact and break the ice.’
The pair exchanged messages on the app before arranging to go for a drink at All Bar One, Cambridge, in March 2016. ‘The rest is history,’ Kestell said.
‘We got married in December and are now happily married in our flat with our cat and dog. Without the help of dating apps, I don’t know if I ever would’ve found myself in this position.’
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