How long do goldfish really live?

We had quite a few goldfish pets when we were growing up, with the popular 70's and 80's names of George and Mildred and of course Bo and Luke but if my memory serves me correct none of our goldfish lived for more than a couple of months.

This is Miss Livs goldfish Stella. We have had it for 2 years and 9 months so it is about 3 years old!!

Its a beautiful goldfish with a  massive long floaty tail but I can not believe it has lived so long.  There is no form of oxygen in the water and nor has there ever been, her bowl is quite boring with just red stones and a tunnel thing, sometimes the bowl is quite green, now and again we forget to feed her and sometimes she floats on the top on her side for a few days and I think it will be time to flush her away but she comes right and defies the odds and lives on...  I think we all could learn a big lesson from Stella the Goldfish....