mysql: name n rows, nonetheless wholly unparalleled values column

given information set:

id  name            city            birthyear
1   egon spengler   new york        1957
2   mac taylor      new york        1955
3   sarah connor    los angeles     1959
4   jean-luc picard la barre        2305
5   ellen ripley    nostromo        2092
6   james t. kirk   riverside       2233
7   henry jones     chicago         1899

i need 3 oldest persons, nonetheless wholly each city.

if only 3 oldest, be...

• henry jones / chicago


• mac taylor / new york


• egon spengler / new york

however given both egon spengler mac taylor located new york, egon spengler dump out unbroken (sarah connor / los angeles) instead.

any glorious solutions?

update:

currently mutation pconroy best/fastest solution:

select p.*, count(*) ct
   p
   join (select min(birthyear) birthyear
              
              organisation city) p2 p2.birthyear = p.birthyear
   organisation p.city
   method p.birthyear asc 
   border 10;

his uncanny query "in" extremly delayed large datasets (aborted after 5 minutes), nonetheless relocating subquery join speed adult lot. took 0.15 seconds approx. 1 mio rows exam environment. i have an index "city, birthyear" second only "birthyear".

note: associated to...