A middle-aged man’s guide to ageing gracefully

Middle-aged men might be feeling persecuted at the moment. But we bring so much of the opprobrium upon ourselves. The MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has, it should be remembered, not been charged with any crime. But the allegations of his inappropriate, predatory and downright cringe-worthy behaviour towards women have inspired the kind of reaction among my male colleagues and friends that I haven’t heard the likes of since the arrival of David Brent and The Office some 20-plus years ago.

Nobody finds your Tommy Cooper impression funny because the only other person old enough to remember Tommy Cooper is outside hectoring a stranger about the smoking ban

‘You don’t understand, Rob,’ said the editor of the magazine I worked for at the time. ‘As a boss, I’m terrified watching every episode. I always think that Brent is going to do something or say something where I think “I’ve done that”.’

Fast-forward two decades and it seems many men of a certain age are plagued by a similar fear of recognising themselves in the stories about Wallace – not only those who genuinely have something to feel guilty about, but also generally well-meaning blokes who would be horrified to learn that a female in their workplace or social circle regards them as a middle-aged creep.