In February each year the Oldie magazine gives ‘Oldie of the Year Awards’ to people who show unusual vigour and enterprise in old age. This year’s winner was Mary Berry, the cookery teacher, who at 78 had achieved sudden fame as a presenter and judge on the BBC television show The Great British Bake Off. ‘I just love being an oldie,’ she said. ‘There’s no Botox, no implants and no tucks, and that’s how I think we should all be.’ While this surely reflects the views of Richard Ingrams, the Oldie’s founder and editor, not everyone would agree. To look one’s age as a pastry cook may be no disadvantage, but survival in other forms of popular entertainment may well be dependent on the odd tuck. My question, however, is whether the Oldie’s exaltation of spunk and energy in old age is the right approach. Should everyone be encouraged to go on and on and on? Might not the ideal condition of the senior citizen be one of calm, serenity and wisdom? Must a person be ambitious and competitive till the end of his life?
Anyway, given the Oldie’s attitude (and I can see that it might seem odd to present awards to old people who just sit around doing nothing in particular), it seems clear to me that next year’s winner has to be Placido Domingo, the famous operatic tenor.
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