Reading Time: 3 minutes This is the first in a series of our OUTRAGE opinion columns about what gets our personal goats as older people. Please do join in. Write to me at rosejanerouse@yahoo.co.uk with your suggestions. It appears on threads in discussions all the time. This innocent anodyne little sentence – Age is just a number. It is […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes A refugee during the Second World War to Italy, in 1948 Hanja Kochansky went to Johannesburg as an emigrant. In 1966 she played one of Elizabeth Taylor’s handmaidens in the film Cleopatra. In 1972 her book Women’s Sexual Fantasies was published by Ace Books in New York and became a best-seller. She is currently writing […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes The first thing that comes to mind with the word vitality is someone who is leaping about, full of energy and health. But in the process of ageing – I am now nearly 75 – I researched and realised the real meaning of the word vitality. The free dictionary online gives the following descriptions of […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alan Dolan, 55, is a breathwork guru. He’s known for this transformative work with the breath. He lives in Lanzarote. He says that ‘the deconstruction of the smoke and mirrors is the most worthwhile work that I have ever undertaken’. breathguru.com Age (in years) 55 Where do you live? Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain What do […]
Reading Time: 8 minutes Why I Wrote a Book Called Kahuna – the Cat that Didn’t Die Imagine standing in the hustle and bustle of Kings Cross station when all of a sudden you notice the air around one of the pillars shimmy and blur, and you can’t help yourself because you’ve seen all the Harry Potter films – […]
Reading Time: 16 minutes ‘Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.’ Andre Gide Did we lose sight of the shore? Not quite but we closed our eyes for a few minutes along the way. Recently, my son Marlon and I went travelling together in Senegal. We were, it turns out, […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Carl Honoré is approaching his 50th birthday with trepidation. He’s worried about what happens on the other side and this sets the background for Bolder. This context is worth remembering as you read Bolder. Honoré’s exploration of ageing is a self-confessed part of his own education and need for ‘reassurance’. Compared to many members and followers of AOA, who’ve been […]
Reading Time: 6 minutes I turned 57 in 2018 and, above all else, reaching this less-than-milestone age informed my year more than any other particular incident. Closer to 60 than 50, I began to see, with greater clarity than the year earlier, how my age was coming to define my life and my place in the world. Take, as […]
Reading Time: 6 minutes Old – English ald, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch oud and German alt, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘adult’, shared by Latin alere ‘nourish’. I was writing this piece before AoA – Suzanne Noble and I – went to the Byline Festival in East Sussex at the end of August 2018 where we gave a workshop there around the […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alfie Thomas plays the accordion and keyboards, sings backing vocals, and composes. Alfie was born in Middlesbrough to Belgian and Cockney parentage. He is a Soho resident and is part of the Society of Imaginary Friends. What is your age? 60 Where do you live? London What do you do? I am half of a […]
