Britain is a country where yesterday's elderly heroes, Fred Bowers and Sir Thomas Legg, are today's elderly villains

The first 'villain' of today is the 73 year old Fred Bowers, who appeared on the T.V. Show,'Britain's Got Talent' and wowed the show's judges and millions of viewers with his body-popping displays, which included spinning on his head.

However, the Department for Work and Pensions was less impressed – because he was still claiming £50 a month in 'motability allowance' for his car. After a tip-off, they launched an investigation into Fred, who claims he has a bad leg. He has agreed to pay back £3,000 at a rate of £10.80 a week out of his state pension.

He could also be stripped of his £70 a week disability benefit, which is still being reviewed following his appearance on the show.

But the ex-soldier has remained defiant, after revealing his star turn has secured him bookings for almost every day of the week. Fred, who now has an agent, said he had not yet been paid for his performances but confirmed future dates had been lined up.
He said: "There will be more personal appearances. I'm having a great time and enjoying everything on the back of Britain's Got Talent. The pain in my leg doesn't affect my dancing. It usually hurts when I've been walking, but I mostly stand still when I'm on the stage".

"I don't get my Motability money any more, but I'm not a benefits cheat. It wasn't nice to be accused of fiddling, because I did nothing wrong.Some of what has been said about me is a load of nonsense. It all came about because someone was jealous and rang up the papers".

"I just want to show that even elderly or disabled people can do something amazing. I won't let one bad experience ruin everything."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmF9qYJXVaA


The second 'villain' of today is the distinguished,74 year old, retired civil servant,Sir Thomas Legg - shown below. He led the Inquiry into M.P.'s fraudulent claims for expenses paid for out of tax payers money. The most ridiculous was from the M.P. who claimed £1,600 for a floating duck island in his garden.


Yesterday about 600 MPs got letters containing the interim results of a review of their expenses claims for the last five years and Sir Thomas is not 'flavour of the month' with many of them. The are livid, saying they are now being told by Sir Thomas, to repay claims that were allowed at the time by Commons Officials.

Some believe he has gone beyond his remit and say he was asked to look at claims within the rules as they existed at the time.

However, the BBC's Political Editor, Nick Robinson said : "In Sir Thomas's letter he said, determining what rules there were at the time was, 'not a straightforward task' and that while there were limits on what could be spent on furniture, there appeared to be none for services like gardening and cleaning.

Many MPs have announced they will be standing down and some have already repaid claims in response to their constituents' anger.

Clearly Sir Thomas is an 'arch villain' in the eyes of many of our Leaders, but I suspect he remains a 'hero' in the eyes of many of the People.

Britain's schools are no places for older teachers and baby boomers are to blame

Six years ago I took 'early retirement' from teaching after teaching 'History' to 11 to 18 years old in state schools for 34 years. I simply found that, what is euphemistically known as, the 'challenging' behaviour of some adolescents, completely demoralising. It only takes the co-ordinated efforts of 6, 14 years olds in a class of 30, to completely disrupt the lesson of, even the most experienced of teachers.

What hurt the most, was my inability to teach the subject I loved,'History', to the majority who wanted to learn.
Every school these days has a room where you can send the bad guys, but the numbers there are limited and I would not be allowed to export 20% of a class to the 'sin bin'.

It came as no surprise to me to find that, I am not alone in 'jumping ship' before my time. Two years ago it was announced that early retirement in state secondary schools had risen by 93 per cent, compared with a rise of 52 per cent in primaries. Most of the retirees complained about having to juggle 'poor classroom behaviour' with endless new Government initiatives.

In August this year, in Wales, early retirement had risen up by 65% in five years. A total of 610 teachers took early retirement in 2007-08, compared to 370 in 2003-04.

Geraint Davies of the NASUWT Union spoke a lot of sense, when he predicted the picture would get worse as teachers struggled with indiscipline.

He said : “There’s that small, but unfortunately increasing minority of pupils, who are not prepared to conform to the rules of the classroom... I’d go as far as to say the situation will further deteriorate rather than improve. When you’re in that classroom day after day, performing from 9am to 3.30pm, and when you have to deal with all sorts of interruptions, mainly in terms of indiscipline by pupils and the bureaucratic demands of the system, it’s no wonder so many teachers are buckling under the strain. In many respects it’s a very sad situation in that, too many teachers, who have given their all to the profession now find themselves in the situation where they cannot continue in the profession they have loved all their lives.”

Anna Brychan of the National Association of Head Teachers, did not speak much sense

when she said : " Increasing workload and a lack of support for people in positions of responsibility could be to blame. We’ve had instances in some areas of a teacher retiring before they were even able to access their pensions and citing stress as the major reason for doing so. You have to be in a pretty bad way to consider doing that. Strain was not coming primarily from misbehaviour by pupils, she added, but from the challenges such as meeting health and safety requirements ".

When the comedian,Matt Lucas, created Vicky Pollard for his T.V. Show 'Little Britain', he based her on more than one grain of truth about youngsters in Britain today :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOpVA5vQ8I

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/littlebritain/characters/vicky.shtml

The other factor to take account of is the increasing lack of support by parents, who all too often rise to the defence of their errant offspring and defend their actions.

What has brought about this sea-change in attitudes ?

Some calculations might help.

1. If we take a 14 year old today, they were born in 1995.

2. If their mother was, shall we say 25, when they were born, this would mean that the unsupportive parents of undisciplined children of today were themselves being brought up in 1970's and early 1980's. That's when they adopted the attitudes they did from their parents and when were their parents born ?

3. The answer is just after the Second World War. So we can place the responsibility of adolescent indiscipline squarely on the doorstep of my generation of Baby Boomers.

So, in a round about kind of way, I was partly responsible for my own demise as a teacher.

As Maggie said : "It's a Funny Old World".

The Pension Service - no problem, a problem, my problem

I've got a shortfall in my National Insurance record, since I didn't work when I was a student from 18 to 22, except in part-time jobs, so this could affect the amount of my state pension, which I receive in 3 years, when I am 65.

That being the case, I've just tried to 'register on line' for the Government's 'Pension e-service', but to no avail. A box on the screen told me that there was an error with the details I had entered. I am very fastidious when doing things like this and was sure that I had not made an error, but I tried on 2 further occasions, again with no success.

The error message told me to phone the 'Help Desk', which I did and someone called 'Gemma' told me that I : "would be phoned tommorow to sort out the problem".

So let's unravel this :

1. I had to use the telephone , which I could have done to register in the first place, to sort out a problem with their e-service.

2. I have now become a problem, since, someone will now have to phone me to sort out my problem.

3. I didn't need to leave my telephone number, that has been logged - creepy and like Big Brother and no doubt I'm stored somewhere in a folder called 'Old Problem Makers'.

Just to recap :

I didn't have a problem.
I encountered a problem.
I asked for help with this problem and..
I became a problem.
Someone will be paid to sort out ..
My problem and will..
Telephone me about my problem.

As Mrs Thatcher said : " It's a Funny Old World."

Britain is neither a country for old villains nor old heroes

First, the 'villains'.

Two men, one of 70 and the other 72, were sent to jail. They are thought to be Scotland's oldest thieves and their crime was : stealing almost £7,500 from a newsagent.
While one man distracted the shop assistant, the other pocketed £750 in cash along with stamps, electricity cards and mobile phone top ups. When the police found some of the money stashed in one of the men's couch, he said that, he "had been saving his pension".

In court the Sheriff said :

"You had a strategy...each of you has a substantial criminal record for dishonesty and, that being so, there's only one sentence that I can impose and that's a custodial one".
They were given 18 months each.

Now, if we say that they stole the equivalent of £3,750 each and calculate 18 months as about 550 days, that means that they got one day in prison for every £6.80 they stole or one hour for every 28 pence.

No Country for Old Villains indeed !

Now the heroes.

In the news yesterday : a 67 year old, Lincolnshire Parish Council Chairman and 72 year old Vice-Chairman are due in court for cutting the wires on a burglar alarm at an empty cottage. In their defence they said they did it after the alarm had made the lives of the 290 residents of the village of Hagworthingham, (in photo), a misery, with broken sleep for months.

They decided to take action after appeals to the Local Police and District Council had failed to put a stop to the problem and efforts to trace the owners of the empty cottage had got nowhere.

The 2 men were taken in for questioning more than eight months after silencing the noise at 'Foxglove Cottage', following a complaint to Police by someone, thought to be the absent owner of the cottage.

Now they are to appear in court accused of 'causing criminal damage'and could face a possible prison sentence of up to three months or a fine and end up with criminal records.

No Country for Old Heroes indeed !

The 2 men were applauded by villagers when they silenced the alarm. One of the heroes said: “We did everything we could to get the noise stopped but no-one wanted to know...It was ringing until the early hours of the morning and people couldn’t sleep. People were really annoyed and demanded that we do something about it. I admit I went round to the cottage and cut the wires from the outside but what else could we do?”

The decision to take the pair to court has apparently enraged the residents of Hagworthingham Wolds which was the setting for Tennyson’s poem 'The Brook' :
http://www.wussu.com/poems/alttb.htm

One resident said: “The noise was driving us all mad. The burglar alarm kept ringing on and off at all hours of the day and night. Normally you can hear a pin drop at night here but for weeks we were kept awake by the noise. No-one knew who owned the cottage and none of the authorities would do anything to help. It might have been legally wrong to cut the wires, but there really was no option. Everyone thinks it’s totally over the top to take two respectable elderly councillors to court.”

The collective age of my 4 villains and heroes is 281 years which in a 'time machine' would take us back to the year 1728, when King George I was on the throne and Britain still 'owned' the American Colonies and would continue to do so for anther 48 years.

And lastly, one feisty, old, American Hero :

http://vodpod.com/watch/2230127-super-grandpa

Hats off to the voice of American crooner Andy Williams

When he was U.S. President, Ronald Reagan declared the voice of the ballad singer, Andy Williams, to be a 'National Treasure'.
Last night the singer sang 'Moon River' on the Jules Holland T.V. Show.
Like Chuck Berry, he is now 82 years old but, unlike Chuck , he would not be filling theatres on a British tour. Sadly, his voice was weak and entirely in keeping with his age.


The link below reminds us of his beautiful voice when he was in his prime, at the age of 34, in 1961.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flm4xcOyiCo

Hats off to Chuck Berry, that remarkable Old American Rocker

Chuck Berry, the legendary American Rocker, is alive and well and still performing at the age of 82. He is on tour in 11 British cities in November and December. Tickets are mere £100 a go.

How does he do it ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEq62iQo0eU

T.S.Eliot, Britain's 'Favourite Poet 'and the dilemmas of old men

Today, the B.B.C. announced the result of their on-line poll to find the Nation's Favourite Poet and the answer is : the American poet, T.S.Eliot.

This seems entirely appropriate to this blog, since, in one of his best known poems , 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', a middle-aged man contemplates the onset of old age.

Eliot wrote the poem in 1909 at the age of 21, ( the young man in the second photo), while a graduate student at Harvard in the U.S.A. He revised it over the next few years and eventually published it in 1915 and at the time he signed his name as 'T. Stearns Eliot'. By this time he had settled in England and later adopted British citizenship.
The first photo shows the middle-aged Eliot - the man in the poem.

It is in these verses that he deals with the dilemmas of age :

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!")
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse

I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me

He was not best reading his own poetry, as the link below shows :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkolsjnTutc

The second reading by a British stage actor is far better :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2khDhfwsoE&feature=player_embedded

Is Britain still a country for Captain Pugwash ?

Forty Five years ago, when I was at school, studying for my 'A' Level exams, the cartoon series, ' Captain Pugwash' on black and white B.B.C. Television, became a cult, amongst us teenagers. We used to go home on our buses and our bikes and watch it on 'Childrens' Television'.

Why did we do that ? I'm quite sure that teenagers wouldn't do the same today.

I think that the answer is, that the Captain's creator, John Ryan, put the Captain in that dieing tradition of British 'fair play'. In 1964, he was an anachronism from the past, but he spoke about the present.

Ryan who died in July at the age of 88 was born in 1921.

There was a childish innocence about his blustering pirate Captain, shouting "dolloping doubloons" or "kipper me capstans". Ryan's techniques – using cardboard cut-outs of the characters, manipulated by levers against a painted background – seemed a throw back to 'Punch and Judy' shows at fairgrounds.

Ryan was an interesting man, who was born in Edinburgh, the son of a diplomat, Sir Andrew Ryan and educated at the Catholic, Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. School was followed, almost immediately, by Wartime Service, first in India and then Burma. On discharge, he studied art at Regent Street Polytechnic and then taught at Harrow. All the time, however, he was working on cartoon characters.

Captain Horatio Pugwash, forever bold before the event, suffered 12 rejections before, he cast off ,in 1950, in his ship, the Black Pig, in the first edition of 'The Eagle' boys' comic, and then went on to enjoy an eight-year passage in the B.B.C. 'Radio Times' magazine.

I first saw Pugwash when he appeared on television in a series of 58 black-and-white episodes (1957-66). At around this time, the good Captain's ship 'The Black Pig' became the subject of an urban myth. The crew included characters, called 'Master Bates', 'Roger the Cabin Boy' and 'Seaman Staines' and word went round that their names were loaded with sexual innuendo. Ryan responded angrily to published misrepresentations and his lawyers successfully obtained public retractions from 'The Guardian' and the now defunct, 'Sunday Correspondent'.

Here's a for clip for Old Mateys :

Captain Pugwash Caught in the Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XIIO-fyUEw

And from Wikepedia, more information about Pugwash and crew of the Black Pig :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Pugwash#Captain_Pugwash

Conservative Britain is no place for tommow's old men

Last Saturday, I published a posting asking the question : ' Will Britain under Conservatives be a better place for some old men ?'
I looked at the Conservative proposal which, if implemented, will stop old people being forced into selling their homes to pay for residential care.

I concluded :

'So British Old Men and Women, YOU ARE ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA. Would it be too cynical to suggest that both The Labour and Conservative Parties want and need your vote because, if anyone is going to vote in the next election it is going to be you'.

Today is Tuesday, and the Conservatives just have announced a proposal which, if implemented, will mean that, at the earliest in 2016, the retirement age for men to draw their State Pension will be raised from 65 to 66 and from 60 to 63 for women. This will affect those who at present are 58 years old and will, apparently save save £13,000.000,000 and go some way to easing the Public Debt, which stands at £80,000,000,000. It will also raise more money in taxes, as people work are forced to work longer.

On the B.B.C. 'Today' programme this morning, David Cameron, the Conservative Party Leader said that a previous agreement to raise the state pension age in 2026 was "not ambitious enough". He added that, an Independent Committee headed by a "strong independent figure," would examine the Tories' pension proposals. He was "desperate" to restore the link between state pensions and earnings and wanted to see a "proper glide path" to bring together the pensionable ages of men and women. He admitted that : "there are not any popular ways to get public spending under control".(My 'bold' emphases)

After the interview, which is on the link below, The B.B.C's Political Editor, Nick Robinson made the point that, those voters who will be affected by these changes are hardly likely to vote Conservative at the next election.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8292000/8292094.stm

So Tomorrow's future old men and women, YOU ARE DEFINITELY ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA.

And the newspapers ?

The Daily Mirror : 'Tories plan to claw back money by hitting pensions' and an article by Bob Roberts entitled : 'PENSION SNATCHERS'

The Telegraph : 'David Cameron: Tories to take 'unpopular' decisions to pay off Britain's debts'

The Sun : 'OWED AGE PENSION'

'Dennis the Menace' is alive and well in New Zealand

Like me, many old Brits remember the Beano childrens' comic, from the 1950's.

The comic first appeared on 26 July 1938 and was published weekly. During the Second World War, 'The Beano' and 'The Dandy' were published on alternating weeks due to paper and ink rationing.

In September 2009, the Beano's 3500th issue was published. The comic holds the record for being the world's longest running weekly comic.


Its iconic characters such as 'Dennis the Menace', 'Minnie the Minx', and 'The Bash Street Kids' have become known to generations of British children.

By far the most well known character in the Beano Comic is 'Dennis the Menace' along with his dog, 'Gnasher'. He first appeared in March 1951 and since then has made his way from, half a page in black and white, to the front cover of the Beano in full colour.

With his spiky hair and striped jumper, he has been scaring girls with spiders and dropping water bombs on teachers for more than 50 years.

Now the real life inspiration for Dennis the Menace has been revealed : He is Robert Fair, a former Merchant Navy officer from Dundee, who runs a garage in New Zealand.
Fair’s father was friendly with Davey Law, who created the character for 'The Beano' and was a frequent visitor to the Law home as a child. It is the 'angelic' Robert in the black and white photo at the top of this post.

Robert emigrated from Britain to New Zealand 38 years ago and was unaware, until recently, that the character was based on him. His family were never told by Law, who died in 1971, because he feared upsetting them.

The connection was revealed by Law’s daughter, Rosemary Moffat, herself the inspiration for 'Beryl the Peril', another character from The Beano stable.

Fair, now a grandfather of six, said he was delighted with the news. “The description of Dennis the Menace does sound like me when I was young. I was always getting into trouble and I got a few slaps from my father and the belt at school lots of times.”

The 62-year-old mechanic recalled how he perched books on top of doors at Law’s home so they would fall on the heads of the adults.

He was nearly expelled from primary school, after he stuck hot tar on the head of a girl who had been teasing him.
“I’ve always liked playing jokes on people and I have never lost that. I remember reading Dennis the Menace as a boy and all these years I have never known that was me, that was my character. I think it’s fantastic, a real honour.”

Moffat said Fair’s energy and sense of mischief gave her father the idea for the first Dennis the Menace strip in 1951. She recalled how the four-year-old boy would test his parents’ patience by making loud screaming noises and damaging household property. He would also terrify his childhood friends by jumping out on them and throwing spiders and worms at them.

“Robert was a little brat when he was a boy and my father based Dennis’s energy, movement and sense of mischief on him when he was doing his drawings. He used to come to visit us and I used to hate it, as he was always so wild. Every time he left the house my father used to start laughing and say 'What a menace he is' ".

http://thebeanoproject.blogspot.com/2009/06/brief-history-of-british-comics-1937.html

Britain is a country where some remarkable and ordinary old men still live

I met an old man yesterday in the shopping centre who was collecting money for the 'Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity'.

http://www.rnrmc.org.uk/

In my brief chat to him, he told me that he had served on H.M.S. Cleopatra as ship's cook from 1949 - 51. If he was 18 when he signed he was born in 1931, which makes him a spry 78 year old.

I said : " Even though it was post-War, I bet they were still 'hairy' times ?"
He didn't disagree.

He pointed to his green beret and said that he went on to be a commando and had served in South East Asia doing, I don't know what, in the 1950's. I'm sure he's still sworn to secrecy by the 'Official Secrets' Act'.

I said : " I bet you could write a book."
He didn't disagree.

He was at once, both an ordinary and remarkable old man, who was perfectly understated and quintessentially British.
The young carry on.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/uploads/f2/news/img/2009814_115029.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/28382/richard-wins-famed-green-beret&usg=__fmFKVQ3kpDiNLtt_Ueutpre3S18=&h=634&w=429&sz=33&hl=en&start=11&um=1&tbnid=P1a9r6XRlIWyrM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgreen%2Bberet%2Buk%2Bmarines%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLD_en%26um%3D1

Old Brits- do you know the date of the most important day in your life ?

Most people know, with some certainty, the date of the day they were born, but few of us know the date of that, even more important day, the one when we were conceived.
Most of us spent 280 days in our mother's womb before being born. That being the case, you can use the calendar on the link below to count back 280 from the date when you were born.

http://www.localink.com.au/link_calander_200809.pdf

Was the year you were born in a leap year ? If it was you need to count that extra day in February in the following years :

1940. 1944. 1948. 1952. 1956. 1960. 1964. 1968. 1972. 1976. 1980. 1984.

What was the weather like on your conception day and your birthday ?

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=gfs;sess=

What was going on in the world ?

http://timelines.ws/

Did 'Take That' have this date in mind ?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7auox_take-that-greatest-day_music

Will Britain under Conservatives be a better country for some old men ?

Around 45,000 elderly people a year in Britain are thought to go through the trauma of selling a much-loved home, where they may have lived for decades, to pay for their residential care in old age.

In a move which will steal the thunder of Gordon Brown’s Labour Party pledge to reform social care for the elderly, the Conservatives are set to announce that they would introduce a 'home protection scheme'. This would be a one-off fee of £8,00 which would give the old a guarantee of free care in a residential home, once they were no longer able to look after themselves.

Those participating in the voluntary scheme, which the Conservatives say will be self-funding and have no impact on the public finances, would then be free to bequeath the family home to their children.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said, ( and I emphasise his rhetoric in 'bold type') :
"It's a complete injustice in our society that 45,000 elderly people every year, who have worked hard and saved hard, are forced to sell their home and there's no affordable insurance. It is grossly unfair to those who are neither the richest, who can afford that care, and the poorest who get their care paid for. So we are going to help those people who have done the right thing through their lives and enable them to keep their home and pass it on to their children. This scheme is a genuinely huge step forward for England's care system and will lift a major weight of worry from the shoulders of all older people and their families. In 12 years, Labour have failed to offer older people any hope of a way out of the forced home sales crisis. A vote for the Conservatives is now a vote for a real, affordable alternative to losing your home if you need to enter residential care."

So British Old Men and Women, YOU ARE ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA.
Would it be too cynical to suggest that both The Labour and Conservative Parties want and need your vote because, if anyone is going to vote in the next election it is going to be you.

Britain in 2109 will be a country full of old men

A review published in 'The Lancet', predicts half of all babies born in wealthy countries today, will live for a century, if current life expectancy trends continue.
The good news is that, they'll spend those extra years with less disability.
'Life expectancy is increasing in most developed countries, with no signs of deceleration,' say the review's authors, led by Dr Kaare Christensen of the University of Southern Denmark.

Over the past 165 years, improvements in health care, medicine and lifestyle, as well as decreases in infant mortality, have all contributed to increasing longevity.

They say that the key question has been, whether increased life expectancy is also accompanied by 'functional limitations and disabilities' ?.

The review points out that, despite an increase in cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses, improved life expectancy has risen with ageing populations.

The bad news is that the ageing populations of rich countries, such as the UK, threaten to unbalance the population. 'It poses severe challenges for the traditional social welfare state,' wrote Christensen.

He has a radical solution: young and old should work fewer hours a week. Over a lifetime, we would all spend the same total amount of time at work as we do now, but spread out over the years.

'The 20th century was a century of redistribution of income. The 21st century could be a century of redistribution of work,' he writes. 'Redistribution would spread work more evenly across populations and over the ages of life. Individuals could combine work, education, leisure and child rearing in varying amounts at different ages.'

'Traditionally, man has three major periods of life: childhood, adulthood and old age,' they write. 'Old age is now evolving into two segments, a third age (young old) and a fourth age (oldest old).'Some experts have said the prospects for the fourth age are poor – 'characterised by vulnerability, with little identity, psychological autonomy and personal control'. But a Danish study found that 30-40% of people today were independent between the ages of 92 and 100. A US study showed that 40% of 32 supercentenarians (those more than 110 years old) needed little assistance or were independent. These studies, Christensen and colleagues write, 'do not accord with the prediction that the fourth age is in a vegetative state'.

Old Men of Britain, take heart !

Last of the Summer Wine but not bought at Tescos

Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that is broadcast on BBC One. It started in 1973 and on the 26 June 2009 the BBC announced that it had recommissioned the show for its 31st series. It is also seen in more than twenty-five countries and is the longest-running sitcom in the world.

Last of the Summer Wine is set and filmed in and around Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England and centres around a trio of old men whose line-up has changed over the years. The original trio consisted of Bill Owen as the scruffy and child-like Compo, Peter Sallis as deep-thinking, meek Clegg and Michael Bates as authoritarian and snobbish Blamire. The men never seem to grow up and develop a unique perspective on their equally eccentric fellow villagers through their youthful stunts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNNaT3Yib-A

'Last of the Summer Wine' continues to garner a large audience for the BBC and has been praised for its positive portrayal of older people and family-friendly humour. Many members of the British Royal Family enjoy the show.

The series was filmed in the beautiful West Yorkhire village of Holmfirth and it seems entirely appropriate that plans to build a 6,200 square-metre Tesco about two miles from the town centre have been axed.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2009/09/30/holmfirth-1-tesco-0-store-plans-shelved-for-huddersfield-village-86081-24817073/

Britain Today in a Tale of Two Supermarkets

Salisbury, in Wiltshire, is a provincial city with the tallest cathedral spire in the country. It also has a solid middle class base and this is evidenced by its thriving Waitrose Supermaket. Here is a review which I found on a web site called 'bview' and my own visit to the shop confirm what is said below :

'Wonderful service and products.
Pros: The Waitrose in Salisbury store is well situated with a large car park and lots of space.
The store is relatively new and the whole atmosphere is lovely.

The range of stock is very good, they have a large home section that stocks TVs , furniture, bedding, lighting and toys. The food section has a large Deli, fish counter and a bakery section.

The staff are very helpful and knowledgeable about the products the sell.
There are rarely times where you have to queue.

The store has a post office within it, which is open Sundays as well as all the usual days and times that the store is open.

Cons: A little expensive'.


Gillingham, in Kent, is part of the 'Medway Towns' conurbation. It once benefited from its next door neighbour - the mighty Chatham Dockyard, but the yard closed in 1970 and the Medway Towns have been in decline ever since. Needless to say, Gillingham doesn't have a solid Middle Class base, but does have a busy Tescos Supermarket. I went to 'bview'to check it out, but unsurprisingly, there were no reviews of this supermarket.

Now, I'm quite sure that :

If, I had returned bloated sachets of decomposing catfood to Waitrose in Salisbury, I would have been given a full refund without hesitation.

If, I had later claimed a discount which had not been recorded on my receipt, I would not have been chided for not having the receipt, but would have been offered an apology and possibly a little gratification in recognition of my inconvenience.

So, where you live in Britain today, is what you gets.
'Twas the same 100 years ago and 'tis the same today.

Britain today in 'A Tale Of Two Cities'.

Maidstone, the County Town of Kent, is descibed in a Tourist Guide thus :
'The town has a colourful past of revolts, battles, industrialist brewers and more. Being ideally located between London and Dover, the town was the chief route for pilgrimages and a busy centre for local and national trade.
The economy of the town has changed from heavy industrial to light industry and now towards service industries. Maidstone has a number of nightlife options like the nightclubs, bars, contemporary music, opera and theatre.
The town has a population of 75,070 inhabitants'.








Salisbury, on the other hand , 'is a serene cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and forms a major part of the Salisbury district known as New Sarum. Located in the basin of the River Avon, the city is a scenic region with many sacred sites. The region has approximately 45,000 inhabitants.
Historically, the city finds its origins in the Iron Age; Sorviodunum was its earliest name. The city was an important region owing to its location. Today, the city has a strong economy consisting of agriculture, biotechnology and tourism'.

Now have a look at the stats in the links below :
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pyramids/pages/46ud.asp

This one shows that, Salisbury with its solid Middle Class base, has a greater number of old men and women at 65+, than the National Average.
And now Maidstone :
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pyramids/pages/29uh.asp

This one shows that Maidstone, which is without a solid Middle Class base, has roughly the same number of old men and women at 65+ as the National Average.

Conclusion :
The length of your life depends upon the class you belong to, which dictates where you live, the quality of your health care, what you eat, e.t.c .....e.t.c.

Thesis :
Nothing in Britain changes. The better off lived longer a thousand years ago, as indeed, they do today.

A Wiltshire hamlet where time stands still

I've been away from home staying with friends in a cottage in a hamlet to the south of Salisbury. The cottage is a stone's throw from the beautiful River Avon and was built in the 1860's as part of the 'Art and Crafts Movement' inspired by William Morris to set about reviving rural crafts. My friend has a photo taken at the time, showing ladies with spinning wheels in front of the cottage.
A stone's throw away runs the River Avon, where members of the 'Piscotorial Society', who rent their rods on a yearly basis, catch their trout. This stretch of the River managed by Stuart, the 'River Warden'.

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/boundary_map_page.jsp?u_id=10413904&c_id=10001043

There has been a settlement here since Celtic times over a two thousand years ago, with a Celtic chieftain's burial mound by the road, on the ridge above the hamlet.

The present 'feudal lord' lives in 'Lake House', shown in the picture. The Lake was drained years ago, but it makes brief a reappearance after heavy rain, as is the case in the photo. The present resident of the house is the 58 year old, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known as the musician 'Sting'.
Apparently,he was inspired by surrounding barley fields to write his ballad :
' Fields of Gold'.

'You'll remember me,
When the west wind moves,
Upon the fields of barley.
You'll forget the sun,
In his jealous sky,
As we walk in the fields of gold'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNJBopK25I

Sting was, in the 2005 'Sunday Times' rich list, valued at £185,000,000.

Just down the road from Lake House we have the amenities for the poorer residents of the hamlet - public telephone for those without a phone, bus stop and shelter for those without a car and postbox for those without e-mail.
Time and again, when I'm turning over stones, I find evidence that nothing really changes in Britain.


I'm reminded that the sentiments expressed in the 1848 Anglican hymn, 'All Things Bright and Beautiful', are as true today as they were then, but politically correct, modern versions of the hymn, have the following verse deleted :

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them, high or lowly,
And order'd their estate.

Why deleted ? Nothing has really changed.

Birthday Boys and Girls, do you know the date of the most important day in your lives ?

Today :

Pete Murray : Broadcaster : 81
David McCallum : Actor : 76
Austin Mitchell : M.P. : 75
Zandra Rhodes : Fashion Designer : 69
Kate Aidie : T.V. Broadcaster : 64
Jeremy Irons : Actor : 61
Twiggy : T.V. presenter : 60








We can assume that these men and women know that they were born on the 19th September in such and such a year, but how many of them know the date of the most important day in their lives which was the day, not when they were born, but conceived ?

I suspect, few, if any. I might do some research on that for a future posting.

Britain needs Lord Layard and Gareth Malone as a Ministers of Happiness

I would like to suggest that the Government set up a 'Ministry for Happiness' with the 75 year old Lord Layard of Highgate as its Minister. He is a programme director at the London School of Economics and is making a reputation as a promoter of Happiness. As Junior Minister I would suggest the 34 year old choirmaster, Gareth Malone, whose work is currently featured in the B.B.C. television series. 'The Choir'.

Layard's suggestions won't do much to help the many old people in Britain today who are clearly unhappy, but by targeting the young, we might do something to produce happier old people in the Britain of tomorrow.

He argues that in Britain today, the growth of the economy has become major objective. The thing is, there seems to be no relationship between wealth and happiness. Since 1945, Britain and western countries have got steadily richer but not happier.

Layard thinks that governments weren’t responsible for making their citizens happy, but for providing the environment in which they may be happy.
He isn’t calling for an increase in 'nanny state' regulation, which he saw as reducing happiness since it reduces personal freedom, but creating conditions which would favour happiness.

He recognises that there are many things that make us happy: personal freedom, democracy, relationships with family, friends, colleagues , communities and employment. His argument says, that in Britain today there is a problem with too much individualism – the pursuit of happiness through material success relative to others’ material success.

Instead, we should measure success in part in terms of being of use to others. This counters individualism, increases trust and empathy and satisfies us more fully as the social beings we are.

We should also have private pursuits which have ‘intrinsic' worth. He makes the point that doing something which is virtuous and good and not dependent on how much money you have, but satisfies you in a way that lasts.

How could this be achieved ?

First, our schools should promote 'life-skills' and values as well as knowledge.

Second, we should increase co-operation and reduce competition within society – again through education. Less emphasis on performance league tables and more support for parents to help create healthy relationships.

Third, reduce commercial pressures on children by increasing regulation of adverts targeted a them.

I'll end with a mention of the current B.B.C. series 'The Choir', which traces the progress of the remarkable Gareth Malone, in creating a 'Community Choir' in the unlovely town of South Oxhey. To me it is a perfect example of the 'Laylard' route to happiness.
If you drop in on the episodes through the link below, you will be richly rewarded.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mk568

Britain is still a country for the voice of Vera Lynn and her 'reservoir of love'

So, the Second World War 'Forces Sweetheart', Dame Vera Lynn, has become the oldest living artist to top the UK record album chart at the age of 92.
She was named the 'Sweetheart' following a War Time poll in the Daily Express newspaper, and travelled thousands of miles, often at great personal risk, to sing to the troops in Egypt, India and Burma.

She achieved her success with her album, 'We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn', which climbed 72 places in one week. It was initially released, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of War in 1939.

She said she : "would never have dreamt that the album would have charted again, let alone go to number one, but there you go. You never know what's round the corner, do you?".

Her most famous song ,'We'll meet again' was written and composed by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles in 1939.

We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.
Keep smilin' through,
Just like you always do,
Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

So will you please say "hello",
To the folks that I know,
Tell them I won't be long.
They'll be happy to know,
That as you saw me go,
I was singing this song.

We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8230435.stm


A spokeswoman for her record company,Decca, said:
"She has proven that music of this vintage and significance can still resonate with the British public."
Paul Gambaccini, however, has a more logical explanation. When interviewed on the B.B.C. he made the point that " the L.P. record has come to the end of its role in recording ". He went on to say that young people today, download individual tracks from the internet and shuffle those tracks. Album sales are down and individual sales are up.

So it has got less to do with 'collective nostalgia' or Vera striking a 'national chord' and more to do with market forces. Having said that, he has also made the point that : "This is what I call tapping a reservoir of love. There are a lot of people who know they love her, they may have one or two singles, they may have two songs or albums, but this makes them think that 'I don't have them all, I should go out and get this.'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8254000/8254088.stm

Happy Birthday Old Thespians

Today :

Freddie Jones : 82
Sir Ian Holm : 78
Patrick Mower : 68
Linda Gray : 68
Maria Aitken : 64

Britain's Old Men you have a champion in Joan Bakewell

Joan Bakewell as she was in 1968 and at the time when the raconteur and humorist Frank Muir christened her : " The thinking man's crumpet." She was a trailblazer, the Stockport girl who left grammar school to read Economics and History at Cambridge before a glittering career in broadcast journalism, at a time when the medium was largely populated by middle-aged men Old Etonians.

Her 2003 autobiography, 'The Centre of the Bed', deals in anecdotes from her very ordinary beginnings, to her dazzling, Swinging Sixties, when she had a seven-year affair with playwright Harold Pinter and rose to prominence in the media.
She talks about the book in the link below :

http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/457.html


In the Summer of 2008, she was made a 'Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire' a 'C.B.E.' In November of that year she took up a Government appointment as 'Voice For Older People'. She is now 75.

She said :
" I figured I could be a good voice for older people because I'm known by the media and therefore accessible. But I said I would do it on my terms – not as a government job, but giving voice to what people think and want, answerable to my constituents. It has quickly become a crusade for me, and involves looking at all public policy in the light of how it will affect older people."

" I get many letters from people about all sorts of things, including their bladders and the terrible lack of public loos. Then there's housing and the pension crisis that's evolved ever since Mrs Thatcher unhooked pensions from the cost of living. Pensioners' groups are right to be so angry".

"There are a range of health and care issues, and end of life and assisted suicide. People write to me a lot about their fear of dying, and how they will be treated at that time."

One malaise, as Bakewell sees it, is that we are so terrified of old age. "It's a nasty place to go, and people don't want to think about it before they have to. But a wee bit of planning while still in middle age can make a big difference. Fitness and health in middle age help to govern what kind of old age you will have."

Does she feel anybody is listening?

"Yes, I think so. Why else would they have asked me? I don't just go and schmooze, you know."

It is clear why she was the natural choice for this role. She'd written a number of newspaper article, about elderly people, mostly in the 'Times', before she took on the job.

'Grandparents are left out of the family picture too often'
'NHS Bias Against Elderly People Is Quite Outrageous'
'Three cheers for a Bill of Rights for the old, gay, disabled, female and taken-for-granted'
'Care for the elderly is meant to be about sympathy, not money'

And after the appointment in the Times, Gaurdian and Independent :

'Care homes: Options running out in struggle for high standards'
'Lack of overnight care adds to fears of the elderly'
'Ageism, pensions and the end of high heels - it's time I spoke up'
'Joan Bakewell: Alzheimer's research can no longer be sidelined'
'Joan Bakewell: I've seen the future, and it belongs to the old'

CARRY ON JOAN, BRITAIN'S OLD MEN AND WOMEN NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU TO FIGHT THEIR CAUSE !