How a silver generation are rewriting the rules on ageing

Lumley, born 1946, is now one of the most potent political campaigners and leading member of the Senior Set – the high-profile baby­boomers who are rewriting the rules of ageism and making us all wonder anew if 60 is indeed the new 40.

Leading lights include Catherine Deneuve, 65; singer Deborah Harry, 64; celebrity cook Jane Asher, 63; Scots actress Una McLean, still working at 79; and the fabulous Liz Smith, who has just announced her retirement from acting at the age of 87. An increasing awareness of the once invisible “army of the old” has resulted in the 76-year-old broadcaster and writer Joan Bakewell being appointed Britain’s first-ever Voice of Older People.

There is no doubt that women have it harder. An indicator of how our attitude to age has changed lies in the BBC being forced this month to justify publicly its decision

to replace the 66-year-old choreographer Arlene Phillips with the 30-year-old Alesha Dixon as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing. The national broadcaster had 2000 complaints about the decision.

The Scots broadcaster Selina Scott, 57, who started her career at Grampian Television and went on to become the “face” of BBC Breakfast Time, was praised for exposing the plight of older female presenters when she was last year awarded damages of up to £250,000 by Channel 5, which she had accused of ageism after it allegedly pulled its offer of a high-profile role and gave it to two younger presenters instead.

“I felt I had to stand up for myself and others,” she said last month. “Anyone over a certain age is regarded as invisible; not worth bothering with.”

Emma Soames, the

59-year-old editor-at-large

of Saga, the magazine for over-50s, acknowledges the coming-of-age of her generation. “There are many people for whom being 60 or 55 doesn’t mean anything, which you could not have said 20 years ago. We’re the first generation to be as lucky at this age as we are.”

She adds: “It’s not about having more energy – Neil Young doesn’t have more energy than Dizzee Rascal – but it’s because they’re doing something they love and are able to go on doing it. If you’re self-employed, you can go on for as long as people want you.

“Sixtysomethings are realising the benefits of the NHS, which they have lived with all their lives.”

For ordinary people, the prospect of being legally allowed to work past the current default retirement age of 65 will perhaps prove a trigger to staying as active and healthy as possible – and taking advantage of unprecedented developments in cosmetic surgery. The figure of 1.3 million people who went back to work after retirement or didn’t retire at all at 65 might have been larger had there not been an option for employers – many people will be forced to keep working because their pensions are in bad shape. “This means it’s in people’s interest to look after their health and their appearance,” said Ms Soames.

“Tom Watson is an inspiration to us all never to give up. Let’s hear it for the hip replacement.”

The Glasgow-based consultant plastic surgeon Taimur Shoaib said: “We’re living and working longer than we used to, perhaps because our bodies aren’t tiring the way they used to. People who are approaching 60 feel fresh and energetic on the inside, but don’t see that reflected in the mirror, and they increasingly want to look how they feel.”

Mr Shoaib, who works at Canniesburn and the Nuffield hospitals in Glasgow, opened his aesthetic practice, La Belle Forme, in the city centre two weeks ago, and has already seen 70 clients. The vast majority of these, at 90%, are women. Facial rejuventation – Botox, skin peels and facelifts – is by far the most popular procedure among the older demographic. Last week he performed a facelift on an 80-year-old woman.

“Women’s facial skin is thinner than men’s, which means it shows expression lines such as frown marks earlier,” says Mr Shoaib. “If women have been played an unfair card from birth, the good news is that they can now do something about it.”