So Rod Stewart has reached state pension age, and wearing it well by all accounts. Whatever would Maggie May have to say about it?
Maggie, it will be recalled, was the older woman of Rod’s fantasy relationship, who had him regretting his stolen heart and threatening to return to school. They don’t write them like that any more!
Cue for comment that older woman flinging off her inhibitions to date a young blade, is a growing trend. Good luck to them I say.
Is this really so new however? After all, Shakespeare was 18 when he married Anne Hathaway, eight years older than himself.
One might assume his ardour cooled somewhat – after all he exchanged his family for an acting career in London. Rod, it may be recalled, threatened Maggie with joining a rock and roll band looking for a helping hand. Such is the chemistry of art and romantic trysts.
A few years ago an AARP survey revealed 34 per cent of 3,500 women (between ages 40 and 69) dated men who were 10 or more years younger than themselves. So what?
More female self confidence and independence of spirit, is one explanation. More women in work with the independence and resources to choose could be another.
Such straws in the wind might suggest we are losing some of our hang-ups about age, at least when seeking romantic partners.
Soothing thoughts perhaps, for those tirading against Mrs Iris Robinson at the moment. (I venture that the First Minister’s wife’s failure to declare an interest in certain financial matters is of somewhat less fascination in the Province than the older woman, younger man story she brings to the fore once again.)
These ageing rock stars may be performing impressively, but they carry some baggage don’t they? Their songs did not always exemplify such age positive attitudes.
Cliff Richard jawing on about The Young Ones, as though they were the centre of the universe; Paul McCartney with his assumptions that he would be past it when he was 64; Bob Dylan telling us that the old road was rapidly ageing and that we should get out of the new one if we couldn’t lend a hand.
“The times they are a-changin”, he sang, and we all agreed. But did they? And how much? Not in ways they expected, I suggest.
How interesting that Rod, Bob, Paul, Mick and the others have worked on well beyond 60 and are still recording, and in a profession we used to think of as for the very young.
Has something really changed underneath all this? Could it be that young people today are less age-biased, less age-precious about their culture than we were in our day?
Or is it just an ageing fan base that keeps these performers going? When Rod returns to the O2 arena later this year, I suspect we will see plenty of baby boomers among his audience.
And Sir Cliff Richards at 69 - I recall buying one of his singles back in the late 50s. Now that is longevity, is it not?
People who know far more than me about music say they have improved with the years. Their musical skills seem to have been enhanced and reinvented. Creaking voices have somehow acquired added quality.
Celebrity is one thing and real life is another. Do these people do real jobs? Could they hold them down if they did?
Success, including in the world of entertainment, rarely comes without some hard work, though they doubtless have plenty of job flexibility and pretty good working conditions.
Nonetheless, as an example of older workers these rock stars are an interesting crowd.
Could it be that musicians, like their music can have ageless qualities? Perhaps. But perhaps that goes for pop listeners too.
Listening, and singing along, or dancing to music that stands the test of time, is surely one of the joys of life. It can keep us young in spirit; take a lesson from Bruce Forsyth – well, if you have to!
The fact that this morning 71 year old Terry Wogan stands aside in favour of a maturing 35 year old Chris Evans should not stop us one jot from singing along or swaying to Rod’s rhythms if we please.
But perhaps Rod will do us a favour when he returns this year, and sing a song for the older man who has it all. It should be easy peasy!