Current youth-orientated culture would make anyone believe that anyone over sixty is “past it” and that the big six oh birthday means an end to great accomplishments. However, nothing could be further from reality. Many over 60’s make huge contributions to society and achieve great things. Their achievements and accomplishments prove that age is really just a number and there is absolutely no reason why a number should make people feel that their best days have passed. People over 60 achieve some inspiring and wonderful things.

Many people believe that the play “Heartbreak House” is George Bernard Shaw’s greatest masterpiece. He was 60 when he completed the play. American writer and medical doctor Oliver Wendell-Holmes published his witty “Over the Teacups” at age 80. Alice Pollock, the British author of “Portrait of My Victorian Youth” published this book at age 102. Theodor Mommsen became the oldest person to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, at 85. Other mature people have made great artistic endeavours. Pablo Picasso was still producing paintings and engravings at 90. The Louvre honoured Chagall with an exhibition of his work when he was 90. The American composer Elliot Carter, not content with writing his first opera at 90, published over 40 more works before he was 100 years old and was still doing commissions when he died at 103. Sir George Martin was 85 when he co-produced the Beatles album “Love” with his son Giles.

There are many actors for whom the show carries on after the age of 60. Dick van Dyke, the American actor, appeared in a film called “A Night in the Museum” aged 80. Paul Newman won an Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category for “Empire Falls” (in 2005) when he was 80, and Jessica Tandy became the oldest Oscar winner for “Driving Miss Daisy” at 80 and starred in her last film Camilla aged 85. Sarah Bernhardt, despite having a leg amputated at the age of 70, carried on acting on US and European stages, even appearing to entertain the troops on the Front line, during the First World War and winning the Legion d’Honneur for her patriotism in doing so. Sarah Bernhardt made her final stage appearance in “La Gloire” at the age of 78. Film director Manoel de Olivera, 103 in 2012, has slowed down a little since he was 100, but continues to make one film each year. He is the oldest film director in the world.  

However it is not just in the artistic field that over 60’s shine. Barbara Hillary became the first black woman to reach the North Pole at the age of 75. Mary Hardison became the oldest woman to do a tandem paraglide at 101. Fauja Singh entered the record books when he became the oldest person to complete a marathon at the age of 100. This was his eighth marathon; he ran his first one when he was 89. 70 year-old marathon runner Judy Brenner was just being a good citizen when she chased a young shoplifter 100 feet and held on to him until the police arrived.

At 85, Coco Chanel was still running her fashion design house. Nola Ochs received a degree in General Studies with an emphasis on history when she was 95, making her the oldest person to receive a college diploma. Justice John W. Sirica was 70 when he heard the legal case following the Watergate scandal.

Over 60’s are doing great things every day. They are playing a full role in society, contributing fully in so many areas. Whether in the arts, sport, human endeavour, business, the law or any other area, over 60’s can and do achieve great things. People over 60 need not feel that they are too old to take up a new activity, after all, the talented painter, sculptor, playwright and draftsman, Gian Lorenzo Bernini only began designing churches after his sixtieth birthday.

Age is a number, nothing more, and need not limit your ambitions or aspirations. If you want to take up a new interest, accomplish something new, establish a business, run a marathon, write a book, study for a degree, or whatever it is that you want to do, do it, whatever your age.