Daunted by the prospect of old age? Fearful of becoming a silly old fool? ‘No need,’ says Christopher Matthew.

He has just hit eighty. He plays golf; walks the dog; has all his own hair; doesn’t need a hearing aid, and no one ever stands up for him on crowded buses and tubes. By his own lights a late middle ager who intends to remain so.

No one likes the idea of getting old, but in this wry, thoughtful and very funny guide to life in the last lane, the author of the million-selling Now We Are Sixty will surely persuade all late middle agers that they have a lot more to look forward to than they might imagine.