Edwina: I tried elderly online dating but they only wanted sex!
FORMER MP Edwina Currie has revealed her ‘disturbing’ experiences when she went on dating websites catering for older people.
In the new More 4 series The Baby Boomers’ Guide To Growing old, she and TV presenter Johnny Ball take on a number of challenges on the topics of love, work, body and fun.
But they agreed that browsing the web for one-night stands was the most eye-opening. Mrs Currie, 70, said: ‘I think we were both somewhat startled.
‘Most baby boomers keep the sagging flesh covered up – so sharing videos with it all wobbling around is probably not the best advert for being a cool chick in your 70s, in my opinion.’
Maths expert Ball, 79, added: ‘We found it very disturbing. We’ve both got partners but, even if I didn’t, I think it would be companionship I was after rather than sex... and defi- nitely not hot sex.’
The rise of silver surfing has seen more pensioners turn to online dating. Last year a survey showed more than seven in ten single older people are looking for sex in a relationship.
Twice-married Mrs Currie, who famously had an affair with fellow Tory John Major in the 1980s, said: ‘Baby boomers know how to enjoy themselves, both with our own families and a whole host of things that would seem embarrassing to a younger generation.
‘We are the ones at weddings who get up and dance and have the best time.
‘The younger ones haven’t a clue – they think they invented sex but we know that we did.’ In the four-part series, which starts on June 13 and features a host of other celebrities including John Prescott, Eve Pollard and Dame Esther Rantzen, Mrs Currie dyes her hair pink as she hits the stage with punk band UK Subs, whose frontman Charlie Harper is 73.
She said improved medical care during the 1960s and 1970s means today’s pensioners are ‘living up to’ their longer and healthier lives, adding that the best part of growing older is being able to choose how to spend your time.
‘We were a revolutionary generation that changed the world,’ she said. We had readily available contraception, there was easier divorce and termination of pregnancy – a whole host of changes that meant that we had control over our lives, and we appreciate it.’
‘Younger ones haven’t a clue’