Jan Leeming: Enjoys life to the max

Real Marigold Hotel, exploring retirement in India.

After I mentioned that, being single, I never went on organised holidays, a holiday company invited me to become their ambassador. Thanks to them, I’ve visited Tuscany, Burma and Croatia, with Peru and Canada coming up soon.

The world has changed exponentially in the past 50 years because of travel, the internet, more wealth and health — the idea of going to a gym is anathema to me, but I walk my dog, watch what I eat and weigh myself every day (it’s so much harder to keep the weight off when you’re older).

We are better educated and have higher expectations than our mothers. Most of my generation have held down jobs as well as having families and though we may love and respect our men, they do not rule our lives.

If I’d been born a generation later, I wouldn’t have married five times. I’d simply have had relationships.

I didn’t burn my bra and am not a feminist, though I believe in women’s rights. Perhaps being the first woman newsreader in Australia in the Sixties was the key to my realisation that the only restrictions are those you impose on yourself.