SMOOTH operators

Having relied mostly on body heat to iron out the wrinkles in my clothes for years, it seems I really am a cave dweller compared to our Iron Age readers.

“I find the exquisite combo of heroic self-pity and Netflix cobblers leavens the load of ironing a treat,” says Alan Morrison of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire who, at 76, has done most of the family ironing for 50 years.

“Not too keen on puffy sleeves or ginormous table cloths though,” he adds.

Alan’s life was changed for ever 10 years ago when Tefal invented an iron more intelligent than the average person.

“It can identify the material at first contact and set the temperature and steam to suit. You can go straight from screwed-up denim to sheer silk, without pausing for breath. Bliss.”

Still swinging her iron at nearly 70, Pauline Ferrier from Leigh, Gtr Manchester, confesses she loves ironing.

“I even iron tea towels, and can wash and press trousers and put creases in far better than any dry cleaners!” she boasts. Some may say retired Pauline has plenty of time to indulge her extreme pressing hobby, but that hasn’t always been the way.

“I still ironed everything when I worked 12-hour shifts as a night nurse in a large, private care home for 20 years – working was no excuse!”

There’s no battle of the sexes over ironing, as plenty of men know their way around the ironing board.

“I’m a 77-year-old man and ever since I can remember, every item of clothing that was washed, got the iron to it – barring socks,” insists Phil Knowles of Sutton-on-Hull, East Yorkshire. When Phil tells friends and neighbours he’s been ironing, he’s met with baffled expressions.

“They ask why, saying they don’t iron anything,“he says. “And I understand their logic, when they say most things get creased anyway – like sheets. Maybe I’m just old hat.”

But at least you’re not a crushed old hat, Phil!

Meanwhile, our comic-inresidence, Mike White from Hastings, East Sussex, found himself having to learn to iron after he split with his first wife over 50 years ago.

“I started with socks,” he recalls. “I placed one on the ironing board and... disaster! My sock stuck to the iron and melted. After that it was shirts and trousers only.

“Some time later I tried my hand at ironing a pair of curtains but fell off the window sill.”

■ Are you an ironing aficionado or a Worzel Gummidge? Email siobhan.mcnally@

mirror.co.uk