Time to stop making age old excuses

VOLUNTEERS for BBC1’s documentary How To Stay Young were confronted with their body’s lifestyle age, as opposed to their actual age, and the results were truly shocking.

So began a fascinating experiment to see if they could undo years of poor diet and lack of exercise to reset their life clock in just 12 weeks.

It was an unexpectedly emotional journey for fitlooking Patrick, 51, a selfconfessed junk food addict.

Mortified his lifestyle age was 73, he vowed to make improvements. Cancer survivor Jennifer, 47, is now a chronic insomniac.

She was equally stunned to find her lifestyle age was 71 after being assessed in the space-age “Bod Pod”.

The quest to change their health fortunes offers lessons for us all.

My only issue? Why get age-defying 70-something Angela Rippon to front the show? Her headmistressy presentation style smacked of smugness – I’ve never warmed to her because she always seems so patronising. SO good she gets two mentions in the column this week. Currently mesmerising us with her portrayal of rape accuser Laura Neilson in the new drama Liar, it’s easy to forget that Joanne Froggatt cut her acting teeth on the cobbled streets of Corrie playing troubled teen Zoe Tattersall back in 1997. Since then she’s become the nation’s darlingarling in as saintly lady’s maid Anna Batess has Downton Abbey. Now Hollywoodd in come calling and she is appearingng movies like A Street Cat Named Bob. a Talented Joanne’s certainly comeome long way from Weatherfield.