Tales of life in the 100 club
WE are all living much longer. Thanks to advances in medicine and changing lifestyles, one in three babies born now will live to be 100.
In 1917 King George V started the royal tradition of sending a telegram to everybody who turned 100. He sent 24 that year.
This year, his granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II will send more than 6,000, and the number of centenarians is predicted to double every 10 years.
In this inspiring and emotional Panorama special, 84-year-old Joan Bakewell meets seven centenarians, finding out what their lives are like and how they feel about their age.
Diana Gould, 105, does 150 ‘catch-ups’ with a diabolo juggling toy every day – she shows off some admirable biceps. “I don’t feel old,” she says. “Age is just number.” While actor Earl Cameron, 100, had his last role in the hit 2010 movie Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s ready if his agent calls and says: “I think I can be an asset.”
But for others life is more difficult. Anne Olivier Bell, 101, previously a member of the famous literary Bloomsbury set, can’t commicate easily after a series of strokes.
And amateur painter and former tax officer George Emmerson, 101, is acutely lonely after his wife of 68 years died.
But he says: “Life is worth living, every minute of it. That’s why I hate going to bed early.”
There are some extremely sad moments in this film, with loss and grief being an overwhelming part of a centenarian’s life, and as each tries to hold on to their independence, but ultimately you will be inspired and amazed.