Do people become less sociable with age? Not me – I’ve barely stopped since turning 90 | Sheila Hancock

Scientists think there may be benefits for older people who step back. I prefer to have ‘thank you and goodbye’ parties with my dearest friends

Some researchers at a Royal Society symposium, with nothing better to do, have come up with a theory that animals become less sociable as they age. They found that creatures from house sparrows to rhesus macaques have smaller social circles as they get older and that an antisocial old age might just be an advantage – in humans as well as animals. Not in my biased opinion. It sounds very dull. Anyway I question their findings: I actually think a decline in sociability is a general societal trend, rather than having anything to do with ageing.

In my 10th decade I lead a ridiculously busy social life. In my younger days, I would sit on a film set, alone and bored, for up to 10 hours a day, waiting to say a few lines. At other times I had to refrain from speaking to anyone by day because I was saving my voice for the musical I was performing six nights a week. Nowadays, I am instead, as my father would have said, “rushing around like a blue-arsed fly”. Like many of my generation, my life is crammed full of campaigns and causes. I am obsessed with prison reform. Last week, I was talking to several hundred people in Lavenham, Suffolk, trying to persuade them that as well as enjoying their old age, they should be engaged in saving the planet. Next week, I will be at Dulwich College in London, talking about the importance of funding for palliative care at St Christopher’s Hospice, of which I am an active vice-president. I cannot deny that when I see a clear day in my diary, I heave a sigh of relief. Until about midday. Then I get irritated at having to listen to, and not argue with, the protagonists on Radio 4, so I phone a friend to rant about the frustrating BBC impartiality rules. We oldies like to talk to one another, and we want to quickly change the world before we leave it.

Sheila Hancock is an actor and a writer

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