Growing older no longer means slowing down, reveals Amanda Phetat
He's close to 80, but fitness legend George Daklry is still in demand to train princes, presidents and the Packer clan. At 67, cyber-gran Nan Bosler is a computer whiz who has switched hundreds of seniors on to the Internet. David Percy is in his sixties — but he's just taken a course in tantric sex, and reckons he can make love for up to two hours and attain eight orgasms a session. Refusing to sit around and wait to get "old", Margie Smith has found a new lease of life. And Hilton Trent says he's past playing cricket — so he spends his spare time skydiving. All these remarkable people — and many more like them — are the new face of the older and bolder generation. Forget the "past it" tag. these oldies are fit, fast and fabulous, and age no longer wearies them.
Getting more out of life They're part of a growing trend — Australians now have one of the longest life expectancies in the world. Girls born in this country today can expect to live to 80, and boys to 76. This affects everyone, because as the proportion of older people in the population rises, there is a shrinking base of working-age taxpayers to support them. By 2010, one in every five people in NSW will be over 60 — that's 1.4 million out of a state population of seven million. Even parenthood is fighting the biological clock, with many women having babies well into their forties — including Cherie Booth, wife of British PM Tony Blair, movie stars Emma Thompson and Susan Sarandon, and one-time material girl Madonna.
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