Joan Bakewell: Happiness is being 74
The young have stress, ambition, unfulfilled dreams. The elderly have contentment
Ageing fitness fans take over Japan’s parks
Exercise boom among over-65s as country battles rising welfare bill of older population
Learning to cook the Ministry of Food way
Jamie Oliver's Rotherham-based cookery school aims to transform the way ordinary people eat. Could it even make a cook out of Michele Hanson?
A revolution in care
Jackie Ashley: Conference season 09: Setting up a National Care Service would be equivalent to the creation of the NHS – now to tell the public what social care is
Elderly ‘put at risk’ by axing of 24-hour wardens
Retired nurse leads fight against councils and housing trusts that have withdrawn full-time care
Fewer calories may lead to longer life, say scientists
A 20-year study of monkeys shows animals on restricted diets less likely to develop age-related diseases
Swine flu’s at my gate. But I’m not afraid
Mary Warnock: For some of us it might be a blessing to die in the great pandemic of 2009 rather than in some more humiliating way
Hope for blindness cure with laser breakthrough
Pulses of light clean key membrane to prevent the onset of macular degeneration
Dementia is greater risk for single people in later life, study finds
Researchers suggest that being in a steady relationship helps insulate people against mental decline
The racing driver
Stirling Moss, 79
The yoga teacher
Pam Horton, 71
The actor
Joan Collins, 76
The peers
Baroness Trumpington, 86, Lord Bramall, 85, Baroness Butler-Sloss, 75 and Lord Paul, 78
The musicians
Dame Cleo Laine, 81, and Sir John Dankworth, 81
Glad to be grey
Imagine running a marathon at the age of 98? Or being a sculptor at 85, or a sex kitten at 76? We celebrate the art of growing old - and hear from some feisty senior citizens