Skydiver Challenges Attitudes To Ageing — At 104!

So please, let’s all stop saying we are getting old

This photo provided by Daniel Wilsey shows Dorothy Hoffner, 104, falling through the air with tandem jumper Derek Baxter as she becomes the oldest person in the world to skydive, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Ill. (Daniel Wilsey via AP) Daniel Wilsey / AP© Provided by CBS Chicago

Dorothy Hoffner, from Chicago, jumped out of a plane from 31,000 feet two weeks ago. She was 104 years old! Sadly, she passed away last week. She would have been 105 in December. She was planning to go hot air ballooning next.

Challenging old age is topical just now. A new film, The Great Escaper, starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson, tells the true story of a man who escapes from his care home in the south of England to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Caine was 89 when he made the film. He has just announced his retirement at 90.

These stories tie in with something that has been bothering me for a while now. In recent months, both my daughter-in-law and a young colleague spoke about turning 30. Both remarked how hard it was to believe they were getting that old. ‘So how do you think that makes me feel’, I asked. I’m 63! I feel and act 30 — but a younger thinking version of these two.

When I look at my peers, they fall into two camps. The first has a spirit like Skydiving Dorothy. They always appear busy and…