'I'm no old bag' says defiant Joan

Published on Friday 4 September 2009 22:06

SINCE she came to prominence in the 1960s, Joan Bakewell has rarely been far from the soubriquet of "thinking man's crumpet".

Now after decades in which her striking looks and intelligent debate have made her one of the most high-profile female broadcasters, Dame Joan has spoken out about the growing issue of ageism in the media.

At the event in Edinburgh yesterday – titled Lunch with an Old Bag – the septuagenarian told an audience she was now "actively lobbying" the BBC to end discrimination against older women.

After a week in which Joanna Lumley and Anne Robinson gave conflicting views about the issue, Dame Joan told an invited audience at the Prestonfield Hotel: "There's no doubt that stereotypes flourish in old age, and the clichs are most extreme in the matter of sex: men are swashbuckling buccaneers, craggy, wrinkly, while women are, yes, Old Bags!"

Currently the government's Voice of Older People, she added: "The media is full of younger people – 90 per cent of BBC employees are under 50 and when you get to your late forties you start looking for redundancy.

"That is not just true of the media, it is true of the world generally. This world celebrates … young bodies."

The 76-year-old said she was currently in talks with the BBC about improving the profile of older people and particularly older women on television. "I am part of a group who are trying to lobby the BBC on this issue."

She spoke after culture secretary Ben Bradshaw warned the BBC not to pander to "the cult of youth" after 66-year-old Arlene Phillips was sacked as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson waded into the debate saying: "All television is sexist and ageist", while Joanna Lumley said: "There have always been two parts for women to every ten parts for men."

Lunch with an Old Bag was a fundraising event for the Princes Trust in Scotland, sponsored by James Thomson and Ralph Lauren, at which handbags and other items donated by celebrities were auctioned to raise 78,000 for the charity.

Geraldine Gammell, director of the Princes Trust in Scotland, said Dame Joan had been invited to challenge preconceptions about people of particular ages.

She said: "It is all about challenging stereotypes. Older women get called old bags and younger people get called hoodies or neds."

Dame Joan told her audience she was born five years after women first got the vote and gained her Cambridge degree seven years after women were first admitted to the university.

She said: "We have come a long way – but we still have a long way to go."

Her speech gave examples of performers, composers, artists and academics who were working creatively into their seventies and eighties.

She said: "Stereotypes can be challenged. Stereotypes can be attacked and dismantled. Being old is not always fun, but it has its deep rewards."

The star-studded event was hosted by celebrities including Carol Smillie, Clare Grogan, Helen Lederer and Kaye Adams.