Welcome back to my podcast, Learning How to Be Old, and brace yourself for a hard look at the face of old age. When I was only 74 and I still had a bad case of ageism, I didn't like the look of old people. Now I look in the mirror and I see an old woman's face — and strange to say, I don't particularly care.

Dr Susanna Kent and I recorded this episode on my 85th birthday and we had a lot of fun, which I'm keen to share with you.

I demanded that Susanna explain why I've got dead-gorse-bush hair, non-existent eyebrows, and so many scars and wrinkles. I questioned random pedestrians: as you'll hear, most said they don't look at the face of a new acquaintance but into their eyes — or in one case, at their clothes! They look to see whether a person is approachable. They look for the essence, the spirit of a person. Which has nothing to do with wrinkles. And this episode ends with two poems I've written about makeup. One, "Making Faces", I wrote in my 30s. The second, "Beauty Tips For Older Ladies", I wrote in my 70s.

How attitudes change as time passes! And how differently various people see the face of old age.