Michele Hanson longs for middle-aged men to turf out their dull clothes, and squeeze themselves into frills, wigs and frocks..
Last Saturday my friend Tanya went for a swim in the Kenwood Ladies' Pond. What a thrilling atmosphere! The entrance was stacked with a striking collection of bicycles and two huge motorbikes. Hundreds of ladies in brightly coloured costumes were swimming about, plunging into the freezing water, sunbathing, chatting in a vivacious way, planning dynamic evenings out, discussing wine bargains. Occasionally men would ring them on their mobiles. Arsenal had lost and they needed consolation, "We lost." But the women dismissed them. "Go and have a beer, dear."
After her swim Tanya called round for tea. On my sofa was a middle-aged chap - a friend of mine, wearing dull clothes and watching sport. She drove home to find her own husband on the sofa, in dull clothes, watching sport. We come across a lot of this - dynamic women looking chic and inert men looking drab - especially in middle-age. What has happened to these fellows? Are they as dull as they look?
They鈥檝e looked dull for centuries. Men looked rather snazzy in the reign of Charles I and fairly dashing in the 18th and early 19th centuries - remember Mr D'Arcy in that heavenly frilly wet shirt, and all those wing collars, silk waistcoats, clinging trousers and fancy hats and wigs - but along came the great Male Renunciation and since then things have been downhill all the way.
More dull men
