Virginia Ironside

When an agony aunt reaches sixty, she can lie like a trooper, jump off a bridge – or take to the stage. In Virginia Ironside’s case, she’s still an agony columnist - for the Independent – and writes a column for the Oldie, but she also performs her own one-woman show, Growing OId Disgracefully.

The show arose after performing at literary festivals to publicise her book, No! I Don’t Want to Join a Bookclub!, but now, a few years later, her new book has come out, No! I Don’t Need Reading Glasses! And she’s still on the road. In her show she explains why unlimited free drugs, fun funerals, grandchildren and sex – or, even better, no sex – make the sixties the best (and funniest) time of your life.

Directed by Nigel Planer, this “grannie stand-up” premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe three years ago, and last year (2012) she did another stint at Edinburgh to sell-out audiences. She’s been touring ever since.