“I’m utterly inconsistent, reliably unreliable and I’ve learnt nothing from my mistakes, but I do keep an open mind. The saddest, most ageing thing is to become set in one’s ways. I know people who are dogmatic, rigid in their beliefs, condemning everything. I could never be like that. It’s easy when you’re old to be lazy with your opinions, to think you know what’s right just because you’ve lived so long – we don’t. There’s a Quaker credo: ‘Consider the possibility you may be wrong.’ In a rapidly changing world we must constantly reassess.
“I’m avid for new experiences. Not having so many years left, I’m desperate to cram in as many as I can while I’m still able. I’ll ponce off at the drop of a hat to almost anything. Say to me now, ‘Let’s fly under Hammersmith Bridge in a light aeroplane’, and I’ll reply, ‘Why not? I’ve nothing to lose.’ The only thing I wouldn’t do is bungee jump. Anything else – bring it on!
“Friendship cannot be overvalued. I used not to make enough effort in that area because I was so absorbed in my relationship with John [Thaw, her actor husband, who died in 2002], so it’s been a journey for me to get old friends back, but also to make new ones. Be constantly on the lookout for the latter. If you meet someone entertaining or from whom you can learn, follow it up. The worst that can happen is that they turn down your invitation, and that’s fine. Nothing ventured?”
The pearl: “The most important external thing for the older woman is well-styled hair. When mine gets raggedy, I feel so much older than my years. Nothing lifts your spirits and confidence like a good cut.”
Sheila Hancock is in the musical Sister Act at the London Palladium until February 27