When are we old?

Woody Allen once stated "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying".

I was talking to my older brother recently. He has been planning his early retirement for a number of years after working 6 days a week for the last 30 years, and now in the position to enjoy that fruitful planning. He was asking me when I plan to retire - I told him "perhaps when I get old, in another 40 years or so".

With a long time interest in China and the Chinese people, I knew that Mao Zedong founded modern day China, the "People's Republic of China", at the grand old age of 56. I also know that Julia Child, perhaps the most famous cooking author in the world, didn’t even learn to cook until she was almost 40. Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame was 66 and dead broke before he started building his empire.

This got me thinking on what other people had great achievements at an older age, so I did a bit of research through google and came up with some inspiring thoughts.

• Sir Francis Chichester sailed around the world alone in a 53-foot boat normally manned by a crew of six. He was just 52 years young.
• At 53, Walter Hunt patented the safety pin.
• At 56, Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China.
• Frank Dobesh competed in his first 100-mile bicycle ride at age 57 — 10 years after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
• Sony chairman Akio Morita introduced the Sony Walkman when he was 57 (it's sort of like an iPod folks and it changed the world).
• “Satchel” Paige became the Major League baseball player when he reached 59.
• George Bernard Shaw wrote his "Heartbreak House" when he turned 60.
• J.R.R. Tolkien published the first of his fantasy series, "Lord of the Rings" at age 62.
• Simeon Poisson discovered the laws of probability aged 67.
• Sir William Crookes invented a device for detecting alpha particles when he was 68.
• Canadian Ed Whitlock ran a standard marathon in under three hours when he was 73. Not content with that, at 85 he completed the Toronto Marathon in under 4 hours, a new record.
• Cornelius Vanderbilt began buying railroads when he was 70 to become a famous business magnate.
• Katsusuke Yanagisawa, a retired Japanese schoolteacher, climed Mt. Everest when he was 71.
• Barbara Hillary reached the north pole when she was 75 years old and after surviving cancer.
• John Glenn was a crew member of the Discovery space shuttle and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He was just 77 years old the first time he first flew into space.
• At 82, William Ivy Baldwin crossed the South Boulder Canyon in Colorado on a tightrope. Age and wisdom don't always come together it seems.
• Famous baby doctor Benjamin Spock championed for world peace at age 82.
• At 84, W. Somerset Maugham wrote "Points of View."
• Theodor Mommsen received the Nobel Prize at age 85.
• Katherine Pelton swam the 200-meter butterfly in 3 minutes, 1.14 seconds, beating the men’s world record for that age group by over 20 seconds. That was when she was a spritely 86 years old.
• Michelangelo created the architectural plans for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli when he was 88.
• Australian Allan Stewart completed a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of New England when he was 91.
• Harry Bernstein published his first book at age 96, "The Invisible Wall", three years after he started writing to cope with loneliness after his wife passed away.
• Teiichi Igarashi climbed Mt. Fuji when he was just a young lad of 99 years old.

So don't tell me I'm too old for something - I'm just warming up.