From tennis courts to Ambridge, the debate rages about when to give up work… and why
June Spencer, aged 103 – an extraordinary example of being as young as they think you are, as the columnist Katharine Whitehorn once put it – has decided that, after 70 years in the role of the indefatigable matriarch Peggy Woolley, it’s time to retire from BBC Radio Four’s The Archers. “In 1950, I helped to plant an acorn… called The Archers,” she explained. “Over the years it has thrived and become a splendid great tree with many branches. But now this old branch, known as Peggy, has become weak and unsafe so I decided it was high time she ‘boughed out’, so I have duly lopped her.”
Also last week came the announcement of the departure of the queen of the tennis court for more than 20 years, Serena Williams. In a Vogue interview, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, now aged 40, announced: “I am evolving away from tennis… I’m ready for what’s next.” The reason for retirement from the sport in her case will be no surprise to many women: namely, you can’t have it all. At least, not on the terms currently on offer.