Of course men can be fit in their late eighties and beyond - this is how I do it

As Dick Van Dyke’s shares his fitness secrets at 99, saying he goes to the gym to do the same circuit routine, Hunter Davies, aged 89, reveals how he has managed a sprightly old age and his tips are stretching, press-ups and a lively love life

Getting to 80 and beyond is a matter of luck, as we all know, but even in my early eighties I was still working full-time, as I am now. Oh yes, and swimming three times a week and walking three miles on the Heath every day. At 82, I also had five girlfriends. Honest. In one week, I took each to lunch at my local Bistro. You should have seen the eye-rolling from the waitresses.

My wife, the writer Margaret Forster, died eight years ago after 55 years of marriage, and for a year I was so busy with probate, selling our much-loved Lakeland home, and mourning, that I didn’t have time to think about having a lady friend.

Then one of my daughters, as a Christmas present, bought me a subscription to Saga dating. I could not quite work out how to do it at first. My fingers are stiff and I find the internet a nightmare. Then I got going and, bingo, the women were queueing up! Blokes in old age have better luck than women in old age. There are so many of them.

Davies after receiving his OBE in 2014 (Getty)

I do five minutes of my own made-up exercises each morning – stretching and then press-ups. I try not to look in the mirror. In my head, I am still 58. I try to limit myself to a bottle of wine a day. My theory is that white wine is not alcoholic and I’m sticking to it.

Like all of us in our 80s, I lose things. I’m often left wondering why I am standing with the fridge door open and I lose my train of thought, but, come on, I was like that when I was young. When I get lost mid-sentence and forget what I was going to say, I now just laugh and tell myself that I was just the same at 21. No biggie.

I always have an afternoon rest. Sex in your 80s still happens, whatever you think. It is one of today’s taboo topics, which the young don’t want to hear about, which is weird because usually they are all for breaking taboos. Obviously it is not quite the same as when you were young, but cuddling is still wonderful. Outercourse, I say, can be as enjoyable as intercourse.

Like most oldies, I enjoy the company of my children and grandchildren, and get much pleasure from either spoiling or bossing them around; that is my chair, I’m talking, do you know how old I am, yes I will have another glass of sauvignon blanc and what kept you?

Obviously, you need your health. I have arthritis, but modern medications have controlled this. I take five pills a day, having had a triple heart bypass, a new knee and various other things I have forgotten. Or have chosen to forget. I like to wipe anything nasty from my mind and I never moan about my health with anyone younger. They think hmm, what do you expect at your age?

Dick Van Dyke shares his secret to staying fit at 99 on Ted Danson’s Podcast (Where Everybody Knows Your Name)

Yes, I do stumble and fall over and I sometimes stagger as if I have been drinking, which I deny (how very dare you!)

The thing about age, if you are lucky enough to be relatively well beyond your 80s, is that it is better than the alternative. I tell younger folks that I was young once. They have not yet been old. Though I hope they get there, today I am the winner. Yah boo!

As long as you have your marbles, and keep taking the medication, with the wind behind you, and your you’re good. Oh and try to have an afternoon kip, under the blankets for at least 40 minutes.

Serious illness aside, you can manage like that for years.

Hunter’s next book, ‘Letters to Margaret’, is published by Head of Zeus