In his youth

the agonies of adolescence

still a minor, legally speaking

a juvenile delinquent

congratulations on your coming of age

1920

you have to be over 21

Miss June Hoskins, aged 22, of 35 Stanfield Road

In his mid-twenties

In his prime

at the age of 26 she got married

by the age of 26 she had lived in five different countries

an adult

a grown-up

1930

don’t be so childish

he’s turned thirty

thirtyish

not a youngster any more

not as young as she was

36 years of age

approaching middle-age

the Under 40s Social Club

1940

on the wrong side of forty

beginning to look his age

an ageing playboy

beginning to feel her age

I prefer mature people

she’s still got her girlish sense of humour

In his late forties

she’s older than she looks

1950

still playing his schoolboy tricks

In her early fifties

he’s aged a lot lately

he’s getting on (in years)

one of the older generation

I’m twice your age, young man!

the same age as her husband

heading for retirement

1960

he’s over the hill

Sunday Excursion for the Over 60s

growing old gracefully

a pensioner (an old age pensioner, OAP)

he’s coming up to seventy

you’re old enough to know better

you’re as old you feel

an elderly lady

1970

a septuagenerian

Help the Aged

she’s still going strong

In her seventy-fifth year

his elder brother’s death

her eldest sister’s death

becoming senile

old age comes to all of us

1980

his eightieth birthday

an octogenarian

he’s as old as the hills

in her second childhood

he’s got one foot in the grave

he’ll soon be pushing up the daisies

she’s kicked the bucket

she’s passed away/on

Practice

1. Discuss or write the answers to these questions.

1. How has your relationship with your parents and other members of your family changed as you have grown older?

2. At which age would you most like to atop the world for ten years so you could enjoy it? Has that age passed or is it still to come?

3. Some people say there are a lot of similarities between childhood and old age. Do you agree?

4. Do you think young people are growing up taster these day? If so? Give examples.

5. Do you agree or partly agree with the saying “Life begins at forty”?

Christmas

Most people in Britain see Christmas as the major festival of the year - an occasion for parties, giving and receiving gifts, eating as drinking, and generally having fun.

The many non-religious traditions associated with Christmas are in fact not very old, dating back only to the 19th century. These are mostly for children. On Christmas Eve, children hang stockings at the end of their beds or over the fireplace. They are told that Father Christmas or Santa Claus, arrives at night from the North Pole on his flying reindeer, climbs down the chimney and fills each stocking with presents. The children open their presents - put there secretly by their parents - on Christmas morning.

Lunch is the most important point of Christmas Day. The traditional lunch consists of roast turkey with vegetables, followed by Christmas pudding, which is made with dried fruit and brandy. Sometimes a coin is put in the pudding as a surprise.

The day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day (probably after the church alms box which was opened for the poor on that day) and this too is a public holiday.

Religious observance has declined in Britain, but many people still go to church at Christmas - to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve or to a morning service on Christmas Day.

New Year's Day, or Hogmanay

People all over Britain celebrate the passing of the old year and the coming of the new. In Scotland, Hogmanay - as it is called there -is almost as important as Christmas. The Scots take New Year's Eve very seriously, and anyone unwise enough to try to sleep at midnight is likely to be woken up by a band of "first footers".

First footers go from house to house after midnight carrying lumps of coal (seen as symbols of good luck) and they expect a glass of whisky in each house they visit!

Midsummer's Eve

Although Midsummer's Eve is not traditionally a widely celebrated festival in Britain, it is celebrated by druids (practitioners of an ancient religion now virtually extinct) at the prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge. In recent years, groups of travellers - caravan dwellers - and hippies have also tried to claim the right to enter the circle to see the sun rise on Midsummer's Day, but they have gene rally not been allowed, largely because of fears of damage to the ancient monument.

Harvest festival

This is a very old festival, dating from pre-Christian times but nowadays celebrated by Christians. Each October, the churches - particularly in the countryside - are decorated with flowers, fruit, vegetables and other crops, and the local people come tome to give thanks for the successful completion of the harvest.

Hallowe'en

The name comes from "the eve of All Hallows", also known in the Christian calendar as All Saints. According to folklore, on this nigh 31 October - witches and evil spirits roam the country. These days, people dress up as witches and ghosts and have parties. Groups of children also pay "trick-or-treat" on their neighbours, going from door to door and playing a harmless but slightly unpleasant trick on anyone who refuses to give them a sweet or other gift.

Guy Fawkes' Night

In 1605 a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Protestant Parliament of King James I. They succeeded in hiding 30 barrels of gunpowder in the building, but on 5 November the so-called "Gunpowder Plot" was discovered. Fawkes and his associates were caught and later burned at the stake. An old children rhyme runs:

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot!

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Children make a "guy" - an effigy of Guy Fawkes - and burn it on bonfire, and let off fireworks. Because of recent concern about the dangers of bonfires and fireworks, most local communities now hold, large, organised parties, with the children being kept at a safe distance.