Tony Christie: What worries you about getting older?

The question

What worries you about getting older?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A newer fixed question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A pool.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Tony Christie

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Forgetting the wonderful memories I have got from throughout my life. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with dementia.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 January 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Henry Marsh Neurosurgeon and writer

I was looking at ageing in action, in black-and-white MRI pixels, death and dissolution foretold, and already partly achieved. My 70-year-old brain was shrunken and withered, a worn and sad version of what it once must have been. There were also ominous white spots in the white matter, signs of ischaemic damage, small-vessel disease, known in the trade as white matter hyperintensities – there are various names for them. They looked like some evil pox. Not to put too fine a point on it, my brain is starting to rot. I am starting to rot. It is the writing on the wall, a deadline.

Recorded The Guardian, 13 August 2022 source ↗

Nikki Amuka-Bird

Not being flexible enough to dance freely.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 May 2025 source ↗

Michelle Collins

Losing my memory and not being able to work.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2024 source ↗

Nuala McGovern

Running out of time.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 November 2025 source ↗