Joan Bakewell on 'stressful but exhilarating' challenges ahead of Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival

“Later on I got to asking people what they thought about God, and I was told that that was a rude question as well,” she laughed.

Dame Joan, Baroness Bakewell of Stockport, has made a career of asking questions and following her journalistic instincts to create a lifetime’s work that has shaped many people’s opinions about religion, morality, ethics and culture.

Now aged 91, and still as sharp as ever, her latest book ‘The Tick of Two Clocks’ may help people re-evaluate their attitudes to growing old and, not entirely unrelated, to moving house. She is speaking about both subjects at the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival next Saturday.

Having moved house in London during her late 80s, Dame Joan said you have to embrace the challenge: “Moving house is stressful, so you confront the reality that it is going to be stressful. But you can use stress to get exhilaration. Very often the most stressful things – races and first nights at theatres – are stressful but exhilarating.

“So I decided to make the most of it and I decided to do that by writing about it and telling people the good side and bad side, little tricks to avoid, things to enjoy, improvements you can make and the problems of getting rid of too much stuff.

“I thought I would convert it into something that was creative – literally a book.”

Books are clearly close to Dame Joan’s heart. As she speaks to The Yorkshire Post from her home office, she says: “It’s full of papers and is a bit untidy, but that’s a good office, isn’t it?

“I have all my books organised on my bookshelf so I know where the fiction is, the poetry, the history and that’s very important to me. I like to be able to reach for a book when I want to look up something.

“I think people who are older do enjoy poetry because they’re not in a hurry to get to the end of the book to find out who did the murder, or who runs away with who. They have the time to read a poem, read it twice, enjoy it, perhaps even underline bits they enjoy so when they go back they can revisit the pleasure they had in reading it.”

Having written for The Times, Sunday Times, The Guardian, and The Independent, and presented shows on the BBC, Dame Joan is still in demand.

“I see myself as a journalist/broadcaster – I do both,” she said. “The other thing I am is a freelance which means I can consider anything I am asked to do.

“Sometimes people will say ‘will you take a small part as an interviewer in a television drama? It is only two lines and you only have to turn up for an hour, would you like to do it?’ I would say yes that sounds fun, so I can pick and choose things that give me pleasure.

“I don’t worry about money. I am in the happy position of having a small pension, limited needs, I live on my own, I care for myself, and my mortgage is paid. So this is a very strong position for an old person to be in.”

Dame Joan is a great advocate for the elderly and says our advancing years are a time of opportunity.

“When you get older a great many worries fall away. You don’t worry about how you look anymore. And if you have been wise enough you don’t worry about earning a living, you probably have a small pension and have downsized so you have fewer obligations.

“So you have fewer things to worry about which opens up many opportunities because the one thing you have more of is time. You don’t have to do a job or meet deadlines, you don’t probably need to get out shopping very often. I live on my own so a single loaf lasts me several days and I don’t do a lot of entertaining so when people visit they perhaps bring something of their own.

“You can organise your life to suit yourself entirely. You can be more selfish than you have ever been in your life, and that can be a great pleasure,” she adds with another cheeky laugh.

During the early days of the pandemic Dame Joan spoke up for the elderly saying they don’t want to be treated like "a crazy old people's club" and instead want to be able to make their own decisions.

Her views on maintaining independence while part of a wider community haven’t changed. She said: “I have always been brought up with a sort of Sunday school conscience to do what is best for everyone in the community and that has translated into a rather vague Labour party policy of care.

“I was always concerned that rules around Covid and vaccinations apply to the most people it can benefit. I will be going for my latest vaccination. It is an obligation to your community to keep yourself fit and not be a burden.

“It is very important to stay buoyant as you get older and encourage others not to give in to a sense of depression. Loneliness and depression affect a lot of older people. I have been prone to both – I live on my own but I do live in the middle of a community so if I am feeling lonely I really make an effort to be out and in touch.

“Even emailing a few friends to say hi is anyone around or fancies a coffee? Just making a tiny effort and you find that people will respond. I urge people to do that because loneliness and depression beset the old far more that they need to.”

Dame Joan Bakewell is speaking at the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival on October 19 at The Crown Hotel, 7pm.