Growing Old Disgracefully

At the age of 92, Diana Athill is suddenly a celebrity. Her frank and entertaining memoirs, mainly written after the age at which most people retire, chart a life less ordinary. She's had a string of loveaffairs, mainly with married, black and/or younger men; enjoyed fifty years of success as an editor, worked with writers as distinguished as Jean Rhys, Norman Mailer and VS Naipaul; and led a privileged childhood in a Norfolk mansion. Recently, she has chosen to go into an old people's home, where they take people 'who have had interesting lives'. Alan Yentob meets her to discuss her life, her work - and her outspoken thoughts on death.