The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday January 16 2007

A misunderstanding caused Kailash Puri, one of the guest editors of the G2 Over-70s special on January 12, to answer one of the Age-old questions, page 9, wrongly. Asked whether she had had a same-sex experience, the reply should have been no.

What are the best and worst things about being older?

David Cawley (DC) Looking in the mirror every morning. It's great to see someone looking back, but a pity they're so decrepit.

Stefanie Logie (SL) Best is that people give you a seat on public transport, you always get served first at mealtimes and younger friends and family look after and care for one. The worst is physical deterioration. As Shakespeare put it in the seven ages: "Sans eyes, sans teeth, sans everything."

Elaine Morgan (EM) Best - with any luck, the number of people dependent on you decreases so you can please yourself. Worst - the fear of becoming dependent on others in turn.l

Kailash Puri (KP) The best is independence. I wouldn't like to be dependent on anyone. Loneliness can be terrible but I absorb myself in writing.

Jean Hinchcliffe (JH) Although you have time when you're retired to do things, illnesses that you didn't anticipate can prevent you from doing them.

Does wisdom come with age?

SL No! People tell me it is so, but I'm as immature as I always was.

EM Insofar as you've made more mistakes that you needn't repeat.

KP I think to a certain extent older people are wiser. But a lot of people do not learn - they go on making mistakes. You must meditate when you have time. Faith is very important in old age.

DC Yes! Unfortunately, so do increased prejudice, misinformation and false memories. At least, they do in other people.

JH No, don't be ridiculous.

Do you fear death?

SL Not at all. Because I'm 92 and if I go, I go. I would prefer not to have an illness. Ideally, I would like to go while playing chamber music.

EM No.

KP Not really. Whosoever has come to this world must go as well.

DC No, though I do regret the thought of not being alive because I enjoy life a lot.

JH Of course I do. I love life.

What is your greatest fear?

SL Generally, Aids. The greatest fear I've had most of my life is the nuclear bomb. I've always belonged to CND.

EM Fears get smaller as you have less left to lose. Losing my address book, maybe.

KP Death. I wish a peaceful death. Any suggestions?

DC My children dying before I do.

JH Being trapped in a burning building.

Have you planned your funeral? What will it be like?

SL I'd like it to be green. I've talked about it with my sons. Live music and a happy occasion - I put that in my will.

EM I couldn't be less interested. I won't be there.

KP No.

DC My wife says she'll have me cremated in a cardboard box, which is OK by me.

JH Not yet but I would like it to be a jolly affair.

Do you still have sex?

EM No. I've occasionally contemplated resuming the practice, but it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

SL No. I've been widowed for 11 years.

KP I am not married any more.

DC Whenever I'm asked . . .

JH Ask me in another 10 years and then I might tell you.

What do you most regret about your younger years?

SL Not practising the violin sufficiently, so that I would now be a more efficient player.

EM I don't do regret. There would probably have been just as many obstacles and pitfalls in the path you didn't take.

KP Not having read all the marvellous books that my children read. There were no books in my parents' house. I was so immature when I got married - I did not have many interests in the arts or science.

DC Not doing what I wanted to do and becoming a journalist. Still, better late than never.

JH I regret not paying more attention at school. The only subject I liked was English.

What might you do differently if you could relive your adult life?

KP I would love to read the classics, which I did not read when I was younger. And be a bit more calm and understanding.

DC Be more ambitious. Push harder. Go to lunch with the other senior managers instead of working through. Suck up to bosses. Better still, be self-employed.

JH Probably marry someone with lots of money so I could have servants and do more interesting things than cleaning.

What's the best piece of advice you could give a teenager?

DC Miss out middle age.

KP Keep away from harmful things and don't have too many sexual partners. Keep to one or two. Keep purity of heart. Love people.

JH Have a good time, but not to the detriment of other people.

SL Be true to yourself.

EM The world they live in is so different to mine, I couldn't be relevant.

What would you advise a younger person who is ambivalent about whether they would like to be a parent?

DC There's no place for ambivalence in parenthood. If you're in doubt, don't do it.

EM If in doubt, don't. Even more than marriage or a profession, it calls for commitment. And you can't send a baby back where it came from if you change your mind.

SL I wouldn't give advice. They have to work it out for themselves.

JH Try it and then it will be too late to change your mind.

What is the biggest change you've lived through?

SL The nuclear bomb.

EM Television. And penicillin - I think my son would have died if he'd been born two years earlier.

KP India's independence has been wonderful. India's the talk of the town. Each time I go there I find progress, but no one is looking after the poor.

DC It's a dead heat. The surging optimism of the 60s, when we were totally sure that every aspect of life and society was going to improve beyond recognition; the surging pessimism of the Thatcher/Major years; and New Labour, when we finally realised what fools we'd been to believe it all.

JH The birth of the internet - not that I have it yet. I haven't got round to it. Also, the choice in shopping now is fantastic. And the freedom of having a car is a big plus to me - you can take off and go where you want.

Do you think you have become angrier as you've got older and that life has become more difficult?

SL I have not become grumpier or angrier, but I know plenty of my near-contemporaries who complain about "the young" - the lack of discipline, the usual things.

EM No, I've gone for serene. "All the sugar is in the bottom of the cup."

KP I am a lot more calm now than I was in my younger days. The difficulties that I have are my own. There is no solution.

DC It's not that we're angrier. We just have a crystal-clear perception of the truth and younger people hate to admit it.

JH I have become more grumpy but am trying to reform. Putting up with people's inefficiency makes me angry.

What do you think of the word "old"?

SL I couldn't care less, because it describes a fact of life.

KP Old is mental and physical. I was a yoga teacher for 20 years. If you look after yourself, you'll have the body you deserve. People say I look 60.

DC There's nothing wrong with the word "old", as long as young people don't persist in interpreting it to mean stupid, incompetent, incontinent, intemperate, deaf, etc.

JH The same as I think of the word "young" - I don't like it. Generally, age does not matter.

Have you planned things to do before you die?

EM I made plans last year. Failed to go up in the balloon, but not for the want of trying! The weather kept getting in the way.

KP I want to write more and to write well.

DC See Machu Picchu at dawn and Uluru at sunset. But not on the same day.

JH I never think about it.

What are the greatest lessons you have learned from life?

SL Keep optimistic and positive.

EM In the words of the old Spanish proverb: "'Take what you want,' said God. 'And pay for it.'"

KP To be calm, compromising and never lose your temper. I shouldn't have criticised my children as much as I did.

DC Listen to people. Some of them are worth it.

JH Not much. I still make the same mistakes.

What, as a woman, are the things people never warn you about to do with getting older?

EM What you look like is a wasting asset. Never mind. Cultivate at least one asset that continues to grow in value.

KP Why so much fuss about old age? One cannot be 40, 50 or 60 for a long time. I think old age is graceful, satisfactory and peaceful.

JH Well, we can certainly do without men: there are other things in life that are far more fun.

Does it offend or upset you if someone offers you a seat?

SL Not at all. I say thank you very much. When I was young, it was polite to give women a seat.

EM Indeed not.

KP No, it's most wonderful for older people to be offered a seat.

DC Only if it's a heavily pregnant woman.

JH No, I am jolly pleased.

Did you plan well for retirement and do you feel financially secure?

SL I am financially secure, not because I planned, but because of my late husband and one of my sons.

EM I feel OK. Didn't plan; don't splurge either.

KP Yes, thanks to my husband. I worry about money at times - you don't know how long you are going to live. I have no idea about finances. My son takes care of it all.

DC We are reasonably secure while I am alive. Iniquitous company pension fund rules, over which I have no control whatsoever, mean that my wife's income will more than halve if I die first. That's a serious concern.

JH No. No. I've never been a planner. I've always been happy-go-lucky.

What single thing would make the biggest difference to your life?

EM Being able to drive.

KP If I saw my children and grandchildren more often, but they are so busy it is asking the impossible.

DC A concubine. Failing that, having a screenplay put into production. Or, best of all, both.

JH Winning the lottery. Anything, £5 would do. If I won a lot of money, I would do good with it. I would give to small, local charities.

SL Better health.

What, in contemporary life, do you just not understand?

SL Drug addiction. I can understand why people take drugs because they are unhappy and think they will be happier, but I find it so dreadful. I have never taken drugs. I've never smoked a cigarette.

EM What celebrities are celebrated for.

KP Old women asking for young boyfriends. For what? They must have missed out in life on many things. Many women are sexually starved - I know this from being an agony aunt.

DC The appeal of female singers who can't sing a note without distorting it.

JH Accounts.

Were they really the good old days?

SL No. I'm not saying 2007 is the best ever, but when people talk about children behaving beautifully, it was not the case. The older generation blames the younger for everything, it goes on every time.

EM Yes!

KP No, they were not. I believe in progress and understanding and freedom of thought, which was missing in the old days.

DC Only for the well-off. For the rest of us they were crap, though luckily we didn't realise it at the time because it was all we knew.

JH Yes. I think we are very fortunate to have lived at a time when history was being made and to have seen so many exciting things happen.

Do you wish you were 50 years younger?

SL No, because I have found every age carries its advantages. I would never want to relive my puberty again, when I briefly found God. That was very uncomfortable.

EM Not particularly.

KP No, I am delighted with my years.

DC No, 40 years would do nicely.

JH Definitely. Life is so exciting and there's so many things I'd like to do.

What age do you feel you are?

SL Ninety-two. People always tell me I seem much younger, but I am 92 and that's that.

EM Thirty-five.

KP Eighty-one.

DC Thirty-one, till I look in the shaving mirror or catch my reflection in a shop window, and wonder: "Who's that old fart?"

JH In the morning, I feel 100, but by lunchtime I feel about 35.

What are your tips for staying mentally and physically fit?

SL Live moderately and have lots of activities and interests.

EM Crosswords and a 30-minute daily walk.

KP Yoga exercises.

JH Do lots of puzzles, exercise every morning, have a great social life, join lots of groups, get to know lots of new people, go for walks instead of always going by car (it depends on the weather), eat fewer sweet things, eat brown bread and lots of fruit.

DC Do the Guardian crossword, but only the short one.

What is it like when your lover becomes your patient?

SL Not pleasant, but unavoidable. My husband got quite frail and I had to look after him. I was more of a nurse than a wife.

KP It must be a hard job, but my husband passed away very suddenly.

DC Ten times worse than when your lover becomes your carer.

JH It enhances a loving relationship. It brings you closer together having to surmount the obstacles of illness. I always try to make Gordon comfortable. I do all the worrying for him so he can enjoy life. It's like having children - you just have to get on with it.

Do your children look after you? Do you want them to? Are they ungrateful?

SL Yes. Yes. No.

EM I don't need much looking after yet. I hope I'll be grateful, if and when it happens. I don't think they owe me gratitude. I had them for my own pleasure.

KP My children do not have to look after me. But we are in touch, always.

DC Our children are caring without being intrusive. We are very lucky. Let's hope it goes on that way.

How many times have you revised your will, and why?

SL Not at all.

EM Once. Unfairness caused by distorting effect of house prices.

DC Never, so the kids can relax.

Should I choose duty or love?

SL Love.

EM Depends in both cases on "to what or whom?"

KP You should choose both duty and love.

DC If you have to ask the question, then you know the answer.

JH Choose duty and love may follow.

Happiness for me or happiness for others?

SL Both.

EM The second is more durable and often gets to include the other.

KP For both. For you and others.

DC Self-sacrifice is the eighth deadly sin. It never leads to short-term happiness, and only very rarely to long-term.

JH In giving happiness to others you will receive a wealth of happiness yourself.

Do we live in a more tolerant society than when you were young? Do you welcome the advances in women's rights and gay rights?

SL Yes, I welcome the advances, but do they have to shout about it from the rooftops and be so proud of it?

EM I'm easy with the permissiveness. Bit queasy about the greed, and sex on tap is running into the law of diminishing returns.

KP This is a tolerant society - and permissive. Morals are not what one would like.

DC Of course things are better now. Permissiveness is the intolerant person's word for freedom. Don't let them get away with it.

JH It is a more tolerant society because we do not have much alternative. We are not really tolerant, but pretend to be. Gays and lesbians have always existed - it is only that it is talked about in a more free way now that we are more aware of it. Love between two people, if it is true and honest, is a wonderful thing and should be treated with sanctity and respect.

Have you ever had a same-sex experience?

SL No.

EM Only a pash in a girls' school.

KP No.

DC No.

Can you live on a state pension?

SL No. I don't have to.

EM With a lot of downsizing, yes. My parents lived on less.

KP I have no idea.

DC People can exist on a state pension, but the reduction of living standards and the limitation of opportunities for old people on low incomes to live a rewarding life in order to lower taxes is a scandalous and indelible stain on all political parties, but especially on New Labour.

JH No, definitely not. To have a decent standard of living we have to busk, stand with a box in the street, eat the scraps others have left and generally manage as best we can.

What's it all about then?

SL Your life is what you make of it but you also have to have luck.

EM Not possible in less than 50,000 words . . .

DC Having a good time by making sure that those around you have a good time. When it's not good, always believing it'll get better soon. When all else fails, learn to say, "Sod it!" and mean it.

JH Fun, fun fun.