Edward Fox Saturday Times Magazine

Words from the wise; Lessons in life from the over-sixties Edward Fox, 72
ALAN JACKSON
9 January 2010

"I've great faith in the young, despite the difficulties they face. It's a terribly Blimp-ish thing to say, but in my own teens there was National Service… Nobody wanted to do it, but in fact it was a good thing. It gave focus to many who would otherwise have been lost. And so many young people are lost nowadays, which I find terribly wrong. There have always been the haves and have-nots. Bus t it's one of our greatest shames that the divide between the two has become so marked in recent years.

"What youth needs primarily is family life.

If one made a graph of how deeply that has been degraded as compared to decades past, it'd be frightening to view. Employment, meanwhile, gives dignity to us all, but especially to those starting out. A benefit culture can be no adequate replacement. Similarly, the way in which young women have been encouraged to behave against their better natures. Why has all this happened? Apathy. A lack of acceptance by the older generation of their responsibility to bring up properly the successive one. It all leads back to family. Break that down and you create only misery.

"It helps no one to live in an environment that is ugly. So many of our young grow up without nature - how can you be at ease with yourself unless you realise you are part of the natural world? Cities have to be made more civilised if we are to raise civilised people." The pearl: "Take any class of teenagers in school. They all have talent of some kind. They all have the ability to be inspired. Inspire them, then watch the results."

Edward Fox presents An Evening with Anthony Trollope, starting at Chipping Norton on January 22; celebrityproductions.info