Congrats to Dame Helen Mirren!

She's just been named "Body of the Year" by a certain well-known health club company. That takes some doing at the grand old age of 66 - and what pressure is that also putting on the rest of us mere mortals? Mind you, I like her attitude. La Mirren says most of her look is down to good make-up and sucking in her stomach, as you learn to do when you're an actress treading the boards. That and a low-maintenance haircut, no more than fifteen minutes of exercise a day (she does something called the Royal Canadian air force exercises - must look that up) and lots of sleep.

Her mum, she says, taught her to grow old gracefully, too.

"My mother told me an amazingly wise thing that I have also found to be true. It's that you should never worry about growing older, because an amazing thing happens. As you reach each age you find, like a miracle, you've got the weapons or the tools to deal with it. So your body gets older but your mind gets better. You have learned how to deal with relationships. You've realised you're not the only person in the world and beauty is not the most important thing. To be obsessed by your looks is pathetic!"

Hear hear!