39 Comments
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Mark Jones's avatar

Hokusai was into his seventies when he painted the The Great Wave. He thought he was still an apprentice, might get the hang of things in his 80s and finaly hit his stride in his 90s.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

One of my favourites!

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Mark Jones's avatar

a good gallop through his life here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08k1b0q

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Henry Oliver's avatar

I have a pile of notes somewhere waiting to be written up for a post about him

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Stephen Fry's avatar

Superb list - but don't forget Mary Wesley!

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Oh yes of course—I enjoyed the biography about her v much, such resilience!

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Anna Schott's avatar

I'll turn to this list whenever I'm feeling past it! And Diana Athill wrote her first, wonderful memoir at 43 and went on from there...

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Oh yes she’s a great one good thought

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Anna Schott's avatar

And Hope Against Hope, the incredible memoir written by Nadezhda Mandelstam in her sixties

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Sarah's avatar

Really looking forward to receiving my copy, it’s an exciting week.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

🥳

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Eliot Wilson's avatar

I looked at Churchill and how he’d have been remembered if he’d died in 1939. As you say, he was regarded pretty much as finished.

https://theideaslab.substack.com/p/reputation-the-luck-of-churchill

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Paul Hoest's avatar

Related to #39, there’s a great profile of Audrey Sutherland’s son at age 75 in the New Yorker on 6/3/24: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/10/jock-sutherland-profile-surfing

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Margaret M. Seiler's avatar

Wonderful list! Did you know that Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Guides in America, soon renamed Girl Scouts of the USA (founded in England by 50-something Agnes Baden-Powell, the sister of Boy Scouts' founder Lord Baden Powell) at the age of 51? She and Agnes are such role models not only for girls, but for middle-aged women everywhere.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

I did not—splendid example!

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Jen Zeman's avatar

Grateful to have read this - a solid boost of inspiration for me! Thanks to Kirsten Powers for including this in her Sunday recommendations. I've re-ordered your book and look forward to reading it!

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Woo thanks!

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Tania Tyler 🌿's avatar

Well, that's a nice uplifting post being 62, thank you.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Oh good!

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Jolene Handy's avatar

This is fantastic!

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Thanks!

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Lili's avatar

Thanks for this list! I’m bookmarking it for current-stage-of-midlife reference 😊

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Wessel van Rensburg's avatar

Almost all of Hobbes's work, including Leviathan, was written after he turned 50.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Great one!

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Oli5679's avatar

Ruhollah Khomeini began to gain significant recognition as a political figure in the 1960s, particularly with his outspoken opposition to the Shah of Iran and the White Revolution. He was in his early 60s at this time. His political activities led to his exile in 1964 when he was about 62 years old. However, his most significant rise to power came when he returned to Iran during the Iranian Revolution in 1979 at the age of 76, subsequently becoming the Supreme Leader of Iran.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

I saw this recently! Wish I’d included it in the book.

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Anthony Burgess Foundation's avatar

Anthony Burgess was 39 when he published his first novel, and went on to write 32 more, plus 25 books of non-fiction and over 250 pieces of music. Despite A Clockwork Orange being seen as a cult youth book, he published it when he was 45.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Excellent stuff!

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Gary D's avatar

I fear this will only show that my late blooming is that I'm becoming a fully pedantic weasel, but...forty-nine late bloomers? I guess Michaelangelo is so good that he should be counted twice!

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Haha well spotted and yes that is my view. He was a double late bloomer and maybe the greatest genius of geniuses.

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ml Cohen's avatar

I believe that the Nobel prize-winning Portuguese author Jose saramago wrote his first novel when he was 63 or so.

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Yes good one!

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