Terrifying spectre of dementia

MY PARENTS' generation - and the ones before that - didn't fear dementia.

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They didn't even know it existed.Those were the days when average life expectancy was below 70 - and well below that, even 100 years ago. In 1925, setting aside the odd world war or two, men could expect with luck and a following wind to reach the grand old age of 55; women might stagger on to 58.

So although, just as today, dementia could occasionally strike someone down in their prime, it was rare. You were far more likely to die of something else, and your mental faculties would still be in pretty robust shape when the Grim Reaper came a-calling.