In this day and age, nobody should be forced to retire from work at 65

This wellmeaning legacy of the Victorian era hasn’t washed out of the employment system, writes Terry Prone

HE was in the RAF, was Owen Finley Maclaren, as a test pilot. Also an engineer, he designed the Spitfire undercarriage, which allowed it to cope better with crosswinds. Then, he retired, as is expected of a man who’s had a good career in the pay of the government and whose children have produced offspring of their own. That’s when the golden years start and it’s time to relax and bore everybody with your war stories.

In the early 1960s, Maclaren’s only daughter crossed the Atlantic with his grandchild and he watched as she struggled to get a smallish pram onto a London bus. Had to be a better way, he thought. Had to be a better product.