[78-L] Doris DAY - leading article in today's London TIMES....

[Nigel Burlinson]

The American actor and wit Oscar Levant famously quipped that he "knew Doris Day before she was a virgin". It turns out he also knew her before she notched up the equally implausible feat of becoming, at 87, the oldest artist in UK chart history to have an album of new material in the Top Ten.

Not that Day is the only 87-year-old still crooning for cash. Charles Aznavour last week began a residency in Paris before a national tour - even though the man who will be promising audiences nightly that "She, may be the face I can't forget", also admits that his "memory is getting worse ... I will probably have an autocue at some point".

Sir Cliff Richard, a relative stripling at the age of just 70, yesterday celebrated victory in his long campaign for what became known as "Cliff's law".

By extending copyright on music recordings from 50 to 70 years, it will enable him not only to pocket royalties for his Sixties hits for another two decades, but also to earn money from new songs when he is 140. To remind us just how likely he is to live that long, pop's Peter Pan last week issued his 2012 calendar full of fit photos (last year's, says Amazon, outsold that of any other male celebrity).

Maybe music, just as much as youth, is wasted on the young. Bob Dylan, at 70, is flourishing. So are Tony Bennett, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Leonard Cohen. And Neil Diamond, Jimmy Page and Lou Reed. Frank Sinatra was announcing comeback tours on his way to his own funeral.

B. B. King will turn 86 on Friday. Sure, Mick Jagger's face is looking a little creased. George Melly used to say that Jagger had told him they weren't wrinkles, but laughter lines; to which Melly had replied: "Nothing's that funny." But Jagger is still singing and prancing at 68. Who's laughing now?