Jonathan Ross

@Redbags my husband is my age (both late 30s) but when I was 16 I dated a 24 year old and at 18 I dated a 32 year old.

I didn't sleep with either of them, but likely would have with the man I dated at 18 if we'd have been together a bit longer. It was absolutely common in the circle I was in at the time (rock scene, bands etc) and one couple are still together now, several were long term relationships. I'm not even saying it's "ok" but it was absolutely a common thing in lots of circles back then.

There’s footage of Stephen fry resurfacing being quite unpleasant about child sexual abuse survivors. I think unless you’re a squeaky clean individual in the public eye it’s must be a very worrying time.

Good.

I am old and have always been a fuddy duddy. I saw that clip the other day and thought it was awful. I am also baffled by the idea that NF and RB were sexually appealing. Clearly some women disagree with me, and I know I am not the right age or the right personality type but I'd rather have been celibate for my entire life than have to spend ten seconds with RB. Skin-crawlingly nasty. Don't find NF even slightly attractive. The intelligent, funny, genuinely talented self-deprecating decent men, on the other hand - and obviously in this context I mean David Mitchell and Rob Brydon - very, very attractive. Surely I'm not alone in reacting this way?

Well, I didn't know that.

I wouldn't consider myself a 'fuddy duddy' but in my opinion Rob Brydon and David Mitchell are much more attractive men than RB and NF.

I didn’t know that either!

100%

Back in the 1970s, people would have been astounded to hear 16yos referred to as children. Minors, yes, but very much on the verge of adulthood and treated as such, with a lot of independence and resilience expected, and not much of a safety net for those who couldn't cope, sadly. Very few kids stayed at school beyond that age. Of those that did stay on, an even smaller number went on to university, polytechnic or some sort of professional training, and those of us who did get that opportunity were treated as fully adult. No adults at university open days, no expectation that parents would be involved in our lives at all beyond (if we were lucky) a financial contribution to top up the maintenance grant. Lots left with no qualifications. I don't know if most had jobs in their early teens, but lots of my schoolmates had Saturday and holiday jobs then, as I did. Nobody bothered much about 16yos going to pubs or 18 films. As we have seen on this thread, it was widely accepted that 16yos could be sexually active and some of them ended up married. I may be wrong, but I think you could join the armed forces at 16.

I honestly think those of you who were 16 far more recently have little concept of how infantilised teenagers are now by comparison with all previous generations. I'm absolutely not saying that it's a great idea for 16yos to get married, but plenty of us have formed extremely successful long-term relationships at not much older than that (I did myself, 6 year age gap, we've been married for 44 years).