ABSTRACT
When I was working for the Medical Research Council (MRC), there was a compulsory retirement age of 65. In fact people could choose to stay on until the September after their sixty-fifth birthday. I chose this option so I left shortly before my sixty-sixth birthday. I believe compulsory retirement is no longer legal, but I was pleased at the time that I did not have to make the decision on whether or not to leave. I had a lump sum paid to me and, after retirement, I was able to choose invitations that appealed to me and reject those that did not. I now reject invitations to examine a PhD as “I have retired” but I accept many invitations to lecture abroad as I still like travelling. In the few months before retirement, the MRC organised a two-day workshop on retirement to which spouses and partners were also invited. The workshop covered financial and practical matters together with other issues about retirement. Mick and I thought highly of this workshop, although in the long run it was less relevant to me than to others as I am still working 12 years later.
