Tom Payne was born in 1971. He read Classics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and was deputy literary editor of the Daily Telegraph. He now lives with his wife and four children in Dorset, where he teaches English and Classics at Sherborne School, and Latin at the Gryphon School. His previous books are Fame- from the Bronze Age to Britney, and a verse translation of Ovid's The Art of Love (both in Vintage).
Payne teases out advice on mental decline, medicine, late love affairs, death and legacy from the classical world and presents it in a witty and readable way -- Antonia Charlesworth * Big Issue * A meditative celebration and self-help book. It would make a wonderful gift for anyone hurtling, like me, towards 60 -- Sara Wheeler * Observer * A humorous guide to classical authors’ advice on the downhill catwalk of age -- Sara Wheeler * Observer * As Britain gets ever greyer, this is not merely a witty and panoramic survey of old age in the classical world, but a timely one. The wisdom of the ancients indeed -- TOM HOLLAND