Mary Beard and the Emperors New Clothes

A little while ago a colleague told me that I reminded her of Mary Beard.  She said it was a compliment.  That I, like Mary, was passionate about my subject, that we had a similar speech pattern and that neither of us cared too much about our appearance. At the time Ms Beard's public profile was low.  She had taken part in 'Jamie's Dream School' and had just started her 'Meet the Romans' programme.  I hadn't seen any of the second programme but I thought she was inspiring as a Latin teacher and wanted to go and learn Latin immediately.  

It was a wonderful thing to be compared to such an inspiring teacher but for a long time the idea that it was obvious that I didn't care about my appearance started to bother me.  I wasn't sure that was how I wanted to be thought of and I kept thinking that if I was so lacking in personal care now then by the time I was an old lady I would be sitting in muddy pee stained trousers, with dirt under my fingernails and knotted hair.  So I decided that I would make more effort. People have noticed too, so I suppose I must have been really scruffy before.

After Mary Beard appeared on Question Time and received shed-loads of abuse about her appearance I felt slightly guilty for my resolution.  I don't think women should only appear on TV if they have beautifully coiffured hair, a face-lifted until they can no longer express any opinion non-verbally and be under 25.  Men appear looking old and haggard without make-up or hair dye so why can't women?  I thought about going back to my old scruffy ways but I had felt happier for being slightly better groomed.

I've never been very good at make-up.  At Christmas my Mum told my daughter that when I first started wearing make-up I looked like a clown and since then I've had little interest in learning how to do it properly.   Last week, my weekly ironing session while watching Jeremy Kyle overran and I accidentally found myself watching This Morning.  A make up artist was showing how you can look younger with make up.  She said that, "No woman over the age of 40 should leave the house without wearing primer.  It's like polyfiller for the skin and fills in all those fine lines and wrinkles."  I feel a bit stupid now, as I fell for this line like a fish after a juicy fat worm.  I bought myself a bottle of invisible liquid for over £5.

I like my wrinkles.  They say a lot about me and tell the story of my life.  My flute player lines might be ugly but they show the hours of practice.

I adore the lines around my eyes, they are happy lines; laughter lines and they are deep and well used.  I like to laugh and am thrilled that it is etched on my face.

I'm developing some new lines.  Teacher lines.  Wrinkles from using an eyebrow to control a noisy class and a set of worry lines.

On the bottle of the primer it said that it allowed you to wear no make up, that it would brighten your skin and make you look younger.  I put it on my face and couldn't see any difference.  Have I been sold a set of Emperor's new clothes?

I'm not sure I can see much difference (except for the fact that I'm smiling more in one picture than the other)

It seems that a smile and a love of life is the thing that makes the most difference.