Is age really just a number? Just ask Nanette Newman, who appeared to confirm the old adage while accepting her latest award in London on Wednesday.

The veteran actress, who celebrated her 90th birthday in May, was joined by son-in-law Sir John Standing, also 90, at the annual Oldie Of The Year ceremony, held on The Strand. 

Despite being just three months apart in age, the pair were on hand to accept the In-Laws Of The Year Award, with Newman – known to millions as the face of Fairy Liquid – looking remarkably youthful as they took to the stage. 

Accepting the award, she told guests: ‘I woke up one morning and I felt 104 – one of those mornings where there were bills and everything was awful.’ 

But upon opening one such letter and discovering she and Standing had won an award, the actress joked she ‘now feels maybe 82 and a half.’   

Is age really just a number? Just ask Nanette Newman, who appeared to confirm the old adage while accepting an Oldie Of The Year Award with son-in-law Sir John Standing on Wednesday

Newman earned a new legion of fans after landing a role as the face of Fairy Liquid in 1980, starring in a string of commercials for the detergent brand throughout the decade

Standing added: ‘It’s been lovely getting an award from a magazine that I hadn’t in fact ever read.’ 

The actor, whose film roles include ’70s classics The Eagle Has Landed and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,  is married to Newman’s daughter, Sarah Forbes, 65, whose father was the famous British film director, Bryan Forbes. 

RADA trained Newman starred in nine of her late husband’s films, among them 1975 classic The Stepford Wives and The Raging Moon, for which she earned a BAFTA nomination in 1971. 

She would earn a new legion of fans after landing a memorable TV role as the face of Fairy Liquid in 1980, starring in a string of commercials for the detergent brand throughout the decade. 

Other winners on Wednesday included director Mike Leigh, 81, who was awarded the Silver Screen Golden Oldie in honour of a lifetime of classic films – among them Abigail’s Party and Secrets And Lies. 

Daily Mail cartoonist ‘Mac’ (Stanley McMurtry), 88, took the Oldie Lead-in-his-pencil award.

During the pandemic Mac famously drew a police car chasing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, with an officer bawling ‘Oy! Two metres apart!’

Previous prestigious winners have included Oscar-winners, Nobel laureates, community-care nurses, veteran athletes, and Queen Elizabeth II – who famously declined the award.

Despite being just three months apart in age, Newman and Standing accepted the In-Laws Of The Year Award, with the actress looking remarkably youthful as they took to the stage

RADA trained Newman starred in nine of her late husband Bryan Forbes’ films, among them 1975 classic The Stepford Wives (pictured)

Newman aged 21 in 1955, two years after making her big screen debut in Personal Affair 

Other guests on Wednesday included author Jacqueline Wilson, 78, Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman, 78, newsreader Angela Rippon, 80 and former rocker Billy Wyman, 88, who attended alongside his actress wife 

The musician collected the most prestigious prize of the evening – Oldie of the Year – from host Gyles Brandreth, a far cry from the accolades he claimed during his hellraising past with The Rolling Stones. 

The Oldie of the Year Awards is hosted annually by The Oldie magazine.

Author Jacqueline Wilson also cut a glamourous look for the evening as she stepped out in a black fur coat

Angela Rippon (left) and Dame Maureen Lipman (right) also attended the event in London on Wednesday afternoon 

Musician Billy Wyman and his actress wife Suzanne Accosta made a joint appearance at the awards ceremony