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The tall one was 38.

The guitarist a few months younger.

There were three others, and they looked as ancient: the drummer was 40, the bessist was 5 years older; 43 and the new rythm guitarist was a young 34.

They all looked much, much older, even to someone who was just 16. Nearly.

I am old enough to remember the Stones' last great riff. The video is something else, they larked around, pretending to play, they were clearly having the time of their lives, even if their lives had already marked their faces as old before their time. But such things don't matter if you're The Glimmer Twins, as money changes everything.

The song, Start me Up, was later used my Microsoft to advertise their Windows 95 operating system, when it came out in 1996.

It made Jagger/Richards a lot of money.

I'm not sure if they were living back in England by this point, they had been tax exiles through most of the 70s, but to little old me, sitting with my parents in our living room in deepest Suffolk, they looked like they were having the most fun it was possible, and it was their job.

There's a quote in Almost Famous about the Stones: “If you think Mick Jagger will be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, you are sadly, sadly mistaken.” Because they would have saved lots of money and be able to retire to their French Chateaux. But Jagger, Richards and the rest, but not Bill Wyman as he had the grace to retire in 1990, his replacement has been in the band longer than he was in it.

So, if my maths is correct, as Start me Up came out 40 years ago, that makes Jagger/Richards 78, and still being the baddest duo in Rock and Roll, turns out you're never too old to rock.

Since then I have worked five years at the chicken factory, had 15 years in the RAF, surveyed the ocean floor for four years and been a pillar of the wind industry for over 11 more. I have grown up, married three times, divorced twice, and they have been the Rolling Stones.

I've been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
Never stop, never stop, never stop