Part 1 Ageing processes: basic biological aspects of ageing, Alan Hipkiss and Alan Bittles; the production and removal of abnormal proteins - a key question in the biology of the ageing, Alan Hipkiss; the role of Mitochondria in cellular ageing, Alan Bittles; eyes and age, Robert Weale; the ageing of populations, Tony Warnes. Part 2 Ageing and elderly people in society: ageing and social policy - a twentieth century dilemna, Andrew Blaikie and John Macnicol; successful ageing and life course reciprocity, Toni Antonucci and James Jackson; living arrangements and social support in later life, Emily Grundy; the need for support, Janet Askham; planning health care - the community approach, James McEwen; health care of the elderly - the concept of progress, Cameron Swift; key issues in nursing elderly people, Sally Redfern. Part 3 Prospects - third age lives in the next generation: changing attitudes and expectations, Mark Abrams; education and later life, Brian Groombridge; responding to the challenge of ageing, Tony Warnes.