Longevity and Youth (was Re: Why Voldemort is a fascist..)

[ameliagoldfeesh]

No: HPFGUIDX 109815

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "manawydan" <manawydan at n...> 
wrote: <snip>
> 
> I've noticed this also. Whatever else it is, the WW is certainly 
not the
> gerontocracy that you might imagine that it would be, given the 
greater
> longevity of wizards (and the likely absence of things like 
retirement ages
> and old age pensions!) People get into positions of responsibility 
early.
<HUGE SNIP>

A Goldfeesh here:

JKR (from her 4/2001 Comic Relief Chat-thanks to TLC Quick Quill 
Quotes) says that: "Dumbledore's about 150 years old... wizards have 
a longer life expectancy than us Muggles, Snape's 35 or 6.'

Now I have gone to the Lexicon and looked over the list of wizards 
and witches (up to the letter K- I don't quite have what it takes to 
be a L.O.O.N.) and noted the ones that have birth and 
death dates.  Of the twenty that go up to "K" with the exception of 
only three- being Dumbledore 150+, Musidora Barkwith (146), and 
Nicholas Flamel (665+?), have lived past the age of 100.  (The 
fourth, Beatrix Bloxam, a children's author, is listed as living 
from 1794-1810- but I suspect the date should be to 1910?)

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that for all the "longer 
life expectancy" of  the wizarding folk,* they are living to a 
normal muggle age of around 70 to 100.  I first started noticing 
this on her website "Wizard of the Month."

A Goldfeesh

*the information on ages comes from Lexicon, and some of the wizards 
listed there are from the trading card game, Chocolate Frog Cards, 
trading cards from the film, with all the information written by 
JKR.  Info also includes COS and POA video game playing cards, which 
I'm not sure if JKR wrote or not- I didn't find the Lexicon too 
clear on that.