Hampden? Hereford?

Thanks for the replies, folks; never imagined there would be so much interest. Can I just say “She was 26” was a purely hypothetical example to simply illustrate the point I was trying to make, and not an actual line from my book. I decided to change to numerals because there is one scene (an argument over someone’s age and the events in their life) where the unavoidable amount of hyphenated words (eg “Twenty-Six”) in such a short passage looked very untidy and clumsy.
Not sure I can really look to Shakespeare for guidance either, because of course language and styles have changed over the years; he may never have written “26” but then again I’d never write “Wherefore art thou?”
I think sticking rigidly to either all words or all numerals is likely to bring problems of its own, and the answer is to use your own feeling for what is ‘right’ whilst trying to remain as consistent as possible.

“I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today…” Autobiography of David Nobbs, creator of Reginald Perrin, A Bit of a Do, and the brilliant novel Second From Last In The Sack Race.

IMHO all this stuff about a Big Bang is just a fig leaf to hide the fact that, like the rest of us, our finest brains don’t really have a clue how it all started, where it came came from, etc.

Signed and shared on Facebook.

How goes it, Kev? Still waiting for the copy of the tenancy agreement I guess?

That’s one of the best things I’ve read on the internet for many moons. A great evocation of a lady who not only “did her bit” (and probably a bit more) in her country’s hour of need, but who clearly lived her whole life to the utmost. It annoys me sometimes to see people now who waste their lives away on drink and drugs, never even consider putting anything back into society, and yet still feel they have the right to scoff at the older generation and their seemingly old-fashioned values. What will they have to look back on, compared to your Nan, when the end draws near? Without people like your Nan, they (and the rest of us) would almost certainly be living in a very different world now, so thanks Mrs Thorpe.