Did you know your great-grandparents? I didn’t. The last survivor died some five years before I was born. Blame the first world war – my grandparents were in their thirties when they started families – and the fact my parents were in their mid thirties when I arrived.

By contrast, a fascinating article in today’s Family Guardian on great-grandparents shows that today’s children are enjoying a rare experience of getting to know their great-grandparents. The post-war babyboomers had their children in their mid-twenties. They are also living longer, into their 80s and 90s. Mylo, my niece’s son, illustrates the trend. He’s just turned three. His grandparents are in their fifties, and all four of his maternal great-grandparents are still alive. But as the Guardian article suggests, this may be a short-lived trend, as parents start families in their thirties and even later.

I may not have known my great-grandparents, but my maternal grandmother gave me a real sense of history. Gwen Dymond was born on Lenin’s 21st birthday in 1891. Queen Victoria died a few months before her 10th birthday and she turned 21 the week the Titanic sank.

I loved talking to her about the past: I remember vividly her telling me how she went in a hansom cab to get oxygen cylinders for her dying father in 1912, and how she watched her brother climb a tree to watch Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 1897.

Her 100th birthday in 1991 was a very special event. Below is a photo showing the two of us at the big party at County Hall in Cardiff.