"I have no time for British youth. It's a source of envy and despair because I'm not one of them," he revealed at the Frost/Nixon premiere in New York.

"So I share nothing but a few principles - very little culture at all because I have no idea what he's (Daniel) talking about. He comes raving up to me about the latest band that he's been listening to or poet, and I have no idea what he's talking about. It's terrible, it just makes me feel so old."

He added, with a smile: "In fact, I'm going to beat him up before we leave because you know, he's young, handsome, successful, happy, everything unbearable so I shall have to beat him soundly."

Richard continued: "I think everybody over 55 at home, as an aspect of the National Health Service, should be issued every week by the Post Office with a large, clear plastic bag containing a wet fish so that you take it shopping with you.

"Whenever you see someone young, handsome and successful, you're allowed to hit them as hard as you can across the face. When they say, 'ooh, what was that for?', you say, 'for being young, handsome and successful."