It’s a fair bet that Father Brown never played hide the sausage, and he was “elderly” at least.
Aragorn’s record is probably beaten comfortably by Bilbo, if it comes to that - he never married, did not have any “close male friends” (I’d certainly discount a ward 78 years younger than him) and lived past 130.
And while Maiar can have sex in the form of Children of Iluvatar, it’s hard to envisage Gandalf ever having done so.
Thinking of other Christie characters, IIRC Hercule Poirot was never married and had no known romantic partners. His age isn’t really clear, but he’s obviously an older man even in the earliest Poirot books.
I’m pretty sure there was a romantic relationship with someone, post-rape attempt, that ended badly when she overheard the guy making unflattering comments about her sexual skills and responses to a third party.
This would’ve been mentioned only in an internal monologue when Honor was self-conscious during the beginning of her sexual relationship with Paul Tankersley.
Are we counting people who are lifelong celibates, or are we only counting those who do eventually have sex at some point?
If the latter, I think a good Discworld example would be Sybil Vimes, who was at the very least in her late 30s at the time of her marriage to Sam Vimes, and possibly older (sufficiently so that they were both somewhat surprised that she had not undergone menopause).
And a male example, how about Arys Oakheart from A Song of Ice and Fire? I seem to recall him telling Arianne Martell that he didn’t have any other women besides his duty, and he really seemed to feel bad about breaking his vows of celibacy. He would have probably been in his 30s or even older, as well.
Do we have any particular reason to think Sybil was still a virgin when she married Sam?
They were using her as a virgin sacrifice to the dragon. So at least the dragon thought so.
So did everybody else in Ankh-Morpork, otherwise they wouldn’t have chained her to that rock.
I myself am only thinking of the latter, and so would not include Father Brown or Gandalf.
I’m guessing the entire older household staff in Downton Abbey are virgins–Carson, Mrs. Hughes, and Mrs. Patmore. While I feel it’s ambiguous as to the other two I think it’s clearer for Carson. In speaking about a woman he loved in his years as a stage performer he notes that “of course back in those days we never so much as held hands.” Some of the younger staff like Daisy seem headed in that same direction.
I do like the series but whether it was accepted or not (since household staff were expected to not be married), I very seriously doubt your “typical” lower class British servant in the late 19th/early 20th century was a virgin all their days…especially the males.
Eh, I wouldn’t be so sure. The students at UU are known to have an almost institutional lack of respect for University rules, as evidenced by that bit of easily climbed wall everybody knows about (including the faculty) but nobody gets around to fixing for Reasons. They also have a nigh-suicidally inquisitive nature, because wizards.
Supposedly they only use that discreet back entrance to go out for pints past curfew, but then if UU has anything to offer its students beyond a sort of uninvolved knowledge osmosis it’s a large selection or ales, port, wines and spirits. And, you know, seeing as you’re already out in the seedy part of town and it wouldn’t be too out of your way, as it were, where’s the harm in finding out what’s all that fuss about seamstresses ? I mean, what’s so exciting about darning socks, that’s what I want to know.
In the Suchet tv version of one of the short stories he meets up again with a woman from his past who gave him the lapel vase that he always wears. At the end she introduces him to her eldest son who is called Hercule. It’s not said outright that Poirot is the father but it’s strongly hinted.
In Pride and Prejudice, the Rev. Mr. Collins is married at age 25, and is almost certainly a virgin on his wedding night. That’s the best example I can think of with no inclination toward celibacy or asexuality, who still waited until his wedding night.
Without any real evidence other than hostility toward her mother, I think Vivian Warren in Mrs. Warren’s Profession may have waited, although exactly how long, I don’t know.
How old was Fleda Vetch in The Spoils of Poynton? I’m sure she was a virgin, and she was a little old to be unmarried for the time (with the caveat that being unmarried past the age of 25 was horrifying then).
Speaking of spinsterhood, one fictional “old maid,” who was really pretty young by modern standards, was Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. I’m pretty sure she was a virgin as well, at least until shortly after the curtain fell.
Oh, and Agnes Gootch in Auntie Mame. In spite of the fact that she gets pregnant out of wedlock, it’s by her first lover ever, and she is supposed to be in her 30s, probably her late 30s.
I’ve always taken it that MRS. Hughes and MRS. Patmore are widows.
sometimes “mrs” is a title for the housekeeper not a marital status.
Mrs Hughes was called “Missus” because she was the housekeeper. It was a title of respect for her status. (Don’t know that there was a similar rule for cooks.) I don’t find it surprising that a respectable woman might remain a virgin in the days before secure birth control.
I do doubt that none of the male servants would have had encounters with easier women–for money or not.
Cooks and housekeepers were always called “Mrs.” no matter their age or if they were widowed. I do believe marriage for servants was frowned upon, unless a “couple” (housekeeper/butler) were specifically hired to work as a team. Young servants who got married were expected to leave service (as were older ones, of course, and if you had a cozy long term job, why would you WANT to ever leave?)
Marcus Cole, the dashing hero from Babylon 5, was a virgin. He fell in love with Susan Ivanova, and, I think, deliberately let his status slip to her. He wanted to wait for marriage, and this might have been his way of gently letting her know he loved her.
Matt Keller in Niven’s A Gift From Earth is only in his twenties, but per his societies’ norms he’s quite old to be a virgin. There’s a reason…
Countess Vera Rossokoff , Perhaps ?
Edward Cullen :o