The greatest generation of all? A glance through the decades as Captain Tom turns 100

"Well son/daughter, we stocked up on loo rolls, cleared out the garage, and then sat down to watch back-to-back episodes of the Antiques Roadshow."

All hail Captain Tom, who is 100 today, and has been described as one of the last survivors of "The Greatest Generation." Tom Moore has captured the public's imagination through his exploit of walking around his garden to raise money for the NHS. Around £30 million, as it happens.

But if Captain Tom is from "The Greatest Generation," then it follows that there have been less great generations.

Step forward, you wild teenagers of the 1960s. And no, you can't excuse yourselves by saying that you don't remember any of it.

You pinko peaceniks brought us the permissive society, devastated our heritage by knocking stuff down and putting up brutalist replacements, threw away what remained of the British Empah, and introduced a popular music culture inhabited by gyrating drugs-crazed morons.

There again, does a generation which brought us Peace and Love, and Love not War, not have a claim to greatness? You should not need to have a war to prove your worth.

And the 1960s brought us the first year since the Second World War that not a single British serviceman was killed in action, a sparing of misery which was not repeated until 2016.

Let's turn to the 1950s generation then. They stand accused of inventing teenagers. It was in the 1950s that the seeds of youthful rebellion were planted, being rude to parents, and that sort of thing.

They did have their war (Korea) and their glory. They put up with hardships – rationing continued well into the decade, and many folk still didn't have electricity, mains water, or indoor toilets. These things were put up with stoicism.

Turning to the 1970s generation... I'm on strike. Maybe I'll write something about it after a round of free collective bargaining.

The 1980s.Tough times at the beginning of the decade turned to better times, with loadsa money characters starting to flash their wads. It's been called the greed decade.

But Live Aid too. A massive display of compassion and practical help for faraway strangers in need, galvanised by Bob Geldof, Sir Bob (even though he isn't British so it's an honorary title), who is a hero in anybody's language, perhaps the only person to take on another Sir Bob in negotiations, Maxwell this time, and come out both on top and on the side of the right.

They had their war too, liberating the Falklands from an opportunist fascist junta led by a drunken general and other murderous military chancers.

Before the Falklands War, the national anthem was routinely booed by English fans at football matches. After the Falklands War, they sang it with pride.

Back to good things to say about the 1970s. Nope, negotiations still continuing.

We're now at the 1990s. Make money, buy a house, get a second car. Also a time of giving to the less fortunate – the advent of Children In Need, and also the national Lottery which raises money for good causes.

The first decade of the 21st century saw the Blairite "justice crusade" and there was a war as well, and as for the second decade, that generation is exempt because nobody ever sees them. They are always in their bedrooms and when they do venture out all you see is the top of their heads because they're on their "devices."

And have the current lot really done that badly? Many people are doing charitable things, not just Captain Tom. Public response to the lock down has been impressive, a true indication of societal responsibility, with levels of observance being something you might associate with a tyrannical state.

Was Captain Tom's generation the greatest? I wonder whether that would be the view of the previous generation, which fought in the Great War.

Famously there was uproar in the 1930s over a Oxford Union debate in which the motion was "This House would not in any circumstances fight for King and Country," some even claiming the result – the motion was decisively passed – gave encouragement to Hitler. Yet many of those who voted in favour fought for their country just a few years later.

So in general, surely the answer to which is the greatest generation, is "the previous one," or "a previous one."

And as I'm at the end, I really must come up with good things to come out of the 1970s. Er... Margaret Thatcher and punk music?

That should help fill the letters page!