HD the oldest person I taught to fly from fresh was 75 and the oldest to retrain was 82.
The 82 year old hadn't flown since the second world war. An ex single pilot SOE bomber pilot who used to fly into Italy with as he put it a bit of wet sea weed for nav aids to resupply the locals in the hills. And he is quite happy on his NPPL
And the 75 year old always wanted to be a pilot but had to wait until his wife died to get to do it. Again has a NPPL took about 55 hours to get it.
Go for it and let us know how you get on.
What antony i think is getting wound up by is quite common with new PPl's. Its the cross over period between PPL instruction and doing it for real. I am in no doudt that he will have the perfect RT planed out in his head and just as he is about to hit the tit after a suitable airmanship pause. Some one else jumps in. Unfortuntly we have all been there. It's just experence. And more than likely it was irritable ATC the poor controller shoutin at the screen "i don't care shut up so i can get a sqwauk on you." The more experenced pilots know when the call from the previous aircraft has finished and hit the button as it finishes or just before.
Don't go down the route of air rage though it never helps the situation and only spoils your pleasure of flying and makes you more likely to make mistakes in the ATZ.
CAP413 intial call has changed somewhat in the last 2 years and the old CAPHAD which is one of the methods taught has become rather long winded for the current state of play for intial contact.
Its not the PPL's fault as the RT practical test is all set up with the ideal world that the CAA wants to happen. But in real life never happens.
Best thing for you to do is go visit the tower and have a chat with the controllers and find out what they would suggest you do. Also what they want as an intial call. Once they can put a face to a voice its uncanny how things will become a whole lot simplier. Then you can annoy other pilots by the controller saying "G-xxx sqwauk 7000 qsy to onroute speak to you later Tony"
Mj