Having a child at a mature age is nothing less than wonderful for Chris Lodge and his wife Angie.

"It's wonderful being a first time father because for the majority of the day I can watch her grow," Mr. Lodge said. "It's absolutely fantastic to watch the daily changes."

Alexis Christianne Lodge is 17 months old and was born when her father was 57-years-old.

Her middle name was given because her father wants her to be like Christianne Amanpour, CNN's lead correspondent.

Mr. Lodge said that he is able to spend far more time with his daughter now that he is more mature than he would have been when he first started his career.

He also said that he looks forward to taking her to different places around the world. When Alexis was six months old she went to Las Vegas and has spent some time in her parent's condo in Dominican Republic.

Mr. Lodge said that he aims for her to have as much experience as possible in the big wide world to experience different cultures and meet different people.

He also said that she is a very attentive baby because she listens, watches and observes a lot.

Mr. Lodge said that he doesn't think there will be many challenges in raising a child at his age that regular parents won't have.

He said: "I am a lot luckier because I spend more time with my baby than most fathers."

Mr. Lodge added that Alexis is a wonderful addition to his life. He also said that his life has been career oriented for 40 years but now he works part time to focus on his daughter.

"Some might say that I'm too old to raise a family but it's given me a new lease on life," he said, adding: "When I married my wife five years ago I always wanted to have a child but we'll probably keep it at one because one is a nice handful."

When asked about the type of parenting skills he uses Mr. Lodge said that being on this planet for almost 60 years has given him a lot of experience.

He said that him and his wife are wondering how much television and what programmes to allow Alexis to watch. They are restricting her to watch Teletubbies and Barney & Friends.

"I think that a lot more older men should go through the experience," Mr. Lodge said, adding: "There's nothing to prevent a more mature man from raising a family."

"There's lots and lots of benefits and it rejuvenates a person to be around young people. You see a stereotype of a rather crusty journalist who's a chain smoker and has been around for years and doesn't have time for anything else but I made time for it."