He did not disconnect the phone. He continued to be there on the other side of the phone, although he was silent. That is, there was a long pause in his conversaion.

remained on the phone.. but there was silence for a moment?

:)

the silence on the phone was pressuring him to reconsider but he maintained his position on the age when people start getting old and only offered 45 as a rather slight compromise
another expression - he stuck with his answer :-)

Presumably the writer is closer to the Stones' age than to Brendan's age, hence the silence on the phone. From Brendan's perspective, 40 is old but the writer (interviewer) is likely older than that. But even when there's an awkward (?) silence after Brendan's answer, he doesn't retract and say, "Oh, I mean 50" to save the interviewer's feelings; he perseveres with his original answer (or an age close to it).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs 47 mins (2005-05-31 02:21:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I had a look at the article (link provided by Rita) and in the original, the author says, \"On a hunch, I asked him when he thought people start getting old.\" So presumably the hunch is that Brendan (being very young) would find people old that the author wouldn\'t--those around 40, for example.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs 57 mins (2005-05-31 02:31:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I had a look at the article (link provided by Rita) and in the original, the author says, \"On a hunch, I asked him when he thought people start getting old.\" So presumably the hunch is that Brendan (being very young) would find people old that the author wouldn\'t--those around 40, for example.