Emile Ratelband, who is 69 years old but says he feels 49, had his application for a new birth date rejected by a local authority.

He argues that if transgender people can legally change their sex then he should be permitted to give himself a new birth date – since doctors have told him he has the body of a 45-year-old.

The Dutch self-help guru took his case to court in the city of Arnhem in the eastern province of Gelderland, seeking to alter his date of birth from 11 March 1949, to 11 March 1969.

Mr Ratelband said: “I have done a check-up and what does it show? My biological age is 45 years.

“When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car. I can take up more work.

“When I’m on Tinder and it say I’m 69, I don’t get an answer.

“When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.

“Transgenders [sic] can now have their gender changed on their birth certificate, and in the same spirit there should be room for an age change.”

The presiding judge, while sympathetic to Mr Ratelband, said there would be practical problems in allowing people to change their birth dates.

Asking him about the years 1949 to 1969, he said: “For whom did your parents care in those years? Who was that little boy back then?”

The court will deliver its ruling in the coming weeks.