The Oldie

The idea for the Oldie was cooked up 25 years ago by its founding editor, Richard Ingrams, and his much-lamented successor, the late Alexander Chancellor. Their aim was to create a free-thinking, funny magazine, a light-hearted alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity. The Oldie is ageless and timeless, free of retirement advice, crammed with rejuvenating wit, intelligence and delight. With over 100 pages in every issue, The Oldie is packed with funny cartoons and free-thinking and intelligent articles covering a wide range of topics – from gardening and books to travel, arts, entertainment, and so much more.

The Oldie

Among this month's contributors

The Old Un's Notes

NOT MANY DEAD • Important stories you may have missed

Killers I have Known - and liked • Some people count sheep – when I can’t sleep, I plan the perfect murder

Warning! Moronic road signs ahead • The new motorway hazard – phantom traffic jams and mythical beasts

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

King Charles • Thirty-five years after Charles Hawtrey’s death, his biographer Roger Lewis salutes the funniest Carry On star – and Barbara Windsor’s favourite

My road to nowhere • After 45 years learning to drive, Jennifer Florance has finally given up – and she’s never been happier

Maggie's tip for first-time buyers • A guide to house-buying by Anne Robinson – and Mrs Thatcher

RIP the glamourpuss • Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O all had it – before Instagram and celeb egomania destroyed glamour.

Murder in paradise • Sir Harry Oakes, a tycoon friend of the Duke of Windsor, was killed in the Bahamas 80 years ago. That night, a young Charles Owen was nearby

Elizabeth I's love nest • For years, Snodhill Castle was engulfed by gorse and badgers’ setts. Newly restored, it has now revealed royal secrets.

A criminal tale of two cities • Portland is running out of cops – in Seattle, I can’t avoid them

Danger! Boring story alert • Have you ever found yourself telling the same excruciatingly dull anecdote twice? Oliver Pritchett has invented the ultimate cure

The Last Marchioness • Lindy Dufferin was a painter, cow-breeder, yoghurt-manufacturer and chatelaine of a great Northern Irish house.

Temple of the steam age • Liverpool Street Station, a great Victorian building, is threatened by a hideous development. We must stop it, says Griff Rhys Jones

Phoenix from the flames • Plucky Harriet Crawley – who lost her two brothers, mother and husband in tragic accidents – has written a gripping thriller

I ran away to sea • After 25 years as a cruise-ship lecturer, David Pybus adores life on the ocean wave

Joy of being a has-been • Julian Neal went from top doctor to dawdler – and loved it

Night train to Hell • Prue Leith loved the romance of travelling overnight – until she and her husband squeezed onto the sleeper to Edinburgh

Message to the BBC - the party's over • Why is the media obsessed with party politics? Nobody else is

The strange invention of Late Antiquity • Edward Gibbon remains the best historian on the fall of the Roman Empire

John McVicar's advice on fights? Run away

Slugs and snails - the gardener's best friends

The days when coal and smoking were hot • Mary Kenny remembers when miners were revered and she smoked Virginia Slims, the feminist cigarettes

Oh, for the golden age of fashion mags! • Glossy magazines were driven by gripping stories, not dreary commerce

Doctor, I'm in trouble - in the swimming pool • The surgery refuses to investigate my breaststroke problem

A trip to Cardiff Castle - and a broader mind

Quite Interesting Things...