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

Noël Coward's MeToo moment • The night the Master groped Judy Campbell, Jane Birkin's mother

Nothing compares to you, Mum • She died at the same time as Sinéad O'Connor - and she was a comic genius

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

Shut that door! • Larry Grayson, born 100 years ago, was a child actor, female impersonator – and national treasure.

Location, location, location • For his film sets, producer Gareth Neame turned Edinburgh into Belgravia and Hungary into colonial Virginia

You can't have it all • Women are told you can be a good mother and have a dazzling career. It's an impossible dream, says Charlotte Metcalf

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Dictionary • Forty years ago, John Lloyd wrote The Meaning of Liff with Douglas Adams – despite a huge row over their previous collaboration

The Meaning of Liff Glossary

Je t'aime • The actor Simon Williams had a teenage romance with the late Jane Birkin – and was utterly bewitched by her

My Turkish Odyssey • Don McCullin, 87, Britain's greatest war photographer, turns his lens to the heavenly ruins of Asia Minor

Throw caution to the wind • The best decisions in life are made on the spur of the moment, says Piers Pottinger

From rags to rich men • Coco Chanel designed the little black dress and Jackie O's pink suit – and had a gift for attracting tycoons.

You're fired! • Michael Cole sacked Coutts long before they sacked Nigel Farage

Smoking's hotter than vaping • Cigarettes are lethal but cool – vapes are just vapid, says Richard Howells

Man on the run • Sixty years after the Great Train Robbery, Duncan Campbell remembers Ronnie Biggs – and other crooks who went AWOL

I love shoehorns, body and sole • Mark Palmer on how to get out of a tight squeeze

The strange death of tolerance • Over the last generation, free speech has taken a battering

Fear and loathing in Mesopotamia • For 3,000 years, monarchs and governments have tried to terrify us

A love letter to Brutalist tower blocks

A wolf among sheeple on my night flight

A stitch in time saves millions • President Macron's plan to help seamstresses is a brilliant idea, says Mary Kenny

Did Himmler's masseur change history? • Massage relaxes almost everyone – even Nazi monsters

Barbecue from Hell • What's on the menu? Buckfast, Benson & Hedges – and my fatty liver

The public-school gift for public speaking

Quite Interesting Things about … offices

Green thought in a holy, green shade

Donald Trelford (1937-2023)

Back pain taught me a lesson • Don't delay your operation – early surgery is crucial

READERS'S LETTERS

Josephine Baker

MEMORY LANE • Buried alive by a wartime bomb

Tragic Truman show

Ashes to Ashes

King George's golden touch

Viennese whirl

Not so plain Jane

Dog days of Diogenes...