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

Jeremy Lewis Prize for New Writing 2023

My brief encounter with Celia Johnson • I love the wartime letters between the actress and her husband, Peter Fleming

Memo to self: don't tell Bernard Manning gags • I can't stop offending people. Am I losing my marbles?

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

She shoots! She scores! • Jilly Cooper tells Harry Mount about sex, her football novel and her new friends, Alex Ferguson and Gareth Southgate

Joy of losing your mind • Forget mindfulness – children should be taught mindlessness and how to do nothing in particular. By ex-headmaster Martin Stephen

‘You've done it again!’ • Going backstage? Actor Simon Williams advises you what to say to the stars – whatever you thought of the show

Rise and fall of arty Hampstead • Peter York‘s family have lived in London's most charming corner for a century. He has watched the bankers come and the artists go

Prepped for life • Quentin Letts grew up in a boarding school where his father was headmaster. Fifty years on, it still shapes his character

It's crying time • Ever since he was a teenager, Griff Rhys Jones has loved films that make him weep. He picks his favourites

Nun's rebel habit • During the Troubles, a soft-spoken Galway nun fought to overturn wrongful convictions. By John McEntee

RIP the combover • For decades, baldies made a sweeping statement with magnificent combovers. Now they've got the chop. By Dwight Garner

Shady oldies • When Liz Hodgkinson‘s ex-husband started wearing sunglasses at the age of 79, he became a babe magnet

The Sage of Narnia • Sixty years ago, C S Lewis's death was eclipsed by JFK's assassination. Today, his influence is as strong as ever. By Rev Michael Coren

Mary Killen's Beauty Tips • Want to get ahead? Get a headscarf Everyone used to wear them – now they're making a comeback

Don't bank on it • Why do we fall for get-rich-quick schemes that are too good to be true? Because we have a terrible fear of missing out, says Neil Collins

Britain's sporting life • My new book tells our island story through football, cricket and boxing

Hoarder disorder • For 58 years, Muriel Spark never threw anything away. And now Frances Wilson, her biographer, has to wade through her hairdresser's bills

Hail St Mary's, full of grace • The Church of England wants to demolish a vital London church

Thirty years of idling? It's hard work

Welcome to my cottage aka the Bates Motel

True romance? Waiting for a landline call • Mary Kenny spent huge chunks of her youth yearning for her crush to ring

Greta Thunberg generation loves to litter

Money does grow on trees • When a £20 note appeared out of nowhere, things were looking up – briefly

Blessed are the wine-makers

Alexander Cameron KC, 1963-2023

Addiction isn't a disease • It has a physiological aspect – but don't compare it to...