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

Rupert Everett's gay abandon • What a wild, sex-fuelled life the actor has led! And how beige my existence has been

I'm ready for my naked close-up • The agony of putting out the bins – in the nude

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

My brief encounter with fame • In a previously unpublished piece from the 1950s, Celia Johnson reveals the highs and lows of being a film star

Lucy Fleming, Celia Johnson's daughter, recalls her mother's modesty and her big break – In Which We Serve (1942).

Off their game • The golden age of sportswriters has been killed off by show-offs and pseuds.

Cat woman in love • Merlin Holland on the shawl that revealed an affair between his father and Kathleen Hale, author of Orlando the Marmalade Cat

Film star • Director Tristram Powell made visionary films with Alan Bennett and Michael Palin. Sixty years ago, Melvyn Bragg met him at the BBC

Ladies in waiting • Michael Beloff KC found that, in law, women could be Garrick Club members. Should Lord Chancellors now become Lady Chancellors?

Ready to play? • Kath Garner celebrates the 60th birthday of Play School, which had a huge influence on international television

Victoria's secrets • Nicky Haslam recalls his mother's godmother, Queen Victoria, her favourite Prime Minister – and her evening tipple

Paddy's last lines • Eighty years after Patrick Leigh Fermor kidnapped a German general on Crete, Harry Bucknall recalls the writer's final act of kindness

Whirlwind romance • Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile 70 years ago. Joan Wheeler Bennett recalls their courting days

A medical student remembers the kindness of Sir Roger Bannister, the top neurologist

Losing the plot • In Hollywood, actors are a joy to deal with. It's the producers who can't stop meddling. By film director Bruce Beresford

Scams – a victim's guide • Rachel Johnson thought she was too savvy to be scammed. Now she's found, to her cost, that everyone's vulnerable

Fat chance of a thin Britain

Walk tall in high heels • They take ten pounds off you and enhance the bust – but be careful you don't take a tumble

Strange decline of the British Museum • It's been tarnished by thefts, dim trustees and George Osborne

Caught short on the Leeds line • With no loo on board the train, I rushed behind the bushes – and nearly died

At last, we're Dikes! Dual Income, Kids Evicted

Fear and loathing in a Lisbon Airbnb

Why do children bunk off? Meet the parents

I never felt more like singing the blues • Mary Kenny loved the new colour of her house – and then an informer tipped off the council…

A stitch in time saves pride

Lord Brooke CH (1934-2023)

Don't smoke dope and drive • Like alcohol, cannabis is a killer on the roads

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