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

Sorry, Emu – I killed Rod Hull • I told the entertainer to go up on the roof and fix his TV aerial – with fatal consequences

Join my new religion • My son’s friend never follows the news so is elected chief prophet

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

Confessions of a shy Rottweiler • For over 30 years, John Humphrys terrified prime ministers on the Today programme. But, sometimes, they scared him

I was a Penthouse Pet • In 1971, Sarah Brydon was a cocktail waitress in the Penthouse Club in Mayfair – and she loved it

Viennese whirl • Seventy-five years after The Third Man came out, Harry Mount retraces the footsteps of Orson Welles through – and under – Vienna

Keep on shining • As Shine on Harvey Moon returns to our screens, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, the show’s writers, recall how it all began

Thanks for the memories • Nicky Haslam salutes Patrick O’Higgins (1922-80), the lost photographer who captured the golden age of style

Calm downsizing • When Charlotte Metcalf moved house, nobody wanted her old books – until she found a magical answer

Roman Holiday from Hell • James Pembroke thought he’d found the dream villa – until the bedbugs attacked and the landlady locked the gates on him

How to save the land without music • Alexander Armstrong has dreamt up a plan to revive the joys of classical music in Britain

Death by cricket • England’s national game isn’t a gentle pursuit played on idyllic village greens – it’s absolutely lethal, says Nick Newman

My brief career in apartheid South Africa

Danger! Avoid bosom-bunching • As summer arrives, oldies should steer clear of bikinis and low necklines

An Uncommon Writer • At 90, Alan Bennett has soared above National Treasure status

Peaceful London is the place for me

Our kingdom of horses

My smallholding hits the big screen • When I went to the doctor about my shrinking assets, why did he have to film them?

English, the passport to everywhere • A crucial factor in drawing migrants in dinghies to our shores is our language, says Mary Kenny

The American way of death arrives

Virgin Mary's journey from Judah to Galloway

Lord Morris of Aberavon KG KC (1931-2023)

The fickle finger of fate • Why did my childhood friend die at 16 – and not me?

READERS' LETTERS • The Oldie, 23–31 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7PA letters@theoldie.co.uk To sign up for our e-newsletter, go to www.theoldie.co.uk

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's doctor

Ticking bomb in my Downing Street bin

Towering achievements

Double trouble

Prime Amazons

La Misérable

Moving pictures

On the forgotten road

OLDIE NOVEL OF THE MONTH Irish emigrant's lament

Commonplace Corner

RANT

It was all Greek to Gladstone • Victorian Prime Ministers knew the only way forwards was backwards

FILM • MADE IN ENGLAND:...