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

Good books make good fuel • No one wants to buy my old books – but they’ll burn beautifully

On the road to nowhere with my mother • We enter London’s seventh circle of roadworks hell

My crazy days • Sue Tyson hated going mad – and particularly loathed one fellow patient

WHAT WAS Tit-Bits?

WHAT IS quiet quitting?

Keep it simple, stupid • The best food is often the easiest to make, says Prue Leith – author of a new book based on her Oldie column, Bliss on Toast

RIP Elizabeth II • In 36 meetings with her – from 1968 until this summer – Hugo Vickers was bowled over by Elizabeth the Steadfast

I’m an 11-plus failure • Fifty years on, Jenny Bardwell recalls the terrifying exam she sat in her doomed attempt to get into grammar school

How to put your best face forward • My last makeover made me look like Robert Maxwell. This time, I was much happier with my new look

My trouble and strife • Sir Les Patterson was in the doghouse when his wife, Gwennie, spotted lipstick on his Y-fronts

I loved Paris in my springtime • Sixty years ago, an 18-year-old Mary Kenny left Dublin to work as a hopeless au pair in a city of continual rebellion

Last portion of Chips • In his final volume of diaries, the MP really lets rip – and falls for Terence Rattigan and a dashing major.

Thanks for the memories, Ma’am • Our contributors pay tribute to the monarch’s wit, wisdom and constitutional brilliance.

A N Wilson, last great man of letters • At 71, the mischievous biographer, novelist and historian has written his memoirs.

The day Mother fat-shamed me • Yes, I’m chubby – but so is she

The Royal Family in Vogue • For 60 years, Norman Parkinson photographed the late Queen and her family. Robin Muir salutes an artistic visionary

The doomed children of Generation Rent

A moving story – my mother’s goodbye to Wales

A farewell to cars • I dread the day old age stops me from driving, says Mary Kenny

The agony and the ecstasy of exams

Quite Interesting Things about … rain

Zacchaeus, lost and found in Jericho

Ronald Allison CVO (1932-2022)

A gripping investigation • New studies suggest a link between weak hand grip and dementia

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

Valerie Hobson

I fell for the girl at Northern Rock

Over the sea to Skye • Roy Foster hails Flora Fraser’s biography of Flora MacDonald, the heroine who saved Bonnie Prince Charlie

ALAN JUDD • Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

ROGER LEWIS • Lessons

JUSTIN MAROZZI • Nights of Plague

IVO DAWNAY • Coffee with Hitler

FRANCES WILSON • Best of Friends

Hacks and politicians don’t mix • Lord Northcliffe was right 0û journalists and MPs are best kept apart

Happy 200th birthday, Flashy!...