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

RIP dearest Jilly

The nagging ghost in my machine • My new Audi won't stop telling me what to do

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

Wilde lies • 125 years after Oscar Wilde's death, his grandson, Merlin Holland, separates fact from fiction

Holding out for a hero • Modern men may work out and pump iron – but they're still cowards.

Confessions of a bad farmer • Interviewing Prime Ministers is a doddle – try milking a cow. By John Humphrys, who has owned two Welsh farms

From blackboard to tablet • Alyson Elliott has chalked up 53 years of teaching – and seen classrooms transformed into mind-boggling technological studios

I lived too long • At 87, Gillian Tindall had had enough of old age. She died of cancer on 1st October, days after writing this piece

What a swell party! • When great writers want a dramatic scene, they throw a party

Maggie at 100 • John O'Sullivan on the real Margaret Thatcher.

Blue belles • Bluestockings – once mocked – are back, hosting salons and writing.

My Mary Whitehouse experience • The moral crusader was much mocked but she was brave, tough – and prescient.

My war with Richard Burton • Derren Nesbitt, 90, played the ultimate Nazi baddie.

Lowbrow highbrows • Thirty years ago, Peter York lost £35,000 backing the Modern Review – and loved it

Youth? The eyes have it • Want to turn back the years? Stop squinting

Actors’ tips for growing old gracefully

Low blows at High Table • C S Lewis taught John Betjeman at Oxford – and loathed him

Sonja, the Fantasy Goddess of the Cleethorpes charity shop • She gazed at my old paperbacks – it was love at first sight

Take me down to Chinatown!

Mary's trigger warning? Life is toxic

Who remembers the 5th of November? • Guy Fawkes is increasingly forgotten in the story of Bonfire Night

A teacher's lot is mostly not a happy one

In search of silent beauty? Get thee to a nunnery

HRH The Duchess of Kent (1933-2025)

To screen or not to screen • Too much screening for cancer can lead to a false diagnosis

Tina Turner

My lost world of Eastbourne vests

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

Kiwi polish

Biden's mouthpiece

Soft power

Anyone for Tennyson?

Marlowe murder mystery

Mind games

Commonplace Corner

RANT

FILM • ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (15)

THEATRE • THE PRODUCERS

RADIO

TELEVISION

MUSIC • GERARD HOFFNUNG: THE CENTENARY

GOLDEN OLDIES • LOOK BACK AND HANKER

EXHIBITIONS • EGYPT: INFLUENCING BRITISH DESIGN 1775-1925

GARDENING • EYE CANDY

KITCHEN GARDEN • SPINACH

COOKERY • HOT POTATOES

RESTAURANTS • DARTMOUTH...