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

GREAT BORES OF TODAY - MODERN FOOTBALL

Rupert wasn’t a real bear • That was the stupid thing I said to the late Queen. She quickly put me right

At last, I’m a man! • An epic flood introduced me to the joys of manual work

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

When Doctor Who met Sherlock Holmes • At 92, the nation’s favourite Doctor is back – and he’s now playing the greatest detective of them all.

Songs from heaven • Popular hymns are increasingly being forgotten. Sarah Sands is battling to bring them back

Worst film accents ever • Great actors – from Sean Connery to Dirk Bogarde – fell apart when they had to play foreigners.

Take a look at Flook • For 44 years, a furry, prehistoric creature roamed through the Daily Mail and the Mirror. Mark Bryant salutes Trog, his illustrator

Beryl Cook – her life in pictures • The artist would have turned 100 on 10th September. A new biography by Hilary Bracegirdle tells her story in all its colourful glory

Irish eyes weren’t smiling • When Princess Margaret visited Ireland in 1965, she sparked a small riot.

So long, old friends • Edward Stourton and Rod Liddle couldn’t have been more different but their colleague John Humphrys adored them both

Room at the Inn • For 700 years, lawyers have lived and worked in a hidden corner of London. Harry Mount spends the night in Lincoln’s Inn

Our disaster movie • When Ian La Frenais wrote a film for Peter Sellers, he had no idea the star had only a year to live

Coffee’s lost its buzz • Coffee houses were once alive with wit and gossip. Now they’re internet-obsessed dead zones.

The art of war • Belfast’s heroes and the horrors of the Troubles live on in 7,000 murals.

Head of Athens • Paul Cartledge salutes Pericles - the eccentric, grand leader who built the Parthenon and electrified ancient Greece

Last Arnhem hero • Titus Mills salutes the only surviving British veteran of Operation Market Garden - and his mighty comrades

In a class of her own • Caroline Blackwood captured the cruel ways of the aristocracy

Norbury exiles • Ben Ineichen on Kingsley Amis, his fellow fugitive from suburbia

My forgotten pin-up • Adrian Daintrey dazzled the art world, inspired two Anthony Powell characters and died in obscurity in the Charterhouse.

Hollywood’s speech defect • Huge films like The Odyssey have such dull scripts because the studios are terrified of taking risks.

Commonplace Corner

RANT

Short shorts are a no-no • Why are men so bad at dressing for the heat?

My ten miraculous hours in A&E

Last of the Bohemians • Forget upper class or working class …Mary Kenny belongs to Bohemia

Fungus in Arcadia • Watering my plants barefoot was sheer heaven - until my toes got infected

My brief joke of a life

Mad dog in the Italian midday sun

Hungary’s day of infamy • Hungarians still commemorate their famous defeat, 500...