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 ART

His Grace's fall from grace • The former Archbishop of Canterbury has been deserted by some friends - but not by the King. So should I hug Fergie?

A Tale of Two Christophers • The boys, in my year at school, had exceptionally different careers

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

Happy 100th, dearest Eric • Madeline Smith, his last co-star, and his son Gary salute a comic genius.

My thought process • At Easter, former bishop Richard Harries recalls more than 50 years of doing Thought for the Day on the Today programme

Enemies of promise • Roger Lewis mourns three brilliant friends, doomed by neglect, commercial catastrophe and thwarted ambition

Angels of Los Angeles • Fifty years ago, three recruits left the LA Police Academy to form Charlie's Angels - a huge hit and a feminist breakthrough.

It's just not cricket • The MCC has become obsessed with dreary politics, mourns Quentin Letts, a club member

My Ukrainian Catch-22 • In an absurd war, drones hit the beach and nightclubs are day clubs.

The art of the dealer • Art dealer Lucien Frame met rogues, adventurers and modern-day highwaymen in the gilded world of London galleries

The American Queen • On her centenary, Robert Hardman salutes the monarch's mutual love affair with the United States

Thrill of the chase • With the Grand National looming, Sally Lort-Phillips recalls the joy of owning a leg of an Aintree winner

Nature boy • Denis Tuohy salutes his friend David Attenborough, who turns 100 on May 8th

Wagner's golden Ring • It's five hours long, costs a fortune – and is pure magic

Happy 30th to the Oldie Literary Lunch! • James Pembroke raises a glass to 30 years of convivial, bookish lunches

In praise of older men • Melanie Cable-Alexander reveals how she was swept off her feet by Lord Snowdon, 33 years her senior

Rave in the nave • Guy Pratt went from playing bass in Pink Floyd to ringing the bells in his East Sussex church – and he loves it

The eyes have it • As we age, our eyelashes grow shorter – but there are solutions

Don't let the hawk eat my doves

A loaf of bread, a flask of wine and Omar • As Iran burns, Mary Kenny finds solace in the Persian classic, the Rubáiyát

The tramp who changed my life • An encounter with a vagrant led to a disaster with a ticket inspector

The second-home rule? Don't ever buy one

My Mary Whitehouse experience

King Harold – history's big loser? • He lost the Battle of Hastings but he's the star of the Bayeux Tapestry

When Grandpa went back to school

A gilt-edged Easter egg

Norman Tebbit (1931-2025)

Testing times for the NHS • False interpretations lead to waste – and anxiety

Stephen Hawking

Seeing red in Sierra Leone

READERS' LETTERS

Yorkshire gold

Shakespearean tragedy

Classical...