In this issue

● The Oldie has been dubbed ‘Private Eye for grown-ups’ and is read by intelligent people who are fed up
with the formulaic nature of the celebrity-obsessed national press
● As well as having a lively reviews section, The Oldie is packed with the very best cartoons
● The Oldie is published every four weeks and has 92–122 pages. Every quarter we publish The Oldie
Review of Books with the main magazine, as well as a foreign travel supplement in January, a UK travel
supplement in March, a Christmas Gift Guide in November and a cartoon calendar

Travel: Retreat From The World

For his new book, Nat Segnit visited Britain’s quietest monasteries and islands to talk to monks, hermits and recluses

5 mins

What is... a nail house?

Don’t confuse a nail house with a nail parlour. A nail house is an old house that survives as new building development goes on all around it.

2 mins

Kent's stairway to heaven

Walter Barton May’s Hadlow Castle is the ultimate Gothic folly

4 mins

Pursuits

Pursuits

10+ mins

The book that changed the world

On Marcel Proust’s 150th anniversary, A N Wilson praises his masterpiece, an exquisite comedy with no parallel

6 mins

RIP the playboys of the western world

Charlie Methven mourns his dashing former father-in-law, Luis ‘the Bounder’ Basualdo, last of a dying breed

5 mins

Arts

Arts

10+ mins

My film family's greatest hits

Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame follows in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandmother, a silent-movie star

8 mins

Books

Books

10+ mins

A lifetime of pin-ups

Barry Humphries still has nightmares about going on stage. He’s always admired the stars who kept battling on

7 mins

Travel: Exmoor Ecstasy

In lockdown, Londoner Ivo Dawnay moved to Somerset’s coombes and moors. Now he never wants to leave this Garden of Eden

5 mins

Virginia McKenna, the African queen

At 90, the actress is still saving the wildlife she fell in love with, filming Born Free, over 50 years ago. By Roderick Gilchrist

6 mins

Renaissance miracles

For over 300 years, Italian painters produced the finest altarpieces in the world, says David Ekserdjian

5 mins

Thank heaven for Leslie Caron

She starred in Gigi, danced with Fred Astaire and acted opposite Cary Grant. Hugo Vickers meets the great actress as she turns 90

10 mins

Dearest Diana

Christopher Balfour fondly recalls a hilarious trip to New York with the princess, who would have been 60 on 1st July

3 mins

Sex-mad DH Lawrence

His amoral wife made the jealous writer think sex was a tragedy. By Frances Wilson

5 mins

Overlooked Britain: A philanthropist's palace

Heroic American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie paid for 3,000 libraries and built glorious Skibo Castle in his native Scotland

5 mins

I was a teenage Marxist

Bruce Anderson was bewitched by Marxism – until he saw the IRA at work in Northern Ireland

4 mins

Churchill's mommie dearest

History hasn’t been kind to Jennie Churchill, who died 100 years ago. But the New Yorker was her son’s greatest influence. By Anne Sebba

6 mins

How Mr Tickle Tickled The World

Fifty years after they began, Mr Men books have sold 85 million copies. Teacher Kath Garner pays tribute to the brilliant adman behind them

4 mins

The best sermons ever

This Easter, vicars shouldn’t be obscure or arrogant in the pulpit. Like Jesus, they should be funny, says Reverend Peter Mullen

4 mins

When the Hurricane hit Liverpool

Alex Higgins smoked, boozed and gambled as he met a delighted Gary Smith

2 mins

Gainsborough in London

The Suffolk painter is best known for his rural scenes – but his last years in the capital were the pinnacle of his career

3 mins

Suffering for her art

Tortured by love, longing for children, Elizabeth Bowen poured her pain into her exceptional novels, says her friend A N Wilson

4 mins

The gripes of Roth

As a new biography appears, director Tristram Powell remembers working with a writer who could be kind – and scarily cruel

6 mins

Gyles Brandreth's Diary: Appointment with death

After 30 years of double vision and headaches, I finally visited a neurologist and learnt the truth...

4 mins

Wizards from Oz

A wave of brilliant Australians came to Britain sixty years ago. They included Clive James, Germaine Greer – and Barry Humphries

6 mins

Pilgrimage to 84 Charing Cross Road

A New Yorker’s letters to a London bookshop were a big hit 50 years ago. Valerie Grove accompanied her on her first visit to Marks & Co

6 mins

Chips with extra sauce

Chips Channon was the ideal political diarist – truthful, vulnerable and gossipy.

6 mins

Gregory Gregory's Stately Pleasure Home

Harlaxton Manor has been home to a millionaire Victorian recluse, a face-cream tycoon and an American university

4 mins

Read all stories from The Oldie Magazine

The Oldie Magazine Description:

The idea for the Oldie was conceived by Richard Ingrams, who was the editor for 22 years, and Alexander Chancellor.
● The Oldie is 23 years old this year. It is not a retirement magazine but an irreverent humorous magazine packed with great writing. 92% of our readers state ‘reading’ as their number one hobby
● The Oldie has been dubbed ‘Private Eye for grown-ups’ and is read by intelligent people who are fed up with the formulaic nature of the celebrity-obsessed national press
● As well as having a lively reviews section, The Oldie is packed with the very best cartoons
● The Oldie is published every four weeks and has 92–122 pages. Every quarter we publish The Oldie Review of Books with the main magazine, as well as a foreign travel supplement in January, a UK travel supplement in March, a Christmas Gift Guide in November and a cartoon calendar