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

The Old Un's Notes

Among this month's contributors

NOT MANY DEAD • Important stories you may have missed

Fifty cheers for Frasier, my hero • After half a century of marriage, my wife and I agree on one thing – the genius of Kelsey Grammer

American NHS? Let's call the whole thing off • My heart problem isn't any better in American English

OLDEN LIFE

MODERN LIFE

Time is on their side • As Mick Jagger and Keith Richards turn 80, Christopher Sandford salutes their old-fashioned attitudes that have kept them young

Dangers of a sex-free life • Successful marriages need a physical element, says Charlotte Metcalf

Whipping boys • Cleo Watson, bonkbuster novelist and Boris Johnson's ex-Deputy Chief of Staff, reveals Westminster's warring tribes

On the Hobbit trail • Fifty years after J R R Tolkien's death, Tanya Gold tracks him from Birmingham to Oxford to Switzerland

My funny family • Rev Michael Coren salutes his taxi-driver father and his cousin Alan Coren, who would have turned 85 in June

My boring heart condition • After a heart attack, Roger Lewis was in bed for two months. Jigsaw puzzles and Frankie Howerd films stopped him going mad with boredom

Last chance saloon • Over 50 years ago, at university, Jeremy Walker began a six-year drinking binge. He thanks God it came to an end

Why we laugh • Cartoonist Nick Newman takes part in a scientific experiment into the funny side of things

Why we yawn • We all do it – after extensive research, Dr Michael Farrell reveals the reason

Tony Blair's bad hair day • The PM should have praised the genius of hairdressers

No sex, please – we're your parents • My family's in-house censors won't put up with toilet humour, violence or Jim Broadbent taking his trousers off

What a shocker! • It's one short step from torturing your pet to murdering your nanny, says Algy Cluff — who watched Lord Lucan electrocute his dog

Oh, I don't like to be beside the seaside

I've become a 5,000-year-old axeman

The ultimate storm in a teacup • Almost 250 years ago, the Boston Tea Party left George III in hot water

The strange decline of exam stress

Quite Interesting Things about… airports

The joy of funny papers • With new owners, the Telegraph could recover its sense of humour

The Nosy Parker in my monastery

Philip Ziegler CVO FRSL (1929-2023)

Pros and cons of prostate surgery • The operation often has unfortunate side effects – so is it worth it?

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

Cynthia Payne

What a success you were, Cousin Martin!

Thrill of the human touch • Don't worry about AI – it only shows how lovely real contact can be, says Mary Kenny

Macca the snapper

Escape to victory

The gay duchess

Dying of the light

Riding high

Homer, sweet Homer

American guy

Commonplace...