The Oldie Podcast

In a new podcast series, welcome to the weekly round-up of the news by Oldie columnist Giles Wood and his wife, Mary Killen, the Spectator's agony aunt. This week, they discuss the Queen's genius at hitting the nail on the head; why William Morris wallpaper improves any house; and why George Harrison was the best of the Beatles. And Giles dreams of going magnet-fishing.

This month sees Harry Bucknall, with The Oldie Podcast tucked under his arm, venture out from under his lockdown rock in Dorset  to London and the refined elegance of Wilton’s Restaurant on Jermyn Street, in St James’s  – just the spot for a cup of tea with his guest, the actress Madeline Smith, who writes candidly  in the August edition of the magazine about working with that genius of stage and screen, the late Sir Alec Guinness who many will remember as Colonel Nicholson in David Lean’s Bridge over the River Kwai, or for his portrayal of John le Carre’s George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and latterly  as  Obe Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’s l Star Wars trilogy. We began in bed with Sir Roger Moore. Photo credit: Steve Ball

Actor Robert Bathurst is perhaps best known as David Marsden in ITV’s long running hit series, Cold Feet but  since early days from  the Cambridge Footlights to  more recent forays like Keith Waterhouse’s  "Jeffrey Bernard  Is Unwell", and Noel Coward’s "Blithe Spirit", Robert Is no stranger to theatre. In this month’s podcast, he talks to Harry Bucknall,  about Toast of London, his love of national hunt racing  and his latest  piece in the June issue of the Oldie titled Dying on stage - a survivor's guide.

From punk to the Summer of Love to Rousseau, Loyd Grossman, whose article on 18th century wood carver Grinling Gibbons features in this month’s magazine,  talks about pretty much everything to Harry Bucknall in our latest interview with friends of The Oldie; their discussion, however, starts in  a South London garden in 1983, with Loyd talking to a  large black rabbit…

This Saturday 13th March, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra invites The Oldie to the movies, as Harry Bucknall talks to Pete Harrison, guest conductor of the BSO as they play some of the great film scores, such as Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind and  The Great Escape, which  the orchestra will be performing for their Hollywood Classics concert  this Saturday at 7.30 pm. Full programme details at BSOlive.com Hollywood Classics  is available as a digital livestream for 30 days and tickets can be purchased for £9 per household from BSOlive.com 

 At 85, Hunter Davies, buoyed by his younger girlfriend Clare, has received his covid jabs and is raring to go. The writer and Fleet Street legend tells Harry Bucknall what fuels him in this month’s podcast. The key ingredient is boredom, Hunter confesses that if he has even thirty minutes between projects, he goes mad. He’s also not too mad about England’s prospects in the World Cup! 

Harry Bucknall covers Maureen's Damehood, Gyles Brandreth’s control of the remote on Celebrity Gogglebox, the perfect recipe for chips as concocted by Victoria Wood and Jack Rosenthal, the challenge facing theatre and live performance, the Labour Party, anti-semitism and the wider right to freedom of religion, finishing with an exhortation for The Oldie Lunch.

Pete Harrison, guest conductor for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Crackers concert tells Harry Bucknall that the show will go on. BSO will welcome audiences to the December 19 Christmas concert which will be streamed live and available for download to enjoy at any time. Singer Laura Tebbutt is thrilled to return to the stage with for the first time since 1st March.  For tickets to attend, download or stream the BSO’s Christmas Crackers Concert at the Poole Lighthouse on Saturday 19th December visit www.bsolive.com

Britain's funniest writer, Craig Brown, has asked his pals to record some of his greatest hits. Starring Richard Ingrams as Prince Philip, Eleanor Bron as Jilly Cooper, AN Wilson as Alan Titchmarsh, Craig Brown and Tallulah Brown as Downton Abbey's Lord and Lady Grantham, and Paul Bailey as John Gielgud

At 85, Barry Cryer has worked with them all, from Bob Hope to Morecambe & Wise. In this uproariously funny interview, he recalls a lifetime of laughs with Harry Bucknall

The Oldie's Ferdie Rous talks to author and journalist, Frances Wilson, about Wordsworth's idyllic home in the Lake District, his remarkably intense relationship with his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, and why he was known as the pedestrian poet

The Oldie's Ferdie Rous talks to Ed West, the Deputy editor of UnHerd and son of Oldie columnist Mary Kenny, about why all conservatives are pessimists and why men are guided by women in politics

Oxford University recently announced that Homer’s Iliad would be dropped from its Classics syllabus.   Ferdie Rous speaks to Harry Mount, Oldie editor and author of Amo, Amas, Amat… And All That, who studied classics at Oxford, and James Pembroke, The Oldie’s publisher, and a fellow classics enthusiast.

Mary Kenny, one of the founders of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, talks to The Oldie’s Ferdie Rous about her fifty years on Fleet Street, gender and Ireland's Brexit moment.

At the Oldie's February lunch, Sinclair McKay spoke about his new book, Dresden: the Fire and the Darkness.

Dan Cruickshank spoke about his new book, Cruickshank’s London: A Portrait of a City in 13 Walks, at the Oldie's February lunch.

At the Oldie's February lunch, Lord Tugendhat spoke about his new book, A History of Britain Through Books: 1900 ‑ 1964.

Gyles Brandreth talks to The Oldie's Ferdie Rous about Rupert Bear, his love of words and why Shakespeare matters

James Fletcher, who's making a film, The Accidental President, talks to Harry Mount about the US election Image: A souvenir-seller at the Trump rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. Credit: James Fletcher

Oldie Editor Harry Mount talks to Philip Delves Broughton, former New York Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and Ivo Dawnay, the former Washington bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph, about the Democratic Presidential primary in Iowa.