The Oldie Podcast

Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979, the first woman to hold the position, and the first woman in the Western world to lead a nation. Within two years she was beset by troubles, and it seemed her historic government would be short-lived. In 1981 unemployment had risen to levels not seen since the 1930s and public finances foundered in their worst state since 1945. The 'no hope' budget delivered by Chancellor Geoffrey Howe in March marked the beginning of a six-month period which witnessed pressures in Northern Ireland, hunger strikes, urban riots and unprecedented unrest within the Conservative Party. By the Cabinet reshuffle of 14 September, in which mutinous grandees were removed, Thatcher had firmly reasserted her authority. This extraordinary six-month period would come to define the Conservative Party's most successful and divisive modern figure: to her detractors a harsh, uncaring and dogmatic leader who made the country a more unequal, materialistic and brutal place; to her supporter

'A cul-de-sac, a dead-end track, A sandbanked strand to sink a fleet, A bay, a bar, a strip, a trap, A wrecking ground, that's Shingle Street.' Blake Morrison's first two collections, Dark Glasses (1984) and The Ballad of a Yorkshire Ripper (1987) established him as one of our most inventive and accomplished contemporary poets. In his first full-length collection for nearly thirty years, Shingle Street sees a return to the form with which he started his career. Set along the Suffolk coast, the opening poems address a receding world - an eroding landscape, 'abashed by the ocean's passion'. But coastal life gives way to other, more dangerous, vistas: a wave unleashes a flood-tide of terror; a sequence of topical poems lays bare pressing political issues; while elsewhere portraits of the past bring forth the dear and the departed. Ardent and elegiac, and encompassing an impressive range of mood and method, this is a timely offering from a poet of distinct talents. Sponsored by Doro, number one in the senior mob

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst on 'The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland' at The Oldie Literary Lunch at Rye Arts Festival

Oliver Kamm on 'Accidence will Happen: The Non-Pedantic Guide to English Usage' at The Oldie Literary Lunch at Rye Arts Festival

Harry Mount on 'Harry Mount's Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus' at The Oldie Literary Lunch at Rye Arts Festival

Valerie Grove talks about her new book, The Loves of Laurie Lee, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Helen Lederer talks about her new book, Losing It, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Ferdinand Mount talks about his new book, The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Wendy Cope talks about her new book, Life, Love and The Archers, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Terry Waites talks about his new book, The Voyage of the Golden Handshake, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Andy McNab talks about his new book, State of Emergency, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Travel writer and historian Anthony Sattin takes a look at the awkward young man who became the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Historian Lady Antonia Fraser discusses her memoir My History with broadcaster Mark Lawson, at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Historian Andrew Roberts attempts to redeem that much maligned figure, Napoleon - and insists he wasn't really that short...

Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita and biographies of Denys Finch-Hatton and Apsley Cherry-Garrard, talks about O, My America at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

Christopher Simon Sykes delves into the man behind the paint in the second volume of his biography of David Hockney at the prestigious Oldie literary lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.

The 13th Baillie Gifford Oldie of the Year Awards was held at Simpsons-in-the-Strand on Tuesday 3rd February 2015. Our winners were Sir Roger Bannister (Long Distance Runner of the Year), Michael Buerk (Jungle Survivor of the Year), Lord Falconer (Slimmer of the Year), Ian Lavender (Stupid Boy of the Year) and Bridget Riley (Stripe Artist of the Year). Ken Dodd was announced as our Oldie of the Year 2015.

Valerie Grove steps in for Lynn Barber, five-time British Press Award winner and interviewer extraordinaire, to talk about Barber's new book, Curious Career, at the Oldie Literary Lunches at Simpson's-in-the-Strand.

The former home secretary and one of our top speakers of 2013 returns to the Oldie Literary Lunch at Simpson's-in-the-Strand to talk about the second volume of his memoirs. It charts Johnson's life from age eighteen to his mid-thirties - the time he worked for both the Post Office and its trade union.

David Kynaston returns, to the Oldie Literary Lunches at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, with another volume of insights into the inner workings of inter-generational post-war Britain. Lessons learned from a fading decade are subsumed into the dawn of the oncoming one - an insightful, detailed portrait of a nation in flux.