The Oldie Podcast

Peter York is a British author and cultural and social commentator, perhaps best know for co-authoring The Official Sloane Rangers Handbook with Ann Barr in 1982. He was Style Editor of Harpers & Queen for ten years and recently started up a new podcast about culture wars, the subject of his latest book A Dead Cat On Your Table.

Hugh Johnson speaking about his new book, Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2025, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on January 21st 2025.”

Tim Marshall speaking about his new book, Prisoners Of Geography: the Quiz Book, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on January 21st 2025.

Chris Patten speaking about his memoir, The Hong Kong Diaries, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London's National Liberal Club, on January 21st 2025.

Robert Bathurst, star of Cold Feet and Toast of London, is playing Jeff Bernard in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell in Jeff’s old haunt, the Coach & Horses. He tells Harry Mount what a sublime writer Bernard was.

Edward Stourton has worked in broadcasting for over 40 years and was a presenter on Today for many years.  He continues to present  BBC Radio 4 programmes like Sunday and The World at One.  He’s also been a foreign correspondent for Channel Four, ITN and the BBC and has written several books, including his recent memoir, Confessions, is now out in paperback with a new postscript commenting on how presenting news has changed during his career.    He was educated at Ampleforth and Cambridge. Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast. She is Supplements Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie.  

Kenneth Cranham CBE is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. His most notable screen roles were in Oliver!, Up Pompeii, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Chocolat, Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Hot Fuzz, Maleficent and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool. 

William Boyd is a British novelist, short story, writer and screenwriter. Between 1980 and 1983, Boyd was a lecturer in English at St. Hilda's College, Oxford and it was while he was there that his first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981) was published. He was also a television critic for the New Statesman between 1981 and 1983. Boyd was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for services to literature. William Boyd has written numerous books, screenplays, short stories and plays.  Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast. She is Supplements Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie.

Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934), known professionally as John Standing, is an English actor. Standing is best known for roles in the 1955 production of Titus Andronicus starring Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh, and for leading parts in many plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Private Lives with Maggie Smith. John Standing has appeared in major roles on television, including: The First Churchills (1969), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), The Choir (1995) and King Solomon's Mines (2004). John Standing is married to Sarah Standing. Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast. She is Supplements Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie.

Stephen Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. Fry first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. In 1986-1989 Fry starred in Blackadder.  Odyssey completes his Greek Myths series in marvellous fashion. . . Fry, a born storyteller, succeeds again in making the ancient stories accessible, gently modernising the language and dotting his journey with explanatory and often amusing footnotes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. Fry first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster. In 1986-1989 Fry starred in Blackadder. Odyssey completes his Greek Myths series in marvellous fashion. . . Fry, a born storyteller, succeeds again in making the ancient stories accessible, gently modernising the language and dotting his journey with explanatory and often amusing footnotes.

Listen to Sam Leith on The Haunted Wood, A History of Childhood Reading. Sam was speaking at The Oldie Literary Lunch on 10th December 2024. Sponsored by Noble Caledonia. Photos by Neil Spence.

Gyles Brandreth: Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries & 7 Secrets of Happiness & Prose & Cons: The English Language in Just a Minute.

Stephen Fry speaking at The Oldie Literary Lunch on Tuesday 10th December on his latest book Odyssey.  The lunch was sponsored by Noble Caledonia. Photos by Neil Spence.

Thomas Pakenham, 91, tells Harry Mount about his new book, The Tree Hunters. From the 17th century to the 19th century, British daredevils headed across the world to bring back seeds for arboretums back home. Among them was David Douglas, who brought back the Douglas Fir - and was gored to death by a wild bull in Hawaii in 1834. Thomas also recalls his own tree-hunting expeditions to bring back seeds from Tibet to his house, Tullynally, in County Westmeath, Ireland.

John Suchet is an English author, television news journalist and presenter of classical music on Classic FM. He is a huge fan of Beethoven, writing 8 books on the composer. Suchet's journalistic career began when he worked as a graduate trainee at the Reuters news agency in 1967 and later joined the BBC News a sub-editor for the Nine O'Clock News from 1970 to 1971. Suchet worked at ITN as a scriptwriter/sub-editor from 1972 and was a newsreader and reporter until his retirement from ITN in 2004. Suchet has two brothers, one of whom is the actor Sir David Suchet. Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast.   She is Supplements Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie.

​Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast. She is Supplements Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie. Don Black is one of England's best-known lyricists, famous for Diamonds Are Forever and other James Bond theme tunes that he wrote with John Barry. Don was born in 1938 in Hackney, the youngest of five children from Jewish-born immigrants from the Ukraine. Black has worked in the music industry for decades, helping John Barry write music for well-known films such as Out of Africa. More recently, Don Black worked on the adaptation of ​Sunset Boulevard​. Black has worked on a multitude of musical theatre with Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Stan ‘Mac’ McMurtry – Oldie Lead in his Pencil Award. By Quentin Letts Cartoonist Stan ‘Mac’ McMurtry says that, during his decades on Fleet Street, his duty has been to make news pages brighter ‘by putting in a laugh’. Ever-modest Mac, 88, undersells his genius. His drawings in the Daily Sketch, Daily Mail and, to this day, the Mail on Sunday have always done more than that. Since the 1960s they have humanised the news, reminding us that after every thermonuclear disaster there will be some office cleaner surveying the mess, leaning on a broom with wry detachment and a half-smoked fag. The fashion for newspaper cartoons has drifted towards party-political indignation and starkness of nib. Mac’s art is softer. His work is in the tradition of the Bystander’s Bruce Bairnsfather, the Daily Express’s Carl Giles and the Evening Standard’s Jak. The shading is gentle and the visual effect more rounded than sharp-edged. Mac’s cartoons include domestic fixtures such as telephones, wastepaper bins, steaming teacups

Nanette: "I had my 90th a few weeks ago. I woke up one morning and I didn’t feel 90 at all... I felt more like 104! It was one of those awful mornings with bills and all those terrible things that come in the mail. One of the other things in the mail was a letter from Gyles saying I was going to get this award. I was thrilled. I’m a big fan of the magazine. How should I say thank you… I thought of all those acceptance speeches on TV. People who say they have nothing prepared and then bring out 10 pages. Others who thank God, thank their family, thank their dog, thank EVERYONE. I’m just going to say thank you to Gyles and to The Oldie magazine which I love. This is an incredible, incredible treat. Now I don’t feel 90. I feel 82 and a half." John: "Ok right. No mother-in-law jokes. The last thing in a million years I wanted was to be an actor. I wanted to be a painter. I came from a whole family of actors and it’s the last thing in the world I wanted to do. I was a soldier for a couple of years, and th

Manette Baillie, Oldie Flying Angel of the Year By Harry Mount This summer, Manette Baillie parachuted her way into the nation’s hearts as Britain’s oldest skydiver. At 102, Manette made her first ever jump, plunging from 13,000 feet up in the air over Beccles Airfield, Suffolk. Having served as a Wren in World War II, plucky feats of derring do were nothing new to Manette, of Benhall, Suffolk. “It was a bit scary. I must admit I just shut my eyes firmly – very firmly,” she said of the jump, which raised £30,000 for the Benhall Village Social Club, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and East Anglia Air Ambulance. Just days before her jump, Manette got a personal message from the Prince of Wales on her 102nd birthday, wishing her a happy birthday and saying he and the Princess of Wales would be thinking of her during her mighty leap into the unknown. The Prince of Wales said of the charities she was helping, ‘They are tremendous organisations who help so many people. From my time with East Anglian A