Radio 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. Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian artist and photographer and award-winning film-maker. A recent major retrospective at London’s Saatchi Gallery showed his large format photographs, many vast, of ind...

Tom Assheton is an editor, producer and presents the Bloody Violent History podcast.  His career spans time in the army, as a land agent and owner of a cigar and coffee company. Mary Killen is a very well-known and prolific journalist and the author of several books. She’s instantly recognisable today for being on Gogglebox with her husband Giles. She’s The Spectator’s agony aunt and a regular con...

Writing Love From Venice has "literally given me a new lease of life" – Gill Johnson speaking at The Oldie lunch Gill Johnson told The Oldie, 'I have never published a word in my life, never have I had any ambition to do so, so how did a over 90 year old non-celebrity first time author get to write a book?' Gill stayed seated and delivered a evocative speech about Love From Venice, her book focuse...

As the 5th July beckons, how topical that Geoffrey Wheatcroft spoke to The Oldie about 'Bloody Panico: Or, Whatever Happened to The Tory Party'. The election is more 'send in the clowns' than 'things can only get better'. Geoffrey retorted, 'I have never felt more gratitude to anyone than I do to Rishi Sunak, calling this election just as my book is published!' Liz Truss was due to be speaking at...

When Liz Truss pulled out of The Oldie Literary Lunch, leading classicist author, Daisy Dunn, stepped in. Daisy, who wrote the Ladybird guide to Homer, has just written 'The Missing Thread', which is a new history of the ancient world through women. Daisy set the record straight that in no way was this a history, where she had shoehorned 'some girls into the grand narrative of ancient history for...

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 . John Humphrys is the legendary BBC journalist who presented Radio Four’s Today for 30 years.  He talks about his Welsh upbringing, how Superman inspired him to become a journalist and what it was...

Wearing an elegant cream suit and American accent, almost remnant of Wallis Simpson, historian Jane admitted to The Oldie audience of the huge challenges, facing her when writing about Edward VIII. "There is no denying that the material I presented in Once A King paints a very different portrait of Edward VIII than the one that we have in recent years become all too familiar with" - a monarch with...

"The Oldie, for me, has undisputedly become my favourite magazine"

It was rather ironic that Lady Anne Somerset addressed The Oldie about her latest book on Queen Victoria, at The National Liberal Club, yesterday because as Gladstone said of Queen Victoria, "there is no greater Tory in the land!" "It's wonderful to be talking to you here today, the only thing that is perhaps a bit awkward is that the event is taking place in The National Liberal Club!" The club w...

Twentieth Century Heroines. 1.Citation  2. Edith Cavell  3. Maxine Elliott  4. Gertrude Bell  5. WW2 Operations  6. Ursula Graham Bower  7. MI9  a. Pat O’Leary Line b. Nancy Wake c. Dédé   d. Mary Lindell  8. Virginia Hall 9. Special Operations Executive  10. SOE Women a. Vera Atkins  b. Noor Khan  c. Violette Szabo  d. Odette Churchill  11. Bletchley Park  12. The Banka Island Massacre  13. Concl...

"You would make a good Labour MP!" said Chaplin, and "Selfish, arrogant he believes he is at the centre of the world - he is a great man!" said Charles de Gaulle about Churchill. Sinclair McKay reveals Winston's encounters at The Oldie Literary Lunch. Why is Sinclair's book called '90 Encounters?' Well, Churchill was the 'dazzling' age of 90 when he died, Sinclair told The Oldie . Sinclair continu...

'There is a sort-of link between my two books', Rick Stroud told The Oldie audience today, 'I have had an enormous amount of satisfaction trying to write about very, very brave women'. Rick's latest book ' I'm Not Afraid of Looking Into The Rifles ' was sold to Publisher, Simon & Schuster on what would have been his late daughter Nell's 47th birthday (in 2020). 'There is a link to (my books),...

Charles Spencer recounted, to The Oldie Literary Lunch today, the stories of 24 boys who had been at Maidwell Hall in 1972 and the terrifying story of how the Headmaster's religion had affected them. The Headmaster told one boy that he was 'outraged that the boy's parents were getting divorced'. This was something that the boy was clearly struggling with. The Headmaster announced 'I think you shou...

To salute the 80th anniversary of the Great Escape and the recent article about POW Roger Mortimer by his son, Charlie Mortimer we present this discussion between Tom Assheton and James Jackson on Great Escapes – events that have captured the imagination for generations.  From the simplest adoption of disguise to the longest tunnels, both successful and failed attempts have entered the realm of le...

Welcome to this special episode to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the capture of General Kreipe. One of the greatest feats in Patrick Leigh Fermor's remarkable life was the kidnapping of General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete, on 26 April 1944. He and Captain Billy Moss hatched a daring plan to abduct the general, while ensuring that no reprisals were taken against the Cretan population....

Harry Mount, Editor of The Oldie, speaks about Oldie Reader Tours and Barry Cryer's joke about Parrots

Pictured here with war photography Don McCullin - photos by Neil Spence Photography and sponsored by Charles Stanley Wealth Managers

Sponsored by Charles Stanley Wealth Managers

The lunch was sponsored by Charles Stanley Wealth Managers

Tom Assheton interviews Huon Mallalieu about his forthcoming Oldie Reader trip to the Low Countries which is happening on 9th - 14th December, 2024. To book tickets please visit www.theoldie.co.uk and go to tab Courses & Tours. Huon will be hosting this tour with Kirsty Fergusson.