The Oldie
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The Oldie is a monthly magazine launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who for 23 years was the editor of Private Eye. It carries general interest articles, humour and cartoons, and has an eclectic list of contributors, including Miles Kington, Ned Sherrin (who reviews memorial services), Beryl Bainbridge, Rosie Boycott, Thomas Stuttaford, John Michell and Edward Enfield. It is sometimes regarded as a haven for 'grumpy old men and women' – an image it has played up to over the years with such slogans as 'The Oldie: Buy it before you snuff it', and its lampooning of 'yoof' culture and the absurdities of modern life (even though it has for many years had its own internet column, by "Webster"). Many regard it to be the spiritual successor to Punch magazine.
Despite being called 'The Oldie', the magazine often stresses that it is not an age-specific publication, and does seem to have many readers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. It has something of the flavour of Punch, Viz, The Spectator, Private Eye, and The New Yorker about it, as well as a cumudgeonliness that is all its own.
The Independent on Sunday recently said this about it: 'The most original magazine in the country... The Oldie's eclectic embrace of human variety is a monthly rebuke to the formulaic, celebrity-led concept of features in our newspapers and magazines.'
Its eclectic nature is helped by the fact that some of the features are submitted by readers: the magazine's 'I Once Met' slot features tales by readers who have met the famous and the infamous. These have included Nelson Mandela (while on the run), Chuck Berry (on a train to Leicester) and even the murderer John Christie (by a woman who had a lucky escape!). It also has a regular 'Anorak' slot, where each month a self-confessed 'geek' tells all about their particular obsession (the woman who runs the Electricity Pylon Appreciation Society was a recent subject).
The Oldie of the Year Awards is the magazine's annual awards ceremony, hosted by Terry Wogan. The awards celebrate lifetime achievement, as well as 'oldie' achievements and/or notoriety over the previous year, although the whole ceremony is very much tongue-in-cheek and, as with everything the magazine seems to do, is just as much about cocking a snook at the endless rounds of self-congratulatory awards that dominate the media. At the magazine's 2006 awards, the Duchess of Cornwall was awarded 'Spouse of the Year' – it was rumoured that she would have loved to have attended the awards in person, and sent a personal acceptance speech that was read out by Jilly Cooper. On a more serious note, Walter Wolfgang, the peace activist who was forcibly ejected from the 2005 Labour Party Conference after shouting 'nonsense' during Jack Straw's speech about Iraq, was made 'Heckler of the Year'.
Their monthly Literary Lunches are held in London (at Simpson's-in-the-Strand) and elsewhere; guests over the years have heard from such literary luminaries as Michael Palin, Clive James, Maureen Lipman, Colin Dexter, and P. D. James.
The magazine also offers a fiendish (Genius) crossword and another called the Moron (although it is clearly not targeting these minority audiences). Keeping up with modern trends the Oldie features a sudoku, (styled SUD/OLD/KU) but doesn't acknowledge it in its list of contents. This latest inclusion has not so far spawned the plethora of more recent oriental numerical puzzles featured in some newspapers.
Until 2007, The Oldie was owned by the Wisden Group.
