Radio Oldie

Andrew Lownie speaks about The Mountbattens at the Oldie's October lunch.

He explains how the Mountbattens' private affairs affected their public lives, how there is more to Edwina Mountbatten than meets the eye and the security debacle that let to Dickie Mountbatten's death.

Welcome to this edition of the Oldie podcast.
 
Ferdie Rous, The Oldie's Editorial Assistant, speaks to author, commentator and Mail on Sunday columnist, Peter Hitchens, about his new book, The Phoney Victory: The World War II Delusion, which challenges some of our most deeply held beliefs about the Second World War, which began 80 years ago this month.

Welcome to the Oldie’s October podcast. 50 years ago, on the 26th September, The Beatles’s Abbey Road album was first released. Today, we are joined by veteran-journalist and the Beatles’s only authorised biographer, Hunter Davies, who shadowed the Beatles as they wrote and recorded what many consider to be their best studio album.

Oldie Editor, Harry Mount, speaks to Dominic Green – Life & Arts Editor at the Spectator USA and regular contributor to The Oldie's Letter from America Column – about his new suit, which made from the same material used for Lord Grantham's valet in the new Downton Abbey film.

Welcome to the Oldie's September podcast with Harry Mount the editor of The Oldie and the actor, Simon Williams, who played Captain Bellamy in Upstairs, Downstairs and has written a piece about the class dynamic in Downton Abbey for the latest issue of The Oldie.

What is the funding gap between private and state schools? Is there equal educational opportunity? How can we end Britain's educational apartheid?

David Kynaston and Francis Green ask the questions and they have an answer. They examine the impact of private schools on public life.

They spoke at the Oldie's August lunch about their book Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem, published by Bloomsbury.

The world is getting better. Amid the doom and gloom of the news, things are actually pretty good, says Douglas Carswell.

In this talk, Carswell charts the history of human progress and explains how we have held ourselves back.

Douglas Carswell spoke at the Oldie's August lunch about his new book Progress vs Parasites: A Brief History of the Conflict That's Shaped Our World, published by Head of Zeus.

What is the difference between Old Masters and old mistresses? Where did Chanel put her No. 5? Whose yacht was called the 'floating double-bed'?

Anne de Courcy examines life in the French Riviera before and during the war.

Her new book, Chanel's Riviera: Life, Love and the Struggle for Survival on the Côte d’Azur, 1930–1944, is published by W&N.

Welcome to August Issue of the Oldie podcast.

George Courtauld, a former Queen's messenger and bestselling writer of The Travels of a Fat Bulldog, has penned a delightful piece about discovering his grandmother Daisy Dobell's diaries in his attic.

He speaks to The Oldie's editorial assistant Ferdie Rous about his grandmother: her childhood, why she earned the nickname – 'Naughty Daisy' – and her close friendship with her cousin the poet, Eva Dobell.

Courtauld's book, a collection of his grandmother's diaries, Daisy's Diary 1888-1900 was published in April.

Introduced by Barry Cryer, Sir Tim Waterstone spoke at the Oldie's July lunch about what inspired him to create Waterstones, the difficulty of getting funding for it and a set-to with a journalist in the 90s.

His book is The Face Pressed Against a Window: A Memoir.