Radio Oldie

During the Second World War, MI5 ran a secret operation to root out Nazi-sympathisers.

At the Oldie's May literary lunch Robert Hutton spoke about the man in charge of it all. The unsung hero: Eric Roberts.

The full story is detailed in Hutton's new book, Agent Jack: MI5's secret Nazi Hunter.

Christopher Howse speaks about the highs and lows of the golden days of Soho.

Soho in the Eighties, his new book, is an anecdotal history of the strange and brilliant figures that populated Soho: from Jeffrey Bernard to Francis Bacon.

Here he is speaking at the Oldie's May literary lunch.

Welcome to The Oldie's May podcast.

William Cook, a regular contributor to The Oldie, the Spectator and the Independent, who has written books about Auberon Waugh and Peter Cook, speaks to The Oldie's Editorial Assistant, Ferdie Rous, about the German town of Coburg, where Prince Albert was born 200 years ago .

At (22.37), we turned briefly to Auberon Waugh.

At the April lunch, Prue Leith spoke about her life in cooking, one of Paul Hollywood's meaner moments on Bake Off, bomb scares and explosive marmalade.

Her book, Prue: My All-Time Favourite Recipes, is out now.

Leith's fellow speakers were Hugo Vickers (The Quest for Queen Mary) and Matthew Sturgis (Oscar: A Life).

Hugo Vickers on The Quest for Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy, which he edited.

He spoke about the book's 60-year journey to publication, James Pope-Hennessy's inimitable style and the understated way to describe large royals.

Vickers's fellow speakers were Prue Leith (Prue: My All-Time Favourite Recipes) and Matthew Sturgis (Oscar: A Life).

At the April Literary Lunch, Matthew Sturgis spoke about his new book, Oscar: A Life.

Welcome to the Spring podcast of The Oldie magazine.

Harry Mount speaks to the great Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who have written a terrific cover piece about Ronnie Barker, who would have been 90 this year, and Porridge.

Other great news is that two lost episodes of The Likely Lads have been rediscovered along with the feature film The Likely Lads from 1976.

Mary Killen has no time for the knife, the exercises or the headstands. Instead, she lies back and tries the facelift for the lazy – and it works

John Motson speaks about his new book, World Cup Motty: My World Cup Stories at The Oldie's February Literary Lunch.

He remembers the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, an unnerving encounter with Brian Clough and his brief flirtation with Greco-Roman wrestling.

William Keegan, the former Economics Editor of the Observer, speaks on his book, Nine Crises: Fifty Years of Covering the British Economy from Devaluation to Brexit. 

He approaches these nine crises with the experience of having met a few of the instigators.

Listen to his brilliant anecdotes from his long career.