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Radio Oldie

Radio Oldie

The Oldie magazine’s podcast featuring discussion and debate around the lead features in the latest magazine, plus live recordings from our famous Literary Lunches. Presented by Harry Mount.

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  • 494 episodes
  • Updated Thursday

Episodes494

Newest first
  • Nov 24, 2025 · 29 min

    414: Nicholas Hytner in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Nicholas Hytner is one of our leading theatre, opera and film directors, knighted in 2010 for services to drama. He is artistic director at The Bridge Theatre, which he co-founded with Nick Starr after stepping down in 2015 as Director of the National Theatre. He’s also the founder of Lightroom, the innovative immersive venue for art, most notable for its Hockney exhibition. Nicholas talks to Charlotte Metcalf about The Choral, his latest film collaboration with Alan Bennett (starring Ralph Fiennes and with Elgar played by Simon Russell Beale) and much more, including his views on arts funding and the dearth of arts education in schools.

  • Nov 17, 2025 · 40 min

    413: Michael Morpurgo in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Michael Morpurgo has written over 150 books, many for children, including War Horse. He has served as the Children’s Laureate and was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity. His latest books is Funny Thing Getting Older.

  • Nov 10, 2025 · 29 min

    412: Merlin Holland in conversation with Harry Mount

    Merlin Holland pays tribute to his grandfather Oscar Wilde and discusses his new book, After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal. Merlin tells Harry Mount how the shock waves from Wilde's trial echoed through the 20th century, right into his own lifetime. How he wishes he could ask Wilde why he took the fatal step of suing the Marquess of Queensberry.

  • Nov 5, 2025 · 16 min

    411: Merlin Holland at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Merlin Holland speaking about his new book, After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on November 4th 2025.

  • Nov 5, 2025 · 7 min

    410: Sarah Vine at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Sarah Vine speaking about her new book, How Not to be a Political Wife, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on November 4th 2025.

  • Nov 5, 2025 · 11 min

    409: Ysenda Maxtone-Graham at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Ysenda Maxtone-Graham speaking about her new book, Screams: Shrieks of Horror and Yelps of Pleasure from Modern Life, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on November 4th 2025.

  • Nov 3, 2025 · 31 min

    408: Edward Fox in conversation with Harry Mount

    Edward Fox tells Harry Mount about playing Sir Brian Horrocks in A Bridge Too Far and his starring role as Edward VIII in Edward & Mrs Simpson. He details his extraordinary acting bloodline and explains how he approached the melon-shooting scene in The Day of the Jackal.

  • Oct 27, 2025 · 34 min

    407: Daniel Finkelstein in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Daniel Finkelstein is an award-winning political commentator and journalist. He’s a Times columnist, and author of his 2023 memoir, Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad. Previously he was a politician and political advisor to John Major and William Hague. He was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2013. He talks to Charlotte Metcalf about his book and his parents – his mother was sent to Bergen-Belsen, his father to a Siberian gulag – and shares his views on politics, Israel, multi-culturalism, the state of Britain and much, much more with openness and candour.

  • Oct 20, 2025 · 21 min

    406: Jeremy Hunt in conversation with Harry Mount

    Jeremy Hunt, former Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, tells Harry Mount about his new book, Can We Be Great Again?: Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain. He sympathises with Rachel Reeves about the prospect of dealing with a mammoth deficit – and recalls meeting Donald Trump at Chequers.

  • Oct 13, 2025 · 24 min

    405: Gus Christie in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Gus Christie took Glyndebourne Opera over from his father George in 2000. He tells us about Glyndebourne’s beginnings when his grandfather John Christie fell in love with and married the soprano Audrey Mildmay and decided to build her an opera house. Gus also reflects on his own decision to step into his father’s shoes, describes his vision and tells us about the upcoming Autumn Festival.

  • Oct 8, 2025 · 11 min

    403: Jeremy Hunt at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Jeremy Hunt speaking about his new book, Can We Be Great Again?: Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on October 7th 2025.

  • Oct 7, 2025 · 13 min

    402: Frances Wilson at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Frances Wilson speaking about her new book, Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on October 7th 2025.

  • Sep 29, 2025 · 1 hr

    400: A N Wilson at the Dartmouth Literary Festival

    A N Wilson in conversation with Harry Mount at this month's Dartmouth Literary Festival, sponsored by The Oldie. A N Wilson chatted about two of his books, Goethe: His Faustian Life andVictoria: A Life. In a dazzling talk, he discusses Queen Victoria's hidden child with John Brown and how Goethe discovered evolution before Darwin.

  • Sep 18, 2025 · 29 min

    399: Alexander McCall Smith in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Alexander McCall Smith is a prolific and fast writer, known mainly for his best-selling series The Number One Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana and featuring his popular heroine Mama Precious Ramotswe. The books have been translated into 46 languages and sold millions worldwide. These and his numerous other books, including the Scotland Street series, have earned him a global reputation, a CBE and in 2024 a knighthood for services to Literature, Academia and Charity.

  • Sep 10, 2025 · 12 min

    397: Amanda Barrie at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Amanda Barrie speaking about her new book, I'm Still Here: My 90 Years, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on September 9th 2025

  • Sep 10, 2025 · 9 min

    396: Paula Byrne at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Paula Byrne speaking about her new book, Six Weeks by the Sea: The Summer Jane Austen Fell in Love , at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on September 9th 2025.”

  • Sep 9, 2025 · 12 min

    395: Eleanor Doughty at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Eleanor Doughty speaking about her new book, Heirs and Graces: A History of the Modern British Aristocracy, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on September 9th 2025.