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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
  • Sep 8, 2025 · 28 min

    394: Harry Mount in conversation with Antonia Fraser

    At 93, Antonia Fraser, one of our leading historians, has written her 40th book – The House that Spoke: The History of a Home. She tells Harry Mount about 70 years of writing, going all the way back to her 1954 debut, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. And she talks about her west London house, where she wrote her 1969 bestseller, Mary, Queen of Scots – and her late husband, Harold Pinter, wrote Betrayal in 1978.

  • Sep 2, 2025 · 24 min

    393: Joshua Levine in conversation with Harry Mount

    Joshua Levine, one of our leading Second World War historians, talks to Harry Mount about the 85th anniversary of the Blitz - which began on September 7 1940. Levine's book The Secret History of the Blitz led to him advising film director Steve McQueen for his 2024 film Blitz. His book Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk inspired Christopher Nolan to make Dunkirk (2017), for which Levine was the historical advisor.

  • Aug 23, 2025 · 35 min

    392: Andrew Lownie in conversation with Harry Mount

    On Radio Oldie, Prince Andrew's biographer, Andrew Lownie, talks to Harry Mount. His new book Entitled - The Rise and Fall of the House of York is a number one bestseller. It reveals how Prince Andrew, the late Queen's favourite, was disgraced by his greed for money and sex.

  • Aug 15, 2025 · 37 min

    391: Fay Maschler in conversation with Harry Mount

    Fay Maschler, the restaurant critic, tells Harry Mount about 53 years of reviewing restaurants. The Evening Standard critic for 48 years, she is now Tatler's critic. She reveals London's greatest restaurant - and explains why 1987 was the year that changed the British eating landscape for ever.

  • Jul 31, 2025 · 40 min

    390: John Lloyd in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    John Lloyd is a multi-award-winning television and radio producer. He is the creator of Not the Nine O’Clock News, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Blackadder, Spitting Image, QI, The Museum of Curiosity and much more. In 2011 was awarded a CBE for services to broadcasting.

  • Jul 31, 2025 · 30 min

    389: Rachel Kelly in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Rachel Kelly is a bestselling author, keynote speaker and mental health advocate, who has just published her new book The Gift of Teenagers, recently serialised in the Daily Mail. A former Times journalist, Rachel has been named one of the UK’s top five mental health influencers and is an official ambassador for the mental health charities Rethink Mental Illness and SANE.

  • Jul 28, 2025 · 39 min

    388: Helen Lederer in conversation with Harry Mount

    Helen Lederer tells Harry Mount about a life in comedy. A stand-up comedian at the Comedy Store, she has starred with Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Ben Elton and the late Rik Mayall, . And she excelled as Catriona, the dim Sloane in Absolutely Fabulous.

  • Jul 21, 2025 · 30 min

    387: Sarah Sands in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Sarah Sands is a well-known journalist. She edited Readers’ Digest, the Sunday Telegraph and the Evening Standard before becoming editor of Today, BBC Four’s flagship news programme. Recently she abandoned her career in exchange for a quieter, more fluid life and has written three books about monasticism, faith and inner peace. She also now organises pilgrimages. She talks to Charlotte Metcalf about her time in journalism, the deaths of her father, her brother and her ex-husband, Julian Sands and her quest for a very different way of life.

  • Jul 16, 2025 · 13 min

    386: Philippa Langley at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Philippa Langley speaking about her new book, The Princes in the Tower: Solving History's Greatest Cold Case, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on July 15th 2025.

  • Jul 16, 2025 · 13 min

    385: David Hepworth at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    David Hepworth speaking about his new book, Hope I Get Old Before I Die: Why Rock Stars Never Retire, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on July 15th 2025.

  • Jul 16, 2025 · 11 min

    384: Lucy Moore at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Lucy Moore speaking about her new book, Christopher Gibbs: His World, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on July 15th 2025.

  • Jul 14, 2025 · 49 min

    383: Mary Kenny in conversation with Harry Mount

    Oldie columnist and Irish writer, Mary Kenny, tells Harry Mount about her 60 years in journalism. She salutes her old boss, the novelist Edna O'Brien, and remembers her time leading the Irish Women's Liberation Movement. And she reflects on her biography of Lord Haw-Haw, the Nazi propagandist.

  • Jul 7, 2025 · 37 min

    382: Nicky Haslam in conversation with Harry Mount

    On Radio Oldie, writer, designer and singer Nicky Haslam does a perfect Truman Capote impression. He recalls meeting Marilyn Monroe and Cole Porter. He reveals Diana Cooper's recipe for a good party – 'Too much to drink and a chocolate pudding.' And he explains why the Sistine Chapel is common.

  • Jun 30, 2025 · 40 min

    381: Mark Ellen in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    As we head towards the 40th anniversary of Live Aid on 13th July, Charlotte Metcalf talks to the writer and broadcaster Mark Ellen, then a hugely successful editor of magazines like New Musical Express and Time Out, Mark was plucked from The Old Grey Whistle Test to be one of the main television anchors on the concert. He looks back at a phenomenal event and how it changed our attitudes to rock music and its role forever.

  • Jun 26, 2025 · 10 min

    379: Sinclair McKay at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Sinclair McKay speaking about his new book, Saint Petersburg: Sacrifice & Redemption in the City that Defied Hitler, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on June 24th 2025.

  • Jun 26, 2025 · 13 min

    378: Anne Sebba at the Oldie Literary Lunch

    Anne Sebba speaking about her new book, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on June 24th 2025.

  • Jun 23, 2025 · 34 min

    377: Emma, the Duchess of Rutland, in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    Emma, the Duchess of Rutland, has lived at Belvoir Castle for nearly 25 years, transforming it into a going commercial concern and a comfortable home for her five children. On the eve of her oldest daughter’s wedding, she talks to Charlotte Metcalf about her book, The Accidental Duchess, her podcast and her sense of duty and commitment to keeping Belvoir a thriving concern for the next generation.

  • Jun 16, 2025 · 34 min

    376: James Holland in conversation with Charlotte Metcalf

    James Holland is an eminent historian who specialises in the Second World War and has numerous books, television programmes and a podcast to his name. He talks to Charlotte Metcalf about the forthcoming Chalke History Festival, which he co-founded in 2011, originally to raise money for a cricket pavilion. Chalke is now the biggest history festival in the world and James tells us what to expect from this year’s exciting line-up at a dangerous time when he believes learning lessons from history is more important than ever.