Harry Mount, Editor, selects the best quotes from the November 2026 issue of The Oldie
‘Then the key ingredients were glamorous guests of our own age group, romantic opportunities and danceable music till dawn. Oh, and masses to drink.
Now you can forget glamour. We want interesting guests – kind, interesting guests, of mixed ages.
And forget drink - we can’t process as much as we used to. Forget dancing till dawn - we want access to comfortable seating with adjacent surfaces for our drinks and, ideally, no music at all. Otherwise, we can’t hear the witty interchanges.’
Mary Killen on the ideal party
‘Oh it was a grim world for comics who worked their pitch between National Service and The Young Ones. Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, Spike Milligan, Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper, Kenneth Williams, Dick Emery, Mike Yarwood, Charles Hawtrey … repression, depression, suppression, loneliness, alcohol, polyamory, shame, resentment, bitterness, rage.
So famous, so loved, but so unhappy. Only Morecambe and Wise seemed to escape the generational curse.’
Stephen Fry on Charles Hawtrey and his comedy generation
‘Leonard Rossiter said he could empathise with Reggie Perrin’s predicament: “People called him ‘a menopausal man’ and it seems to have hit home. There is no Reggie in me but I have a vague idea how someone like him would feel. It is the grinding repetition, day after day, for many years that makes someone throw up their hands. For me, the best comedy comes through truthful situations rather than total farcical and unbelievable situations.”’
Peter Dyke on Leonard Rossiter’s centenary and the 50th anniversary of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
‘Because my Puglia is not the Puglia off a checklist. It is the Puglia of memory.
It begins with my father's Bisceglie. It continues along a coast I consider extraordinary, through restaurants where I have found quality and personality, towards Trani and its beautiful harbour, and then inland to the mysterious geometry of Castel del Monte and the world of Frederick II.
It ends, unexpectedly, with a spoonful of saffron and gold in Ruvo di Puglia.’
Nancy Dell’Olio on the hidden treasures of Puglia
‘Esther Rantzen was ringmaster, there to keep the dialogue flowing. But, unusually, she said very little. She let Fanny Cradock dig herself ever deeper with each scorching word.’
Paul Heiney on the fall of Fanny Cradock in 1976
All of these brilliant moments in the November edition of The Oldie, and more!
Harry Mount
