The Old Un’s Notes
That least confrontational of men, our late and sainted editor Alexander Chancellor, made one aggressive change when he took his seat at The Oldie.
He changed the ‘Wireless’ column to ‘Radio’. Valerie Grove – the Oldie’s critic since its foundation – went along with it, with impeccable professionalism. A few readers protested.
‘Should we change it back?’ Alexander half-heartedly mentioned to Valerie, but the deed was done.
‘It’s always irritated me. Everybody says “radio”,’ was his initial reason.
Now Matthew Engel’s book about the Americanisation of English, That’s the Way it Crumbles: The American Conquest of English, reminds younger oldies of Edward VIII’S abdication speech – when he was the first Englishman publicly to endorse the substitution of American ‘radio’ for English ‘wireless’.
We all know why. It was a declaration of love to the special one – and up yours to the nation.
As is now customary, the Queen’s latest honours list followed in the footsteps of The Oldie.
Olivia de Havilland was Oldie of the Year in 2016, when Jeremy Corbyn could not even bother to reply to news of his award, let alone accept it. She, by gracious contrast, delivered charming thanks in a pre-recorded video from Paris, where she lives.
On receiving her damehood this summer, Dame Olivia took the time to write a lovely email to Oldie Towers – ‘It is an honour I cherish, and one for which I am extremely grateful.’
Now Dame Olivia is 101, her damehood might be considered a little tardy since her Hollywood heyday was the 1940s, when she was Oscar-nominated several times, perhaps most famously for playing Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind, before finally triumphing in To Each His Own (1946).
Similar tardiness applies to the damehood for June Whitfield, who is a mere 91. She has long supported the magazine through lean times and fat, by gracing our annual awards lunch.
She must have made us laugh more consistently than anyone else in living memory, beginning with Eth to Dick Bentley’s Ron Glum in Take It From Here.
Arthur Askey, Dick Emery, Tony Hancock, Benny Hill and Terry Scott are just some of her co-stars. And of course she’s the Mum in Absolutely Fabulous.
Absolutely fabulous is exactly what she has been for all our lives. Her version of ‘Je t’aime’, with Frankie Howerd, is the perfect antidote to a fit of age-induced glooms.
Finally, there was the richly deserved CBE for our brilliant columnist Raymond Briggs.
Lawrence of Arabia certainly knew how to brand himself.
In a recent show at Maggs Bros – the antiquarian book dealer in Fitzrovia – there was a marvellous pencil drawing of him by Augustus John.
It was sketched by John at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 – ie Lawrence was keen to keep his fabulous desert outfit on, even in the French capital. He wouldn’t get that curved dagger through customs nowadays.
The show, devoted to Lawrence, opened on 6th July, to mark the centenary of the capture of Aqaba by the irregular forces of the Arab Revolt, led by Lawrence.
Among other gems in the exhibition (which ended on 14th July) were the bloodstained map Lawrence carried with him in the Middle East in 1909, and letters by Winston Churchill following his address at Lawrence’s funeral.
What a mess FIFA makes of our international football colours. Scotland v England was the first ever (1872) football international.
For 112 matches, dark blue Scottish shirts and white English shirts worked perfectly well together.
Then, in November, FIFA decreed Scotland should wear pink at Wembley in the first of the old rivals’ World Cup group matches.
Darren Fletcher, the Scottish captain, was horrified: ‘I did everything I could to stop us wearing it. I was asking “What are we doing!”’
Quite apart from the insult of girlie pink for a warrior nation, it had already