An Irishman's DiaryI’M INDEBTED to Garrison Keillor’s almanac for the reminder that today marks the 209th anniversary of one of the most famous …Fri Apr 15 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG THE lots for sale at Whyte’s Dublin auction rooms this weekend, I see, is a letter from Brian O’NolanThu Apr 14 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryWE’RE ALL encouraged to be ambassadors for Irish tourism these days and, when approached by visitors needing advice, most of …Wed Apr 13 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryCONFUSED READER Bernard McCartan has written to query a phrase that appeared elsewhere in this newspaper on ThursdaySat Apr 09 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAT LEAST one former employee of a certain great institution in Dublin 8 took grave offence to my reference in Wednesday’s diary…Fri Apr 08 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryREADERS may be familiar with the case of an artwork by Henri Matisse called Le Bateau (The Boat) : which in 1961, apparently, …Thu Apr 07 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI CAN’T remember now why Edna O’Brien thought August was a wicked month. But it can hardly have been the weatherWed Apr 06 2011 - 01:00
Spirited Mylesday gathering would make 'the brother' proudTHE IRISH literary calendar acquired a new holiday yesterday when an event to honour writer Brian O’Nolan – better known as Flann…Sat Apr 02 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryWHEN I heard that something called an “international forge-in” was planned for Monaghan over a weekend in June, my first reaction…Sat Apr 02 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryMY THANKS to the many readers who have taken trouble to enlighten me about “hash weather”, which it turns out was not a short…Fri Apr 01 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN THE EMPIRE of Irish emigrants, on which the sun never sets, one of the more important outposts is a place called South Bend…Thu Mar 31 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryRE-READING Flann O’Brien’s The Hard Life recently, I noticed a word that might have been considered a misprint had the author…Wed Mar 30 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryWHEN the New York Times published Elizabeth Taylor’s obituary this week, a note at the bottom of the article pointed out that…Sat Mar 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryA FEW YEARS AGO, some London publishers commissioned me to write an Irish edition for their series of travel booklets called …Fri Mar 25 2011 - 00:00
Love-struck dictionary users heartened by OED's new arrivalLIKE THE wheels of justice, the Oxford English Dictionary moves slowly but with great authority.Thu Mar 24 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE NEW Government is enjoying quite a honeymoon so far, with the Taoiseach’s triumphant visit to Washington, a string of Irish…Wed Mar 23 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT WAS the middle of Wednesday afternoon before I got around to reading that morning’s newspaperFri Mar 11 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMID all the attempts to interpret Stephen Ireland, I have yet to see anyone broach a possibility that, to me, seems ever more…Thu Mar 10 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF you’ve ever thumped a TV set, or unplugged a computer (just to annoy it), or had a heated conversation with that woman in …Wed Mar 09 2011 - 00:00
Serious issue settled as scientists reveal that Guinness in Ireland tastes best by farA SERIOUS science journal has dared to go where no science journal has gone before by tackling a question that has long vexed…Wed Mar 09 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS it seeks to make the most in this country of Wednesday’s heroics in Bangalore, Cricket Ireland could do worse than publicise…Fri Mar 04 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI’VE complained before here about the fall from fashion of the name Francis and its various derivatives as an option for parents…Thu Mar 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryASSUMING Fine Gael and Labour do form what will be effectively a national government, the new Dáil opposition will be proportionally…Wed Mar 02 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTODAY is Johnny Cash’s birthday. Were he still with us, he’d be 79Sat Feb 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryREADERS of a certain age will remember a poem we did at school called The Listeners by Walter de la MareFri Feb 25 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S A measure of the GAA’s greatness that a man such as George Sigerson is now best known for presenting a cup to a Gaelic football…Thu Feb 24 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryMY THANKS to reader Brendan Connolly who, responding to the Diary’s mystification (February 19th) about “coulogeous” – as in …Wed Feb 23 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryALTHOUGH Irish elections often teeter on the brink of self-parody, the wonder is that this country has never gone all the way…Sat Feb 19 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryLIKE eagle-eyed reader John O’Hagan, I at first welcomed the news – as reported in our Page 2 digest on Wednesday – that “an …Fri Feb 18 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryBOTH OF Dublin’s Luas lines are colour-coded: the trams that run to Sandyford and beyond being called “Green”, while those travelling…Thu Feb 17 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI FINALLY got around to reading that Vanity Fair article about Ireland over the weekend, and a chastening experience it wasWed Feb 16 2011 - 00:00
Irish firepower proves unequal to force majeure of Les BleusIT’S CUSTOMARY to describe the mass movement of rugby supporters in military terms, usually involving the word “invasion”. But…Mon Feb 14 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SUGGESTED yesterday that, except for a plaque on the house he grew up in (and a passing mention in Finnegans Wake ), the pioneering…Fri Feb 11 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWITH THE country’s prospects looking ever more bleak, it seems ominous that the National Concert Hall should have chosen the …Thu Feb 10 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI MAY BE sharing too much here, readers, and if so, advance apologiesSat Feb 05 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE FATE of Horace Greeley may be a cautionary tale for all those politicians currently traversing Ireland in search of votes…Fri Feb 04 2011 - 00:00
Kenny gets ball rolling in county where even the GAA team are blueshirtsON THE CANVASS : The Fine Gael leader drew on bad Croke Park memories to illustrate his anti-complacency mantraThu Feb 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE composer John Cage once claimed there was “no such thing as silence”Sat Jan 29 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE word “jaywalk” is barely a century old, but already its origins are obscureFri Jan 28 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryA MALTESE MAN called David Darmanin has written seeking information about the strange case of a 19th-century Irish sailor whose…Thu Jan 27 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryFLICKING channels the other night, I came across a rerun of a boxing match from 1993Wed Jan 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryMARY O’ROURKE has called on Fianna Fáil to draw up a “catechism” for election candidates (Home News, January 20th)Fri Jan 21 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI might not go so far as the Gospel of St Matthew (5:37) which, warning against the use of unnecessary oaths when speaking the…Thu Jan 20 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF you ever take a short detour off Tsar Boris III Boulevard in Sofia, and if your grasp of Cyrillic script is good, you might…Wed Jan 19 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS any musically illiterate parent of music students will know, YouTube can be a vital educational resourceSat Jan 15 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI’M not so sure about James Joyce (Diary, January 8th and subsequent letters), but there seems to be a clearer moral case for…Fri Jan 14 2011 - 00:00
