Darkness into light: Frank McNally on a history-themed quiz in Joyce’s Nighttown
The pub quiz was just around the corner from World’s End, and one of the more famous corners in world literature
An Irish Diary
An Irish Diary
Top o’ the mornin’ to ya: Frank McNally on a piece of Route 66 that is forever Irish
Details of how the town of Shamrock acquired its name are somewhat obscured
Another sighting of the lesser-spotted Dublin fanlight horse
A second surviving specimen stands in the window of a Hendrick Street house in Smithfield
Dead Ringer – Frank McNally on a tragic real-life counterpart of a fictional Joycean character
Eveleen Nicolls drowned while trying to save a girl on the Great Blasket in 1909
I saw Switzerland’s Alpine treasures melting away. It was a sobering experience
It remains a spectacular vista, but the snow caps and glaciers are now fading before our eyes
‘They never made it out’: The biggest loss of life in the history of Dublin Fire Brigade
The Pearse Street fire of 1936 broke out at the premises of Exide Batteries 90 years ago this Monday, October 5th
Autumn reflection: Frank McNally finds poetic cheer in the October gloom
Rereading Patrick Kavanagh’s poem has brought the sobering thought that it may be October in my life now too
Charge of the Fanlight Brigade: a positive sighting of a threatened Dublin species
The horses are not extinct – but whatever did they mean?
Postcards from the Edge – Frank McNally on Samuel Beckett’s newly published German Diaries
Travelling around Nazi Germany, he wrote presciently about war and found inspiration for Waiting for Godot
Shunning victory: Frank McNally on 146 years of the ‘boycott’
Coventry was the proverbial destination in a popular metaphor that meant the same thing
Schools of rock: Denis McClean on the fifth member of U2 – the fans
Mount Temple may have produced a U2, but my school, St Paul’s in Raheny, produced a Gerry Ryan and a Marty Whelan
The Foggy Dew: Frank McNally on the Rising ballad’s confused origins and contested lyrics
Legend has it the song’s genesis can be traced to the first Dáil, but facts prove otherwise
Hecht off – Frank McNally on the testing testimony of a brilliant newspaper man
New York-born journalist and author set bar rather high for those who followed
Blue-sky thinking: Áine Ryan on the joys of an Indian summer
This sunshine is like a breath of fresh air challenging the usual seasonal changes
Shafts of Light: Frank McNally on accidentally joining the golf correspondents’ club
Also: St Brendan’s voyage to the White House, and why AI talks like James Joyce and Flann O’Brien
At the ‘Art Olympics’ in Venice, the horrors of Gaza have not been forgotten
Prize jury of the Venice Biennale resigned before the doors opened in a protest over the participation of Russia and Israel
We’ve been wrong about bats all along. It turns out they’re quite the wonder
They don’t fit into the cuddly variety of animals, but to witness them flying around at night is a spectacle
Strong words: America’s ‘greatest diarist’ whose many dislikes included the Irish
Caustic New Yorker had little time for spiritualists, abolitionists, organ grinders, mosquitoes and snobs, either
Asterisked de Gaulle: Frank McNally on the lesser-known, and Irish-speaking, namesake of the general
Charles de Gaulle (1837–1880) anticipated Patrick Pearse by half a century
Bally-aric Island: Frank McNally on feeling surprisingly at home in Menorca
Irishman’s Diary: There is a piece of the Menorcan road network that is forever Irish
Frank McNally: Trump Tower? Doonbeg Castle’s turbulent history and mystery hoard of gold
Away from US president’s golf course, romantic ruin stands as reminder of dark days and dreams
Fascinating tale of modern-day cavemen was early lesson in fake news
In 1966, a trapper named Dafal came across a Filipino tribe apparently untouched by modernity
Tycoon king of the castles: Magnate Hearst built pleasure-domes from California to Galway
American newspaper giant’s ties to Ireland stretch back to a childhood visit to Dublin
A leisurely visit to the Bayeux tapestry when it was still in Normandy
Prized medieval work of art will be on show in London until July next year
When pirates ruled the waves: recalling the golden era of radio in Cork
You could hear anything from punk rockers to right-wing moralisers campaigning against the availability of condoms
The Great War: ‘The heroic dead of Ireland have every right to the homage of the living’
Money was raised by public appeal for memorials to those who fought in the South Irish Divisions of the first World War
Cork’s Kilmainham: ‘It’s a 1916 site because Thomas Kent was executed there’
Sometimes, former prisons can have a very interesting second life
In search of Pietro Bossi: The Italian craftsman shrouded in the mystery of his life in Dublin
Examples of the stucco worker and marble inlayer’s pieces can be found in Áras an Uachtaráin and Hugh Lane Gallery
A chance encounter with Nelson’s Pillar in Kilkenny
Once the tallest Doric column in the world, the remains of the O’Connell Street monument are now arranged in a circle in walled gardens
McGuire vs Maguire: Who was the real Irish founder of America’s Labor Day?
A longstanding historical debate highlights the extent of Irish involvement in the American labour movement
Legacies of the printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg linger everywhere
You can read all about it thanks to him
Now that I’m in my 60s, some people are only short of patting me on the head
It’s the double whammy that cuts deepest – a mixture of misogyny and a perceived power shift
Harold Holt, the Australian prime minister who disappeared while swimming
The popular and charismatic politician vanished near his holiday house in 1967, giving rise to a raft of conspiracy theories
The nagging question of Ottoman help during the Great Famine
If we genuinely wish to identify a meaningful connection between Ireland and Turkey, we should look instead to the early 20th century
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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