Waiting Games – Frank McNally on the origin of the ‘Irish Olympics’, 100 years agoAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Mar 24 2022 - 19:22
Seismic Shift – Frank McNally on the modest evolution of an amorous verbAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Mar 23 2022 - 19:01
Royal Irish Vocabulary – Frank McNally on the OED’s latest update, which includes bockety, bean an tí and Old SegotiaAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Mar 22 2022 - 19:01
Name and Shame – the plaques of Dublin what they do and don’t tell usIrishman's Diary: The many plaques of the capital tell little of the storySat Mar 19 2022 - 00:01
Clear the Decks - on Horslips, hairdressers, and painful memoriesA teenage gig when Carrickmacross was called the ‘Nashville of Ireland’Fri Mar 18 2022 - 00:01
Snakes Alive – the ominous associations of St Patrick’s DayRainy days: March 17th also said to be the day in ancient times when Noah’s ark set sailThu Mar 17 2022 - 00:01
La Vie en Rosa - the convention-defying artist Rosa Bonheur, born 200 years agoShe wore men’s clothes at a time when French women needed a licence to wear trousersWed Mar 16 2022 - 00:01
Thinker’s Curse – Frank McNally on John Toland, a controversial Donegal philosopher who died 300 years agoAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Mar 11 2022 - 19:30
Orwell Appointed – Frank McNally on the raths, rats, and ratlines of a salubrious suburbAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Mar 10 2022 - 19:01
On the Rocks – Frank McNally on shipwrecks, old salts, and a rainy night in SydneyAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Mar 09 2022 - 19:01
Sergei and the Wolf – Frank McNally on the tragic timing of Sergei ProkofievAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Mar 08 2022 - 19:36
Taking a rise out of us – Frank McNally on the mysterious origins of Ireland’s rising roadsAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Mar 04 2022 - 19:01
Orwellian Road – Frank McNally on Ukrainian echoes in Animal FarmAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Mar 03 2022 - 19:01
Great Saint Robbery – Frank McNally on the dubious Scottish historian Thomas DempsterAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Mar 02 2022 - 19:01
Man in the Middle – Frank McNally on John Francis Condon, self-appointed star of the Lindbergh kidnap investigationAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Mar 01 2022 - 19:01
Crown jewel – Frank McNally on ‘La Belle Irlandaise’, Joanna HiffernanAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Feb 25 2022 - 19:01
Founding feathers – Frank McNally on the surname Barnacle and other Irish odditiesAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Feb 24 2022 - 19:30
Passenger locator – Frank McNally on a century of poputchiks, Mitläufers, and fellow travellersAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Feb 24 2022 - 00:01
Synonyms of the Fathers – Frank McNally on the complicated ‘fossil history’ of Irish surnamesAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Feb 22 2022 - 19:12
O’Hare restoration – Frank McNally on the complicated backstory of an American war heroAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Feb 18 2022 - 19:30
Boston wrangler – Frank McNally on Myles, Massachusetts, and Dropkick MurphyAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Feb 17 2022 - 19:01
Troubles shooter – Frank McNally on an encounter with the late PJ O’RourkeAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Feb 16 2022 - 19:01
Pardon my Irish – Frank McNally on rats, bats, and French-baitingAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Feb 11 2022 - 19:30
Shooting Boots – Frank McNally on how ‘the Monaghan Footballers’ of 1922 ended up in HansardAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Feb 10 2022 - 19:01
Scotch Broth – Frank McNally on the case for repatriating the Book of KellsAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Feb 09 2022 - 19:01
Blanket Attack – Frank McNally on how James Joyce put the text in textiles (or vice versa)An Irishman’s DiaryWed Feb 09 2022 - 00:01
I of the beholder – Frank McNally on having an existential keyboard crisisAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Feb 04 2022 - 19:01
Love Storeys – Frank McNally on the eccentric but also romantic hotels of ParisAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Feb 03 2022 - 19:01
The book now arriving on Platform 2 – Frank McNally on commemorating Ulysses in a Paris railway stationAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Feb 02 2022 - 19:01
Ulysses for cheats, chapter by chapter (feel free to skip the first three)Frank McNally: Skim, slice and dice James Joyce’s masterpiece, from opening to climaxWed Feb 02 2022 - 05:00
Drumlin Beat – Frank McNally on the search for a Monaghan anthemAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Jan 28 2022 - 19:01
Man of Many Colours – Frank McNally on the great lexicographer and eccentric, Sean the CoatAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Jan 27 2022 - 19:01
Bly’s Spirit – Frank McNally on a pioneering journalist with an Irish sub-plotAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Jan 26 2022 - 19:01
Margins of Terror – Frank McNally on the Irish language editor and arch-pedant Risteard Ó FoghludhaAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Jan 25 2022 - 20:38
Houston, we have a problem – Frank McNally on Percy French’s forgotten collaborator Houston CollissonAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Jan 21 2022 - 19:01
French Connection – Frank McNally on why Percy French may be the real hero of Finnegans WakeAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Jan 21 2022 - 00:01
Recovered Memory – the contrasting tales of two war-torn Jewish familiesAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Jan 19 2022 - 19:01
Half-Life – Frank McNally on the Irish language’s damning diminutiveAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Jan 18 2022 - 20:10
Army offensive – Frank McNally on the decommissioning of an Elvis Costello classicAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Jan 14 2022 - 19:01
Wooden heart – Frank McNally on the dark horse in Joyce’s UlyssesAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Jan 13 2022 - 19:01
On the latchiko – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of a mysterious Irish insultAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Jan 12 2022 - 19:01
Detective Fiction – Frank McNally on three famous Dublin characters, real and imaginaryAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Jan 11 2022 - 19:01
Face the music – A new, deeply personal documentary on the life of Seán Ó RiadaAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Dec 23 2021 - 19:01
Tibb’s the Season – Frank McNally on the patron saint of things that never happenAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Dec 22 2021 - 19:01
Pen portrait – The 1922 diary of one of Seán Keating’s ‘Men of the South’An Irishman’s DiaryTue Dec 21 2021 - 20:01
Selective recall – Frank McNally on the forgotten history of LeitrimAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Dec 16 2021 - 19:01
‘A garda and soldier killed in a shoot-out. Heroes, but not anyone I knew. Then the phone rang’An Irishman’s Diary: Frank McNally on a sombre visit to McGahern CountryWed Dec 15 2021 - 19:31
Long day’s journey into Leitrim – Frank McNally on revisiting the scene of a 1983 tragedyAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Dec 14 2021 - 19:01
Future Imperfect – On Old Moore, Animal Farm, and Murphy's LawAn Irishman’s DiarySat Dec 11 2021 - 02:00
