It’s a cracker! Or is it a bunker? Whatever way you look at it, this quirky shot of the late Frank Carson retrieving his ball from a practice green before taking part in the Terry Wogan Golf Classic at Dún Laoghaire Golf Club in the summer of 1990 is a bit of a hole in one.
The comedian was well known for his charity work, which led to him being make a Knight of St Gregory by Pope John Paul II. He helped raise money for the children’s cancer ward at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, and left a substantial bequest to an integrated education fund in the North.
During his lifetime Carson was, of course, even better known for cheesy jokes. (Samples: “There was a man sitting in the dining room of the Titanic. He said: ‘I know I asked for ice, but this is ridiculous’.” Or: “An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar. The barman looks at them and says: ‘Is this some kind of a joke?’”)
Our photo boasts the same sort of unabashed – and slightly sinister – wackiness, with Carson’s trademark outsized glasses being dwarfed by the golf ball, the whole thing framed by blades of grass which look as sharp as shark’s teeth.
How was it done? Remotely, for sure. We’d love to crack a joke about the photographer using a deep-faced driver, or some such, but we can’t think of one.
Anyhow this is golf, for goodness’ sake. It’s never funny. Except when it involves the actor Bill Murray – of Caddyshack fame – who, along with his five brothers, runs an annual charity golf tournament in St Augustine, Florida. And steals the show every year at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament in California, wearing outrageous outfits and spinning yarns such as the one about the composer who wrote all his music while he was young . . . so he could spend the rest of his life decomposing.
Yeah, I know. It’s not all that funny. Then again: you guessed it. It’s the way he tells them.
These and other Irish Times images can be purchased from irishtimes.com/photosales. A book, The Times We Lived In, with more than 100 photographs and commentary by Arminta Wallace, published by Irish Times Books, is available from irishtimes.com/irishtimesbooks and from bookshops, €19.99