Lunching with Sir Bob Geldof at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud last week, On The Town was granted a sneak peek at the The Whoseday Book, in return for a sneaky spoonful of our creme brulee. This lavishly-bound tome is a diary of the year 2000, featuring contributions from top Irish figures, including Sir Bob, Frank McCourt, Maeve Binchy, Bono, Christy Moore, Nuala O'Faolain, Enya, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, Richard Harris, Neil Jordan and Anjelica Huston.
The millennium diary, brainchild of Irish Times columnist John Waters, got its official launch at the AIB Bank Centre last Monday, at a dinner hosted by the book's patron, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, and AIB chairman Lochlann Quinn, and conducted by master of ceremonies Olivia O'Leary.
Among the celebrity contributors who attended were novelist Colm Toibin, writers Marie Heaney and her sister Polly Devlin, and architects John Meagher and Felim Dunne. Waters flew in from London with his daughter, Roisin, to be there, and Minister Jim McDaid took the opportunity to make his own millennial plea for higher standards in the media. Good on ya, Minister.
The Irish Hospice Foundation is hoping to make a whopping £4 million from the worldwide sales of The Whoseday Book, which sells for £30. No surprise then that among the invitees were some big figures from the business world, including AIB chief executive Tom Mulcahy, chief executive of First Trust Denis Licence, chief executive of Hibernian Insurance Adrian Daly, chief executive of Eircell Stephen Brewer, Aer Lingus director of marketing, David Bunworth, Aer Lingus head of corporate affairs Dan Loughrey, and Bailey's brand manager Ronan O'Farrell. If this corporate lot cough up, they'll be donating their euros to a good cause.
Other guests included the book's designer, Ciaran O Gaora, Irish Hospice Foundation chair and the book's editor, Marie Donnelly, broadcaster Marian Finucane, Hospice board member Laurence Crowley, publisher Mike Hogan, Magill editor Emily O'Reilly, her husband Stephen Ryan, Irish Times head of advertising Maeve Donovan, managing editor of Image Publications Jane McDonnell, and filmmaker Katy McGuinness.
The book will be launched in New York on May 5th, and the publishers have two star guests in their sights - the President, Mrs McAleese, and American first lady Hillary Clinton. That'll be the Whoseday.
