Director’s film Blitz, starring the Irish actor, focuses on a tight family of three trying to keep heads aloft as the bombs fall in London in 1940
From chicken and chips in foggy Venice, to the simple beauty of a tomato and an egg
Iconoclastic critics are – to turn their own words against them – short on emotional resonance, boring as sin and not all that compelling
The best opening lines have poise, excite immediate attention or simply impress
Whether you’re crammed on a bus on the way to work or lounging with a cocktail by the pool, audiobooks are a perfect way to transport you to another place
Steven Knight’s new BBC version of Great Expectations is like a Burt Bacharach song covered by a good metal band
Television: Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight lays the melodrama on with a trowel in this take on Dickens, starring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham
Donald Clarke: Problem is not with the writer but with the smallness of the critics’ minds
The adventure novelist sold 250 million books. A number of his works have Irish themes
‘Michaelmas goose’, stuffed with potatoes, signified prosperity for the year ahead
Is it Chris Kringle? Or Kris Kindle? Or just plain old Secret Santa?
This year my sleep issues got so bad that I snapped and did something about them
Sheila Shelton was adopted by a couple in the US from a Tipperary mother and baby home
Z Nation, The Monkees, Buffy and 2000AD are fine examples of brilliance by stealth
Pricewatch’s 12 fun facts of Christmas explores the origins of our modern traditions
Commemoration of Rohatsu 2020, Buddhist Day of Enlightenment, starts event series
Whether for sleepovers or special and surprising gifts, Ireland’s hotels have you covered
177-year-old card went on sale the same year Dickens’s A Christmas Carol was published
Pantomimes and family shows have gone online – or even switched to a drive-in format
The French Connection won best picture but the non-fiction novel is largely forgotten
He knew this because, when he started writing The Commitments, he knew it was good
Zafon wrote The Shadow of the Wind, the most read Spanish novel after Don Quixote
This pretty Georgian home sits in the centre of a charming Co Waterford heritage town
The only true victims of the meme are gentle souls whose name is being taken in vain
Contents sale of New Park House features many equine-themed works
The best biopics, documentaries, cartoons, features and award favourites of the year
Victorian fashions have shaped our expectations of Christmas to a degree that we forget how many of our Christmas traditions are recent innovations
Yet another adaptation of A Christmas Carol proves that Dickens was right on the money
Stores were opening till midnight back in 1867 and, even now, too often we just buy unwanted junk
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Full general election coverage including analysis and results for all 43 constituencies
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices
