An Irish Diary

Passionate attachment – Brian Maye on Esther Van Homrigh, Swift’s “Vanessa”

A complex affair

Mon May 29 2023 - 18:56

On top of the world – Paul Clements on the conquest of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

A warmth and respect flourished between the two Everest conquerors

Sun May 28 2023 - 18:50

Something Borrowed – Frank McNally on the IOU notes of music

Name that tune

Fri May 26 2023 - 18:58

Southerne Comfort – Frank McNally on a forgotten Dublin writer who was ahead of his time

Despite his surname, Thomas Southerne was a northside Dubliner

Thu May 25 2023 - 18:59

Huguenot Nothings - Frank McNally on the mysterious origins of a French nickname

What’s in a name?

Wed May 24 2023 - 18:50

Irish, American, and black – Frank McNally on the remarkable rise of the Georgia Healys

The success of the Healys is not, alas, a story of tolerance and colour blindness

Tue May 23 2023 - 18:55

One piece at a time – Fionnuala Ward on jigsaw puzzles

The crucial factors when choosing a jigsaw puzzle

Mon May 22 2023 - 18:51

For the record – Oliver O’Hanlon on Musical Marie and her piano marathons

She sustained herself with cereals, fruit juices, lettuce, eggs, cigarettes and two gallons of tea

Sun May 21 2023 - 18:50

Sex and table quizzes: Frank McNally on why being an anorak is cool again

Courtney Love, risqué art, and the Charge of the Light Brigade

Fri May 19 2023 - 19:00

Full of Grace – Frank McNally on Dublin’s latter-day love affair with Grace Gifford-Plunkett

Exhibitions shed light on a vivid personality

Thu May 18 2023 - 19:00

Éanna Brophy on a roundabout way of remembering

Roundabout names can point to a wealth of connections

Wed May 17 2023 - 19:00

Model citizen – Frank McNally on aviation pioneer Nancy Corrigan

From Mayo to Cleveland and beyond

Tue May 16 2023 - 19:00

What time do you call this? Alison Healy on punctuality

The Just Missed It Club

Mon May 15 2023 - 19:00

Keys to history – Ray Burke on the Qwerty keyboard

On the trail of the quick brown fox

Sun May 14 2023 - 19:00

Frank McNally on a Donegal disaster, the Irish Naval Service’s finest hour, and a great Russian-Irish translator

At a sombre gathering in west Donegal this week, locals marked the 80th anniversary of the Ballymanus sea-mine disaster

Fri May 12 2023 - 19:30

Bureaucratic Mess – Frank McNally on the old Civil Service Dining Club

Everything about the club was austere, especially the portions

Thu May 11 2023 - 19:00

Facing the music – Frank McNally on Beethoven’s Ninth, Behan in prison, and post-Covid smiling unmasked

Ode to Joy

Wed May 10 2023 - 19:00

Nordic Noir – Frank McNally on Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, past and present

The Scandinavian gloom deepened steadily for an hour and 40 minutes

Tue May 9 2023 - 19:00

A record-breaking sports broadcaster – Brian Maye on Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin

His Sunday night GAA results radio show acquired a worldwide audience

Mon May 8 2023 - 19:00

Alison Healy: What I learned from judging a bonny baby competition

If you ever become a judge on the bonny baby circuit, never wait around for feedback

Sun May 7 2023 - 18:59

Onward Christian Soldier’s Song – Frank McNally on a possible Protestant paternity for Amhrán na bhFiann

Anthem may have impeccably ecumenical credentials

Fri May 5 2023 - 19:15

Balladeer Diary – Frank McNally on the Behan-Kearney dynasty and Amhrán na bhFiann

The French connection

Thu May 4 2023 - 19:00

Hard Station – Frank McNally on a notorious but fictional Garda inspection from May 1923

As the decades passed, the murky context was lost

Wed May 3 2023 - 19:00

High Office – Frank McNally on Oscar Wilde’s professorial birthplace and other startling new developments in artificial intelligence

If walls could talk

Tue May 2 2023 - 19:15

Noisy nesters – Éanna Brophy on the ingenuity of magpies

These days you’ll see them flying about with branches of small trees in their beaks

Mon May 1 2023 - 19:00

Arthur Darley – Irish doctor who inspired a Beckett poem

The friend with the “gleaming eye”

Sun Apr 30 2023 - 19:00

It’s a steal – Alison Healy on hotels and pilferers

A little extra something from their stay

Fri Apr 28 2023 - 19:00

Centre stage – Brian Maye on actor, playwright and director James Bernard Fagan

He brought the works of Anton Chekov and Sean O’Casey to English audiences

Thu Apr 27 2023 - 19:30

From Home Ruler MP to anti-Treaty TD – Brian Maye on Laurence Ginnell

Westmeath public representative made his mark

Wed Apr 26 2023 - 18:59

PG rating – Éanna Brophy on Wodehouse in Wokeland

Trigger warning

Tue Apr 25 2023 - 18:59

A man of many parts – Brian Maye on actor and director Godfrey Quigley

Quigley's work with the Dublin Globe Theatre breathed fresh life into Irish drama

Mon Apr 24 2023 - 18:59

A tale of two Sams – both Uncle Sam and Sam Maguire have a bit of mystery attached to them

“Mayo for Sam!”

Sun Apr 23 2023 - 18:59

Royal Wee – Frank McNally on the great Northern diminutive, the Joys of Belfast, and Mo Mowlam’s Hand of History

A linguistic version of nanotechnology

Fri Apr 21 2023 - 18:59

In a Glass, Darkly – Frank McNally on looking into a “nanoedition” of Ulysses

An eye for detail

Thu Apr 20 2023 - 18:59

Routed Out – Frank McNally on the defensive road map of West Belfast

Even aside from its unfortunate acronym, the Belfast Urban Motorway (BUM) was a misguided dream

Wed Apr 19 2023 - 18:59

Writer’s Block – Frank McNally on the ugliest building in Belfast

Revisiting the old offices of The Irish Times

Tue Apr 18 2023 - 18:59

The rules of the street games – the era of offline fun

There were chasing games, hiding games, counting games and songs

Mon Apr 17 2023 - 18:59

Oscar Wilde’s false teeth were kept by a hotelier – but the family didn’t want them back

An Irishwoman’s diary: Oscar Wilde’s false teeth were kept by a hotelier who later tried to return them to the family – but they declined

Sun Apr 16 2023 - 00:00

Rhyming hope and Heaney: Frank McNally on political poetry, rubbing Princess Grace, and a brand of shoes named “Bertie”

An Irishman's Diary: Joe Biden gets some brownie points for pronunciation

Fri Apr 14 2023 - 19:00

Nothing but the trout: Frank McNally on the colourful origins of the legal principle res ipsa loquitur

An Irishman's Diary: Lending folkloric weight to the facts that speak for themselves

Thu Apr 13 2023 - 19:00

Mauling Molly: Frank McNally on the rampant sexual abuse of Dublin’s most famous statue

We may soon have to update the lyrics of the ballad: In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my hands on…

Wed Apr 12 2023 - 19:00

Blithe Spirits: Frank McNally on an eccentric Dart passenger, a Martello Tower visit and the ghost of James Joyce

A story that has more holes in it than the storyteller’s T-shirt

Tue Apr 11 2023 - 19:00

Fionnuala Ward: I guess it’s time for elocution lessons to make a comeback?

Considering the demise of accents and related colloquialisms

Mon Apr 10 2023 - 19:10

Taking note – Brian Maye on pioneering traditional music scholar Donal O’Sullivan

A profound influence on Irish folk and traditional music

Sun Apr 9 2023 - 18:50

Great Ulster Friday - Frank McNally on Easter 1998, pre-Troubles sectarianism, and the great northern vegetable roll

Agreement memories

Fri Apr 7 2023 - 19:00

Portobello on Parade – Frank McNally on the phenomenon of Dublin suburb creep

At current rates of expansion, it will be in Stephen’s Green by Christmas

Thu Apr 6 2023 - 19:00

The Harper that Once - Frank McNally on Patrick Byrne, a famous, long-forgotten relative

“The last of the great Irish harpers”

Wed Apr 5 2023 - 20:10

Now and Venn - Frank McNally on famous cryptographers, Venn diagrams, and equestrian dramatics

Overlapping circles

Tue Apr 4 2023 - 19:36

Always in fashion – Deirdre McQuillan on Ann Griffin Bernstorff’s historic collection

Coco Chanel and the New Ross connection

Mon Apr 3 2023 - 19:30

Abbey days – Brian Maye on clergyman and antiquary Mervyn Archdall

Archdall wrote an ambitious and pioneering history of Ireland’s pre-Reformation monasteries and abbeys

Sun Apr 2 2023 - 19:00

Crosswords & Puzzles

Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained

The Irish Times ePaper

France 2003

Rugby World Cup: match analysis, interviews, fixtures and results

Stardust

Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people

Family Notices

Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices

An Irish Diary

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

Subscribe

Support

About Us

Irish Times Products & Services