Loamy Grey Soil – Frank McNally on a lesser-known poet of South Monaghan, F Julia BoltonAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Oct 13 2020 - 20:01
The Running Book by John Connell: a grounded writer on the right trackA running theme, apart from running, is indigenous people’s struggle with colonialismSun Oct 11 2020 - 06:00
Number of the Beast – Frank McNally on auspicious dates, inauspicious horses, and the theme of fertiliser in Flann O’BrienAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Oct 9 2020 - 19:15
Kitten Caboodle – Frank McNally on Covid, Cats, and TS EliotAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 8 2020 - 19:01
Athy Takeaway – Frank McNally on the Johnny we hardly knew and the Bridgets we forgotAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 7 2020 - 18:45
Poe Pourri – Frank McNally on 1960s ballrooms, the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe, and remembering ParnellAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 7 2020 - 00:01
Ploughs and Stars – Frank McNally on the furloughed furrows of October 2020An Irishman’s DiaryFri Oct 2 2020 - 19:01
Bed and Board – Frank McNally on the old premarital custom of ‘bundling’An Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 1 2020 - 20:01
Haitch Crime – Frank McNally on Ireland’s most divisive letterAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Sep 30 2020 - 19:01
Marginal Gains – Frank McNally on the Book of Kells as a property supplementAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Sep 29 2020 - 19:30
Susie Dent: ‘Jimmy Carr is incredibly rude to me. I took it as a compliment’The Countdown lexicographer on a life-long love of languages, accidental fame and why ‘gobshite’ isn’t as Irish as we thinkSat Sep 26 2020 - 06:00
Sheets to the Wind – Frank McNally on the challenges of outdoor cafésAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Sep 25 2020 - 19:20
Forbidden Fruit – Frank McNally on a tale of youthful decadence and damsonsAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Sep 24 2020 - 19:45
Lynch Law – Frank McNally on the ‘mysterious’ death of a Limerick republican, 100 years ago this weekAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Sep 23 2020 - 19:30
An Irish Airman Foresees a New Era – Frank McNally on the fraught beginnings of civil aviation in IrelandAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Sep 22 2020 - 19:15
Season’s Greetings – Frank McNally on the ups and downs of autumn 2020An Irishman’s DiaryThu Sep 17 2020 - 19:20
Sweet Art Deal – Frank McNally on a surprising Irish contribution to the history of artAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Sep 16 2020 - 19:20
Seoul Kitchen – Frank McNally on the challenges of addressing the world before breakfastAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Sep 15 2020 - 18:15
Do the 'Nordies' and 'Free Staters' even like each other and what does it mean for Irish unity?State’s liberalisation has led to odd realignment in the North between DUP and some CatholicsFri Sep 11 2020 - 01:00
Roman Soldier – Frank McNally on the continuing adventures of a veteran Olympian, Willie DunneAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Sep 10 2020 - 19:35
Donegal Catch – Frank McNally recalls the heroic rescue of the SS StolwijkAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Sep 9 2020 - 19:45
Testing . . . One, Two – Frank McNally on the surprising connections of a sensitive body partAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Sep 8 2020 - 18:45
The Puck Stops Here – Frank McNally on the royal goats, psychedelic sheep, and fearsome midges of KerryAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Sep 4 2020 - 19:30
First Family – Frank McNally on the surprising origins of Ireland’s original soap opera, The Kennedys of CastlerossAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Sep 3 2020 - 19:30
How a Belfast prisoner of war used Irish language to defy Japanese captorsIrishman’s Diary: Belfast GP Frank Murray’s diary used Irish to hide sensitive materialThu Sep 3 2020 - 00:01
Kingdom Come (and Gone) – Frank McNally on holidays in Kerry, the myth of Tír na nÓg, and the demise of Big PhilTue Sep 1 2020 - 20:28
Ladies First – Frank McNally on holy wells, unholy riots, and a landmark in literary lesbianismFri Aug 14 2020 - 19:01
Great Mines – Frank McNally on how a schoolboy war helped launch the ‘father of seismology’, Robert MalletWed Aug 12 2020 - 19:01
A meander from a gloomy Orwellian summer to James Gandon’s graveAn already sad week was made worse by the death of the great American journalist Pete HamillFri Aug 7 2020 - 20:00
Unholy war: Frank McNally on controversial memorials of a Dublin cathedralInside St Patrick’s cathedral lie monuments that if they stood elsewhere might have been consigned to the LiffeyThu Aug 6 2020 - 20:01
Sticky wicket: Frank McNally on Ireland’s love-hate relationship with cricketPerhaps somewhere, in an Irish political heaven, the Derry man is discussing this with another great former leader of nationalismWed Aug 5 2020 - 20:00
Flying pickets: A pandemic-inspired relocation of the great American fenceThis mixture of classic Americana, chalked outlines and a picnic area is a like some Lynch-directed dream-sequence: a bunfight at the RHK corralTue Aug 4 2020 - 20:00
Noises off (and on again): Listening out for the sounds of a new normal‘It seemed like an overreaction to have the WHO intervene, although it being Geneva, I suppose, it could just as easily have been the UN’Fri Jul 31 2020 - 20:00
Blue shirts are out as Richard 'Vladimir' Bruton sets tone for men’s autumn fashionFrank McNally on a fashion for sticks, fear of statues and the craze of politicians taking shirts offThu Jul 30 2020 - 20:00
Brat’s tale: Frank McNally on the curious evolution of the Irish word for ‘flag’How ‘brat’ worked its way down in the worldWed Jul 29 2020 - 20:00
Sole rebel: Frank McNally on the joys of running in bare feetIt’s as if we think of our feet as footwear in themselves, which they areTue Jul 28 2020 - 20:00
Thermidorian Conditions Apply – Frank McNally on the lingering influence of a revolutionary monthFri Jul 24 2020 - 19:45
Red in the Head – Frank McNally on Ireland’s strange love affair with English football clubsThu Jul 23 2020 - 19:30
The Leaving of Limerick – Frank McNally on Robert Graves’s uneasy relationship with his ancestral cityWed Jul 22 2020 - 19:01
Joining the Heard – Frank McNally on how Ireland became an international success story (told by us)Tue Jul 21 2020 - 19:45
Four-Dimensional Green Fields – Frank McNally on unified field theory, de Valera’s Ireland, and a new GAA club in BelfastFri Jul 17 2020 - 19:01
Field of Dreams – Frank McNally on the heady days when Jack Charlton’s Ireland turned up in his back garden (or near enough)Wed Jul 15 2020 - 19:01
Poetic Licence (Provisional) – Frank McNally on the woes of Mary Kenny and Barry CowenTue Jul 14 2020 - 19:30
Jack Charlton’s own grievances endeared him to Irish fans‘He was the sporting father figure we needed - and wore a peaked cap, like our actual fathers’Sat Jul 11 2020 - 18:48
Here Comes the Bridey – Frank McNally on an Irishwoman’s reincarnation in 1950s AmericaFri Jul 10 2020 - 19:20
Dimly lit interior? Frank McNally on the notion that midlanders may be below sea-level, in more ways than oneTue Jul 7 2020 - 18:35