Disunited Irishmen - Frank McNally on the year Shankill Road protestants paid tribute in Bodenstown and were attacked by the IRA
First there were angry words. Then ‘blows were exchanged’
Red into the record – Frank McNally on Peadar O’Donnell’s libel case against the Irish Rosary magazine
The trial had its origins in the ‘Red Scare’ general election of 1932
Irish Blood, Irish Heart: Frank McNally on a Mancunian hibernophile, Sir Norman Moore
He was struck by, among other things, the level of classical learning in 19th century Ireland, even among the poor
Throwing shapes: Frank McNally on the mysteries of the Hiberno-English ‘gimp’
Ever since hearing the term applied to myself a while back, I’ve been wondering what it means too
Burning Issues: Frank McNally on an unfortunate metaphor, and the continuing mysteries of the ‘Flannagram’
Copies of At Swim-Two-Birds fell victim to the German fire-bombing of a London warehouse in 1940
Holy Irish, partly French – Frank McNally on 800 years of St Laurence O’Toole
A shrine in France credited the Irishman with 256 miracles
Academic questions: Frank McNally on Titanic terriers, epic expense accounts and the rise of the ‘full professor’
Try claiming for a piano-playing secretary today and see what happens
Not so merry - Frank McNally on the month of May’s somewhat ominous reputation
Those of cautious temperament urge us to hold on to our overcoats until June
Farren Away - Frank McNally on how the dreaded phantom ‘Flann’ picture struck again
Recurring misidentification is in one way an apt tribute to O’Nolan, who spent his career pretending to be other people
Non Habemus Librum: Frank McNally on Flann O’Brien’s unwritten epic about the election of an Irish pope
Like many unwritten masterpieces, the book was born and died in a Dublin pub
Frightfully unfashionable: Frank McNally on the century-long decline of adverbs
‘Beastly’ and ‘ghastly’ were still going strong in the mid-20th century novels of Enid Blyton, but ‘awfully’ and ‘frightfully’ were dying out
A count in arrears – Frank McNally on a first-ever solo exhibition of the life and work of Casimir Markievicz
Markievicz was a prominent figure in Dublin’s social and artistic life for a decade
Over on Out: Frank McNally gets to the bottom of a mysteriously familiar phrase
`It took out’ was a common phrase among the people of Cullyhanna, Crossmaglen, and Culloville
All Yellow - Frank McNally on singing Emily Dickinson, Joyce’s advanced maths, and quantum mechanics in Blackrock
I now know, for good or bad, most if not all of Dickinson’s poems can be sung to the tune of a traditional American ballad, The Yellow Rose of Texas
Out of My Mind? Frank McNally on a search for the sentence-ending superlative, ‘took out’
Investigating what I thought was a common figure of speech has led to some bewildering results