Midlands Misadventure – Frank McNally on New York writer Spalding Gray’s ill-fated trip to WestmeathAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Jan 08 2021 - 19:01
Barry to a T – Frank McNally on the surprising authenticity of Thackeray’s Irish classic Barry LyndonAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Jan 07 2021 - 19:15
Crock Around the Clock – Frank McNally on the joys of running Europe’s oldest cross-country raceAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Jan 06 2021 - 19:01
Brendan Voyage(s) – Frank McNally on a tangled tale of memoirsAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Jan 05 2021 - 21:18
Trillable Syllable – Frank McNally on a forgotten heroine of St “Stephenses” DayAn Irishman’s DiarySat Dec 26 2020 - 00:01
‘If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere’: The year Heaney helped us through2020 in review: Seamus Heaney’s line saw him replace Yeats as the most quoted Irish poetFri Dec 25 2020 - 05:00
Down Under and Out – Frank McNally on guilty memories of an Australian ChristmasAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Dec 23 2020 - 19:01
Endgame – Frank McNally on Dublin’s GAA dominance and other portents of the ApocalypseAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Dec 22 2020 - 19:45
Going Native: A Kerryman who became a Native American hero‘Valentine Trant McGillycuddy seems to have been one of the good guys’Fri Dec 18 2020 - 20:00
Christmas waits for a revival? Frank McNally on a controversial traditionIn their classic format, ‘waits’ were small groups, suited to a pandemicThu Dec 17 2020 - 20:16
Dublin as a Cold War hotspot: The Spy who Came in from the northsideAn Irishman’s Diary recalls the shooting of the Spy Who Came in from the Cold, in DublinThu Dec 17 2020 - 15:29
Not all Greek: A pandemic-inspired addiction to language coursesJournalistic ephemera are a running theme in Ulysses, starting with the scene in Leopold Bloom’s outdoor toiletWed Dec 16 2020 - 20:00
“He was clean off his head”– Frank McNally on the murder of Canon Magner in December 1920An Irishman’s DiarySat Dec 12 2020 - 15:06
Ceol Over Beethoven – Frank McNally on the great composer’s lesser-known Irish song collectionAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Dec 10 2020 - 19:15
Incendiary Material – Frank McNally on a belated musical commemoration of the Burning of CorkAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Dec 09 2020 - 19:01
Apropos of Apostrophes – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of a controversial punctuation markAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Dec 04 2020 - 19:30
Step-down facility – Frank McNally on the accidental amphitheatres of DublinAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Dec 03 2020 - 19:15
Thinking Inside the Box – Frank McNally on “humaning” and other forms of corporate tortureAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Dec 02 2020 - 19:30
Moore’s Maladies – Frank McNally on Myles na gCopaleen and the great Irish Times letters row of 1947An Irishman’s DiaryTue Dec 01 2020 - 19:01
No-Water Quarter – Frank McNally on a part of Dublin whose placenames were overtaken by historyAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Nov 27 2020 - 19:31
Third Degree Byrnes – Frank McNally on an unexpected revelation in Myles na gCopaleen’s favourite punAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Nov 27 2020 - 00:01
Turning heads and making headlines – Frank McNally on the extraordinary life of sculptor Clare SheridanAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Nov 24 2020 - 19:56
Train of Thought – Frank McNally on riding the rails with Paul Theroux and Van MorrisonAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Nov 20 2020 - 19:12
Great White Fail – Frank McNally on typos, confusing homophones, and the real-life horror that inspired Moby-DickAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Nov 20 2020 - 00:01
A Century of Doom – Frank McNally on how things fall apart, but not Yeats’s most quoted poemAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Nov 18 2020 - 19:01
Fifty Grades of Shame – Frank McNally on a bumper year for judging othersAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Nov 17 2020 - 19:01
Tail with a twist – Frank McNally on the unsuspected role of a Kerry cow in the birth of artificial intelligenceAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Nov 13 2020 - 19:01
Thunder Enlightening – Frank McNally on unravelling the mysteries of Finnegans Wake, with help from Marshall McLuhan and Woody AllenAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Nov 12 2020 - 19:30
Fan Fiction – Frank McNally on Mark Twain’s mysterious Irish fan club, based in “Corrigan Castle”Wed Nov 11 2020 - 19:01
A week of number-crunching with Alan Turing, John King, and Sam McConkeyAn Irishman’s Diary: Numb and numbersWed Nov 11 2020 - 00:01
Why Monaghan GAA jersey is a small matter for An Irishman’s Diary‘It’s a good thing for Monaghan supporters that today’s Ulster Championship first round game is not taking place in Breffni Park’Sat Oct 31 2020 - 06:00
An Irishman’s Diary on a remarkable Irish judgeBy 1914, James Creed Meredith was a committed nationalist and an organiser of the Howth and Kilcoole gun-runningsThu Oct 29 2020 - 20:00
On a literary journey with the main protagonist (within 5km)An Irishman’s Diary travels from Fowler to Flann, via Shelley and KeatsWed Oct 28 2020 - 20:00
Emily in Paris tiptoes in the footsteps of Beckett, Lenin and DiderotAn Irishman’s Diary: In which Houellebecq’s latest novel goes head to head with EIPTue Oct 27 2020 - 20:00
Kelly’s Heroines – Frank McNally on a Spanish trade union with an oddly Irish nameAn Irishman’s DiaryFri Oct 23 2020 - 19:40
Dogs of War – Frank McNally on the terrier campaign of Michael CollinsAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 22 2020 - 19:05
Matching Funds – Frank McNally on the ‘Charlton Charity’, a labour of love for loving labourersAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 21 2020 - 19:30
Grizzly End – Frank McNally on bears and the fate of St Ursula and the 11,000 VirginsAn Irishman’s DiaryTue Oct 20 2020 - 19:30
The Plot Thickens – Frank McNally on the hidden depths of his home townlandAn Irishman’s DiarySat Oct 17 2020 - 00:01
A Brush with Fame – Frank McNally on William Rowan Hamilton, lockdown exercise, and alliterative bridges of the Royal CanalAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 15 2020 - 19:30
Cutting Corner – Frank McNally on a local dilemma of Covid Level-3An Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 14 2020 - 19:30
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 09 2020 - 19:15
Kitten Caboodle – Frank McNally on Covid, Cats, and TS EliotAn Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 08 2020 - 19:01
Athy Takeaway – Frank McNally on the Johnny we hardly knew and the Bridgets we forgotAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 07 2020 - 18:45
Poe Pourri – Frank McNally on 1960s ballrooms, the mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe, and remembering ParnellAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Oct 07 2020 - 00:01
Ploughs and Stars – Frank McNally on the furloughed furrows of October 2020An Irishman’s DiaryFri Oct 02 2020 - 19:01
Bed and Board – Frank McNally on the old premarital custom of ‘bundling’An Irishman’s DiaryThu Oct 01 2020 - 20:01
Haitch Crime – Frank McNally on Ireland’s most divisive letterAn Irishman’s DiaryWed Sept 30 2020 - 19:01
