Look Behind You – Frank McNally on the surprising second life of a 1980s suitI’m proud that, helped by a long sabbatical, its working career has now spanned over 40 yearsWed Sept 25 2024 - 18:59
Breffni Benefactor – Frank McNally on the revolutionary largesse of Edgar Allan Poe’s Irish ancestorConspicuous generosityTue Sept 24 2024 - 18:59
Much Ado About Nothing – Frank McNally on the Shakespearean subtext of a great Anglo-Irish battle that never happenedThis month, 425 years ago, marks a pivotal non-event a few miles from CarrickmacrossFri Sept 20 2024 - 19:15
Field Outing – Frank McNally on an impromptu trip to the National Ploughing ChampionshipsIt was a jaunt reminiscent of the inaugural Bloomsday, albeit with more speed and less alcoholThu Sept 19 2024 - 19:00
Beetlemania – Frank McNally on Edgar Allan Poe, Cavan stereotypes and the storytelling insects of Fishamble Street An unlikely quest involving cryptograms, pirates and six-legged residentsWed Sept 18 2024 - 19:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Why are Irish people so preoccupied with what others might think?The Revelation of Ireland 1995-2020 dissects Irish life over 25 years, with the benefit of hindsight and the opening up of archivesSun Sept 01 2024 - 06:00
Dutch Courage – Frank McNally on Irish echoes in an infamous battle of the second World War The advance on NijmegenFri Aug 30 2024 - 18:59
Missing Link – Frank McNally on the new Fomorians, a race of people who always fear they’re missing outWhen they are in exotic places, they are haunted by pictures of friends having more fun at homeThu Aug 29 2024 - 18:58
A test of metal – Frank McNally on the mysteries of the eponymous adjectiveWhat’s in a name?Wed Aug 28 2024 - 18:58
Visions of Mangan in the 21st Century – Frank McNally on a new book about the “Baudelaire of the Liberties”James Clarence Mangan was a rock star before his timeTue Aug 27 2024 - 18:57
Tattoo-for-three Special – Frank McNally on becoming the father of an all-tattooed familyCongratulations, the WhatsApp message said: ‘ur kids are all officially tatted’Fri Aug 23 2024 - 18:59
To boldly go – Frank McNally on Star Trek’s prediction of a united Ireland A Data-driven approach to unityThu Aug 22 2024 - 18:59
Strangman, Strong Woman – Frank McNally on the life and times of a pioneering Waterford doctorMary Strangman was the first elected woman member of Waterford CorporationWed Aug 21 2024 - 18:59
Electromagnetic Picnic – Frank McNally on a weekend of music, madness, and MRIsA festival of distractionTue Aug 20 2024 - 18:59
Forty Step Programme – Frank McNally on how to cross Dublin without passing a pubThe mystical attraction of the number 40Fri Aug 16 2024 - 18:59
Altius, Citius, Hibernicus – Frank McNally on an ambitious Irish sequel to the 1924 Paris OlympicsThe revival of the Tailteann Games was designed to emphasise Ireland’s ancient sporting lineageTue Aug 13 2024 - 18:58
A Fair Fouled? – Frank McNally on the case for returning Killorglin’s King Puck to his lofty platformGetting the goat up on his platform has proved controversial in recent yearsFri Aug 09 2024 - 19:00
Jump Around - Frank McNally on the other James ConnollyWriter, athlete, and first champion of the modern OlympicsThu Aug 08 2024 - 19:00
Wicklow Head lighthouse provides a room with a view, 109 steps from bottom to topAfter being struck by lightning in 1836, Wicklow Head lighthouse was retained only as a daytime landmark for sailors. Now it is a dream holiday rentalThu Aug 08 2024 - 06:00
Great Leap Backward – Frank McNally on the continuing decline of the ‘Jumping Irishman’What a pity there’s no Hibernian high jumper in ParisWed Aug 07 2024 - 19:26
Claims to flame – Frank McNally on yet another Dublin siege and the story of the Catacombs, now and thenThe burning question behind the city’s castles emblemTue Aug 06 2024 - 19:31
Troy, Troy, and Troy Again – Frank McNally on an explanation for Dublin’s burning castles logoSeal of approvalFri Aug 02 2024 - 18:59
By a lonely prison wall – Frank McNally on digging up Mountjoy’s forgotten past Archaeological forensicsFri Aug 02 2024 - 10:35
Galway races: Pub syndicates celebrate success as punters look blue under grey Galway skiesTalk in the Park proved to be a very lovely horse winning the Tote Handicap Hurdle on Galway Plate DayWed Jul 31 2024 - 20:46
Frank McNally: I was humbled by a Pakistani taxi driver in Galway and how he fell in love with the placeI had to walk on the hard shoulder, nervously, and hope for the bestWed Jul 31 2024 - 18:59
Galway race winner puts the ‘Brit’ in Ballybrit as flip-flops are tipped for the fashion stakesAsian student Daisy enjoys her day but picks a ‘jungle’ that comes in lastTue Jul 30 2024 - 21:24
Fortune favours the brave at Galway racing festival’s rained-on opener Sartorial elegance takes centre stage on Monday opener marked by drizzling rain ... but Irish summer fails to deflate racing enthusiastsMon Jul 29 2024 - 21:10
All fired up – Frank McNally on the questionable wisdom of Dublin’s logoMystical and metaphorical meaningsFri Jul 26 2024 - 18:59
Out and proud – Frank McNally on being “horrid happy” and other Hiberno-English states of mindHappy out in SpiddalThu Jul 25 2024 - 18:52
Soldiers Are We (Not) – Frank McNally on the beauty of Brian Boydell’s Amhrán na bhFiann Maybe the music itself is enoughWed Jul 24 2024 - 18:50
Trial by Drury – Frank McNally on how a small Dublin street became a flashpoint for debate on the city’s future Many young socialites – undeterred by a lack of street furniture – were sitting on the groundThu Jul 18 2024 - 18:55
Blast from the past – Frank McNally on the shock of a 1965 recording of the national anthemA short drum-roll, followed by about 300 voices mounting an air-and-land assault on the anthem’s opening wordWed Jul 17 2024 - 18:59
Ostentatiously discreet – Frank McNally on the French honours ribbonCoveted threadsTue Jul 16 2024 - 18:59
Centre of excellence – Frank McNally on Irish literature’s most famous phrase and the rise of Gallic footballAnother cameo for Macintosh ManFri Jul 12 2024 - 19:12
Man behind the wire – Frank McNally on the incarceration of Dublin’s Grand CanalA symphony of JCB engines and jack-hammersThu Jul 11 2024 - 18:59
Darkness into light – Frank McNally on a celebratory funeral with a bleak backstoryHarry Gleeson was brought back to his home village 83 years after he was wrongfully executedWed Jul 10 2024 - 18:59
Benighted opera – Frank McNally on a rare performance of a 19th-century classicWilliam Vincent Wallace’s Lurline has a colourful pastTue Jul 09 2024 - 18:59
Remains of Harry Gleeson, wrongly executed for murder 83 years ago, laid to rest in TipperaryDepartment of Justice informed Gleeson’s family last week his remains had been positively identified in a burial area within Mountjoy PrisonSun Jul 07 2024 - 20:58
In memory of my mother – Frank McNally on a painful epiphanyPowers of interventionFri Jul 05 2024 - 19:15
Arms and the woman – Frank McNally on Irish-American writer Kathleen Norris’s controversial saluteSaluting the flagWed Jul 03 2024 - 18:59
Canadian rhapsody – Frank McNally on a party to celebrate Canada DayThe party was unusual for, among other things, hosting an exhibition in a greenhouseFri Jun 28 2024 - 18:59
Making a show of us – Frank McNally on a 1927 film that outraged Irish AmericaFor decades, The Callahans and the Murphys was believed completely lostThu Jun 27 2024 - 18:59
Great but unwashed – Frank McNally on the joys of a dry spell in DublinThe seagull has landedTue Jun 25 2024 - 18:59
Simon’s swansong – Frank McNally on the passing of a much-loved Dublin caféCherished cafés come and go, like the generations that love themFri Jun 21 2024 - 18:59
Horns of a dilemma (continued) – Frank McNally on a Dutch-Irish art mystery, now being investigated in The HagueA long-missing artwork and its partial rediscoveryThu Jun 20 2024 - 18:58
Little Bighorn of a dilemma – Frank McNally on a mystery Monaghan man who followed Custer to MontanaAmong the more than 100 Irish soldiers who marched with Custer was a “Sergeant Thomas Murray, born in Co Monaghan”Wed Jun 19 2024 - 18:59
Hose maketh the man – Frank McNally on a male sartorial dilemmaA 28-year-old film star with GAA-honed ankles sets the paceTue Jun 18 2024 - 18:59
Bloomsday: Minister and Sinn Féin leader among Dubs lining out for ‘Joycean Olympics’Among €25 T-shirts for sale at James Joyce Centre, those reading ‘Stately Plump Buck Mulligan’ sold out quicklySun Jun 16 2024 - 19:25
