Compiled by
JAMES GIBBONS
I'm a celebrity, get me fitter here
Model Sarah McGovern gave birth to baby Jude last August and one of her new year’s resolutions “is to lose the rest of this baby weight”. She and her husband Kenny Vaughan stayed in with Jude on New Year’s Eve.
“We were so tired after all the running around with late nights and early mornings. We were in bed at 11.30pm. How times have changed.”
Sarah has signed up as a participant in the Aviva Get Fit Action Plan 2012. A panel of experts, including nutritionist Emma Buckley and motivational coach Enda McNulty, will help celebrity participants including Mairead Farrell of The Ray D'Arcy Showon Today FM and Henry McKean of Newstalk as they embark on a six-week health and fitness programme.
See facebook.com/avivaireland.
A big voice for Little Christmas
“Traditionally, in Spain, the eve of Little Christmas was when children got their presents,” Finbar Wright told us at his Little Christmas Eve concert at the National Concert Hall on Thursday evening. The tradition was derived from the three wise men bearing gifts.
There were a few wise men in the audience on Thursday, including the former chairman of the planning tribunal, Mr Justice Feargus Flood. Wright gave renditions of South Of The Border, On Raglan Roadand When You Were Sweet Sixteen.He flew home on Christmas Eve after touring in the US. "I was touring from the end of November from California to Texas and Memphis, Tennessee," he told me. His wife Angela was happy to have him home for Christmas.
Ray and Marie Collins travelled in from Firhouse to hear Finbar and caught up with their friends Tess and Michael Lenihan from Portmarnock.
Last night, Finbar gave a Little Christmas concert in the Cork Opera House. It was one of many celebrations to mark Nollaig na mBan.
* The James Joyce Centre and Sweny's Pharmacy held a dinner last night at the Gresham hotel in Dublin, inspired by the meal the Misses Morkan served at their annual musical gathering to mark Little Christmas in Joyce's short story, The Dead. Tenor Noel O'Grady sang The Lass of Aughrimand singers Sinead Murphy and Darina Gallagher sang Arrayed for the Bridal.The Gresham is the setting for Gabriel Conroy's epiphany (on the feast of the Epiphany) in The Deadas he looks out the window at the snow after the Misses Morkan's party.
Last Sunday, the James Joyce Tower and Museum in Sandycove was packed as actor Paul O’Hanrahan read from James Joyce’s Ulysses to mark the expiry of its copyright at midnight on New Year’s Eve, 70 years after the death of the author.
Mark Traynor, director of the James Joyce Centre on North Great George's Street, told me that the expiry of the copyright on Joyce's work "relieves a lot of pressure on people who are enthusiastic for Joyce". The centre will host its birthday lecture on February 2nd to mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of Joyce and the 90th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses.The lecture will be given by Prof Andrew Gibson of the University of London.
Dublin City Library has selected Dublinersas the Dublin: One City, One Book for 2012. To celebrate this, the James Joyce Centre is holding a lecture by Kevin Barry of the National University of Ireland, Galway, on April 2nd, and an evening of music and literature is planned for the National Concert Hall on April 13th.
As part of this year’s Bloomsday celebrations the International James Joyce Symposium is being held at Trinity College and University College Dublin. The last time this was held in Ireland was during the centenary in 2004.
What we drankPaid for our own at the NCH bar
What we heard"Oh God, Finbar's all toned up," said one avid fan .
Who we spottedDes Moran, a member of the Ballinteer Male Voice Choir. He was accompanied by his wife Jean Moran, and Robert and Marie Traynor from Ballinteer.
A Nuncio is announced
Yesterday, during Mass at St Peter’s Basilica for the feast of the Epiphany, the Pope ordained Mgr Charles J Brown an archbishop. The incoming apostolic nuncio to Ireland is now titular Archbishop of Aquileia.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that “as yet, we do not have a date for his arrival or presentation of credentials. The new papal nuncio will also be the dean of the diplomatic corps.”
On Wednesday, January 18th, as is traditional, the diplomatic corps will present new-year greetings to the President. Usually the President gives a short address in Áras an Uachtaráin and then the dean of the diplomatic corps replies on behalf of the assembled ambassadors.
However, if the archbishop is not yet installed as papal nuncio and dean, he will not give the address.
A spokesperson said the Department of Foreign Affairs was “not aware of an acting dean presenting greetings before – it does not appear to have arisen in the past”.
The acting dean is the Austrian ambassador, Dr Walter Hagg.
It is a formal occasion and usually even ambassadors living in London or other capitals accredited to Ireland are expected to attend.
Science, students and the man from Nasa
Aidan Power shared the stage at College Green in Dublin on New Year's Eve with The Coronas, Bressie, Paul Brady, the stars of Riverdanceand co-host Michelle McGrath. "It was a great honour to be the guy on stage doing the countdown," said the 98fm and RTÉ presenter. Next week he'll share a stage with TG4 presenter Róisín Ní Thomáin at the 48th BT Young Scientist Technology Exhibition at the RDS.
Róisín, a qualfied primary-school teacher and a reporter on RTÉ's The Daily Show, is stepping into Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin's shoes.
Aidan is looking forward to presenting next week. “It’s the best of craic, there’s a great buzz and it’s a great day out. Students arrive from all over Ireland and there’s a disco on Friday night.”
A Nasa astronaut, Dan Tani, will attend the exhibition this year.
This is Aidan’s third year presenting. “Of all the award shows, this is the biggest. The level of intelligence of those involved is mind-boggling. Some of them go on to form their own companies.”
A festival of awareness
Claire Byrne of RTÉ's The Daily Showspent Christmas with her parents at home in Co Laois, and visited her relations in Cos Mayo and Leitrim over the new year. "I had some days off and I was going to go away but decided on a staycation," she told me at the launch of First Fortnight, the country's first arts festival dedicated to promoting awareness of mental health. (The Ticket, the entertainment supplement of The Irish Times, is among the festival's sponsors.) It incorporates a range of music, film and theatre, and Claire will present The Soapbox Sessions next Saturday at the Button Factory.
She was joined at Wednesday's launch by Paul Walsh, the presenter of Two Tube on RTÉ 2. Paul also sings with the band Royseven, whose single We Should Be Loverswas the most played Irish single on radio last year. Paul, who is from Clonmel, is just back from spending Christmas in Belgium where his family is now based. He is looking forward to performing with the band during First Fortnight: Royseven is the headline act at the Button Factory next Saturday.
The performance One Man, Many Voicesis at FilmBase in Temple Bar at 2:30pm today and Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnstonis showing at the IFI at 4pm. See firstfortnight.com
