Shifting Sands - Frank McNally on the dramatic real-life plot twist of Erskine ChildersA personal transformation that even a good spy novelist might struggle to make credibleTue Sept 06 2022 - 19:01
Mobbed – Frank McNally on the image and reality of the Sicilian MafiaA martyred duoFri Sept 02 2022 - 19:10
Port in a Storm – Frank McNally on the strange story of the Sicilian EmmetsA striking resemblanceThu Sept 01 2022 - 19:10
Dead Central Sicily - Frank McNally on the Capuchin Catacombs of PalermoTales from the cryptWed Aug 31 2022 - 19:01
Tyred and Emotional - Frank McNally on the ups and downs of driving in SicilyAn offer I couldn’t refuseTue Aug 30 2022 - 19:15
Madonna è mobile – Frank McNally on a Sicilian tale of two MadonnasMiraculous sightingsFri Aug 19 2022 - 19:01
No Flowers, Please - Frank McNally on the etymological ambush of Beal na BláthDisputes over placenamesThu Aug 18 2022 - 19:01
Frank McNally on the Dublin-born newspaper mogul, Lord Northcliffe, who died 100 years agoThe most successful newspaper publisher of his timeWed Aug 17 2022 - 19:01
Fan Fiction - Frank McNally on football’s fondness for the ‘unbelievable’The thesaurus of incredulityTue Aug 16 2022 - 19:02
Take me to chapel - Frank McNally on why traditional Catholics never went to churchA crucial distinctionFri Aug 12 2022 - 20:01
Out With a Bang - Frank McNally on the cult of the newspaper “knock-down”A time-honoured ritualThu Aug 11 2022 - 19:01
Rough Justice - Frank McNally on the unlikely romance between Eoin O’Duffy and Micheal MacLiammóirThe odd coupleWed Aug 10 2022 - 19:20
Put Out by Putin - Frank McNally on the perils of undiplomatic language It may be time for an audit of all body-based metaphorsTue Aug 09 2022 - 19:01
A quarter of two halves: Frank McNally on tourism, homelessness and Emily in ParisPilgrims pose for selfies around the area featured in the hit TV seriesFri Aug 05 2022 - 19:36
Was Gustav Holst German or English? Frank McNally on ethnic confusionEnglish composer grew up within the furlongs of the famous Cheltenham racecourseThu Aug 04 2022 - 19:34
The Life of Oreille: Frank McNally on a famous French anthropologist with a very Irish nameThe ‘missionary-ethnographer’ amassed a huge collection of artefacts and documentsWed Aug 03 2022 - 19:32
Cultic Mist: Frank McNally on the weirdness of watching Irish sport in ParisGAA in such circumstances seems to imply almost religious devotionTue Aug 02 2022 - 19:20
Holed Up – Frank McNally on escaping the apocalypse in West CorkSwiss role in cold war “funk hole”Thu Jul 14 2022 - 19:01
Revolutionaries and inmates: Frank McNally on the Irish and the storming of the BastilleA Dubliner among the prisoners defied the law of probabilityWed Jul 13 2022 - 19:01
Who’s bringing the horse to France? A history of Ireland in 100 questions Riddle me thisTue Jul 12 2022 - 19:01
And the Beatrices Go On - Frank McNally on the dark-haired beauties of Joyce, Dante, and Patrick KavanaghMane attractionFri Jul 08 2022 - 19:01
Sailing into the sunset - Frank McNally on Shelley’s last voyagePoet met his untimely death aged 29, 200 years agoThu Jul 07 2022 - 19:01
Noises Off - Frank McNally on opera, snoring, and vintage tractorsThose chimes so sweetly stealingWed Jul 06 2022 - 19:01
Dogs of War (continued) - Frank McNally on the other four-legged “Convict 224″A pedigree chumThu Jun 30 2022 - 19:02
Stone Mad: Frank McNally on the mysterious Irish tradition of wall bitingIs it only a Meath thing?Wed Jun 29 2022 - 19:01
A Hunger for Art Frank McNally on an extraordinary sculpture garden in West CorkThu Jun 23 2022 - 19:01
Hostages to FortuneFrank McNally on a radical new production of a classic Irish short storyWed Jun 22 2022 - 19:01
Noteworthy roads - Frank McNally on Dublin’s musical streetscapeSigns of musical heritage everywhereSat Jun 18 2022 - 05:00
Bloomsday: Skeleton onesies, period dress and at least 88 full Joycean breakfasts Gravediggers Bar deputised for Barney Kiernan’s as backdrop for Bloomsday performance of Cyclops episodeThu Jun 16 2022 - 20:52
Ulysses and me – Frank McNally and his long relationship with Joyce’s greatest bookA diary for BloomsdayThu Jun 16 2022 - 05:00
Fair cop? – Frank McNally on the possible real-life model for Joyce’s undertakerWho was the inspiration for Cornelius ‘Corny’ Kelleher?Wed Jun 15 2022 - 05:00
Royal flush – Frank McNally on Judy Garland, the Theatre Royal, and Mulligan’s pubIt’s 60 years since Dublin’s Theatre Royal was demolishedSat Jun 11 2022 - 05:00
Molly coddled – Frank McNally on the real-life backstory of Joyce’s Molly BloomFor a novelist James Joyce was notoriously reluctant to make stuff upFri Jun 10 2022 - 05:00
Our Daily Dread – Frank McNally on the ups and downs of diary writingSome publications get in guest celebrity diarists - not this column which has been on the go since 1927Thu Jun 09 2022 - 05:42
Feckless father – Frank McNally on the property and paternity portfolios of John JoyceJames Joyce’s father filled his house with children and with debtsWed Jun 08 2022 - 05:00
Taking the Mick – Frank McNally on racial epithets, dogs of war, and Kipling’s romanticised IrishFurore over a certain British army regiment and its nicknameFri Jun 03 2022 - 19:30
Patrick Kavanagh out of the doldrums and back in the drumlins with revamped centrePatrick Kavanagh Centre reopens after €1.2m faceliftFri Jun 03 2022 - 01:00
On the Road to Nowhere – Frank McNally on being too old to read Jack KerouacWriter's Hiberno-Breton originsThu Jun 02 2022 - 19:30
Baths of My Own Lovely Lee – Frank McNally on a Corkman who revolutionised personal hygieneDr Richard Barter established in the Leeside village of Inniscarra in 1856 a fashion that soon spread to Britain and beyond.Wed Jun 01 2022 - 19:30
Throwing Lions to Christians – Frank McNally on St Ronan and the cult of French rugbyWestern France has a church dedicated to rugbyTue May 31 2022 - 19:45
Frank McNally on how Bruce Springsteen concerts became a luxury productFill out for subheadlineFri May 27 2022 - 19:58
Just Another Manic Tuesday – Frank McNally on a day of mixed Emos The Irish origins of “Emo” are mysteriousWed May 25 2022 - 19:46
Fellow traveller – Frank McNally on the ‘republican widowhood’ of Dervla MurphyAn Irishman’s DiaryTue May 24 2022 - 19:34
Ardal O’Hanlon: ‘I have met at least three people who have killed other people’The comedian on his new ‘crimey’ novel set in an border town that’s ‘not Carrickmacross’Sat May 21 2022 - 06:00
