An Irishman's DiaryIN THE French Revolutionary calendar, today would be 7 Vendémiaire , the month of the grape harvestThu Sept 29 2011 - 01:00
O'Nolan's greatest deed no literary one, says the brotherTHE WRITER Brian O’Nolan was a “very kind” man whose misfortune was to live through a grim time in Ireland when drink was often…Thu Sept 29 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryEXCITING NEWS from the Flann O’Brien statue campaign, wherein already there are developments to reportWed Sept 28 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN VIENNA earlier this year, I was taken aback to learn that the city is a linguistic cousin of Fionn MacCumhaillSat Sept 24 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryA reader has taken me to that always-unpleasant location, Task, over the appearance in yesterday’s diary of the term “iconic”: …Fri Sept 23 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE RECENT subject of a centenary statue to Brian O’Nolan has provoked intriguing suggestions from readers, none more than Tony…Thu Sept 22 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryFOLLOWING this column’s uncanny prediction of the outcome of the Ireland-Australia rugby match, I have been inundated with e-…Wed Sept 21 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT MIGHT still be a bit of an exaggeration to say that, when the Dubs take on Kerry tomorrow, they will have the support, tacit…Sat Sept 17 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN SEARCH of a metaphor for the euro zone crisis, the BBC sent a camera crew on Wednesday to the Place Charles de Gaulle in Paris…Fri Sept 16 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI KNEW the years were getting shorter, but when the first press releases for the annual Patrick Kavanagh weekend arrived recently…Thu Sept 15 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT WAS a favourite of my mother, who departed this world recentlyWed Sept 14 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryBORN IN CAVAN in 1684, Dr Thomas Sheridan is now most famous as the grandfather of another Sheridan, playwright Richard Brinsley…Sat Sept 10 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS the World Cup kicks off in New Zealand, I must reluctantly agree with reader Peter Glennon who wrote to me during the week…Fri Sept 09 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHEIR CONNECTION with literature is almost umbilical, or so they like to pretendThu Sept 08 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAT NOON TODAY, as on the first Wednesday of every month, sirens will ring out all over FranceWed Sept 07 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SPENT a pleasant hour in Paris recently in the company of a 240-year-old dictionarySat Aug 27 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE TIME has surely come for all self-respecting newspapers, like this one, to consider a ban on the word “iconic”Fri Aug 26 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI KNEW I was having a bad day in the Phoenix Park 10-mile race last Saturday when, a couple of miles from the finish, I was passed…Thu Aug 25 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE part of Monaghan I grew up in and the city of Paris have little in common, it’s trueWed Aug 24 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryPARIS IS half-deserted in August. I say half-deserted, because tourists are here in vast numbersSat Aug 20 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryFLORIAN, a gregarious young Swiss student on my French course in Paris, mentioned the other day that he was going to a party …Fri Aug 19 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI WATCHED last weekend’s Ireland-France rugby match in one of Paris’s Irish pubs – the Coolin in St Germain – and it was a somewhat…Thu Aug 18 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT HAD somehow escaped me until recently that Red Bull, the vile-tasting but popular “energy drink”, is an Austrian product. …Wed Aug 17 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE ROW over Monasterboice and its inadequate signage reminds me of one of Co Louth’s less celebrated ecclesiastical attractions…Sat Jul 23 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryA NUMBER of people have taken the trouble to point out that the unnamed “rocky outcrop” overlooking Athens, whereon my credit…Fri Jul 22 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN A self-deprecating photograph for this newspaper, Brian O’Nolan once posed alongside a road sign that read “Dublin Diversion…Thu Jul 21 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS THEY seek a new name to suit drastically reduced circumstances, I wonder if the Soldiers of Destiny could do worse that staying…Sat Jul 16 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN ITS always-entertaining Booking the Cooks feature, The Ticket supplement had an interview recently with the keyboard player…Fri Jul 15 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryYOU don’t have to be an economist visiting crisis-gripped Athens for the “D-word” to loom largeThu Jul 14 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI don’t pretend to understand the finer points of the Greek crisisWed Jul 13 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI COULD blame end-of-season fatigue for my spectacular own goal – pointed out by Paul Delaney and other readers – yesterday, …Sat Jul 02 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S ONLY right that a Scotsman should be leading Liverpool Football Club’s latest revivalFri Jul 01 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN SLIGO recently, I made the short but steep climb of Knocknarea Mountain, whose rounded hulk lies west of the town near Strandhill…Thu Jun 30 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryHAS anybody seen a Dublin “lock-hard” man lately, or is it possible that this long-threatened species of Irish wildlife has finally…Wed Jun 29 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS THE DUST settles on the Herbert Park Heron Horror, we can today report happier news from the world of natureFri Jun 24 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryVISITING Stockholm in 1923, WB Yeats remarked that the city’s Royal Palace – a magnificent structure and one of the largest of…Thu Jun 23 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryWE’VE TOUCHED here before on the potential misfortune of being saddled with the Irish forename “Sonabha”Wed Jun 22 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryENGLISH-BORN but later a Bishop of both Ossory and Meath, Richard Pococke (1704-1765) was once described as “the dullest man …Sat Jun 18 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryA PRESS RELEASE just arrived from the Trim Haymaking Festival – which, incorporating the “Scurlogstown Olympiad”, takes place…Fri Jun 17 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN A week when a much-admired public man was laid to rest, it’s somewhat sobering to open my copy of Methuen’s Poems for Every…Thu Jun 16 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS THE father of a female Irish dancer, I have for several years now tried to turn a blind eye to the use of artificial performance…Wed Jun 15 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAMONG the portraits in the National Gallery is one of Thomas Moore by a Dublin-born artist called Martin Archer-Shee (1769-1850…Fri Jun 10 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryDOES anybody else share my amazement at the sheer numbers of Irish people who think they have what it takes to be President? …Thu Jun 09 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryEVERY schoolchild knows that Douglas Hyde was Ireland’s first PresidentWed Jun 08 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE LAST word on “mullocker” (maybe) goes to readers Tomás Ó Maonaile and Dan CollinsSat Jun 04 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryA DUBLINER now living near the borders of New Hampshire and Massachusetts has e-mailed me about the eerie experience this week…Fri Jun 03 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryTRUNDLING around the back roads of Dunboyne the other night in a five-mile road race, I found myself marvelling at the strange…Thu Jun 02 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryNOT TO denigrate those people who were rewarded by the Lord Mayor of Dublin for having “made a difference to the city” (Home …Wed Jun 01 2011 - 01:00
