Up in smoke — Frank McNally on the once-thriving Irish tobacco industryDuring the American and Napoleonic wars, Ireland supplied most of the product used in British tobacco factoriesThu Jan 11 2024 - 18:59
Millstone milestone — Frank McNally on the 225th anniversary of a ‘temporary’ taxIt was only in 1972 that Ireland finally made the ‘temporary’ income tax arrangement permanentWed Jan 10 2024 - 18:59
Pane management — Frank McNally on the sad story of a Harry Clarke masterworkClarke’s magnificent work was caught up in the repressed politics of the fledgling Free StateTue Jan 09 2024 - 19:38
Auld Slang’s Time — Frank McNally on an old but now numerically apt American expression: ‘23 skidoo’The number 23 has many claims to fameFri Dec 29 2023 - 18:59
Absence-of-light entertainment - Frank McNally on Irish words for dusk, the Celtic Twilight, and the original Monsieur SilhouetteA trick of the lightThu Dec 28 2023 - 18:59
Dark Secret – Frank McNally on a Christmas Night visit to DowthA journey through megalithic MeathWed Dec 27 2023 - 18:59
Daly Star – Frank McNally on the origins of Ally Daly, Betty Martin and other etymological mysteriesA synonym for nonsense, a mark of excellence and a guarantor of authenticityFri Dec 22 2023 - 19:36
Many unhappy returns: Frank McNally on Christmas as a ‘feast of failure’Deck the halls with broken friendships, lost loves and all the other ghosts of the pastThu Dec 21 2023 - 19:24
Tidings of discomfort and Joyce - Frank McNally on recreating a famous Christmas dinner rowI had the privilege of seeing a group of actors recreate the scene, with spine-tingling effect, in the place where it happenedWed Dec 20 2023 - 19:00
A life’s cycle – Frank McNally on the death of Olympian Willie DunneThe passing of Willie coincided with the passing of former Irish Times picture editor, Peter ThursfieldTue Dec 19 2023 - 19:00
Picture this: Frank McNally on commemorating departed friendsPhotographs, memories and a few re-enactmentsFri Dec 15 2023 - 19:11
Picture post - Frank McNally on Cork nuances, the late Colm Ó Briain, and a photo exhibition in RathminesHimself and yer man, from Cork to DublinWed Dec 13 2023 - 19:00
Long day’s journey into Nenagh - Frank McNally on the stress of covering celebrity funeralsDeadlines, from filing copy to car park closures, leave this journalist late to the partyTue Dec 12 2023 - 19:00
Shane MacGowan bows out as thousands line streets on a rainy day in NenaghTown turns out to welcome singer home for the last time as wife Victoria Mary Clarke delivers eulogyFri Dec 08 2023 - 21:31
Wired Up — Frank McNally on the ambiguities of a classic by The PoguesA transatlantic ballad on the life and death of a man called Big Jim DwyerThu Dec 07 2023 - 18:59
Rizz kids — Frank McNally on the mystery of why Irish people are suddenly so good-lookingOxford University Press has just declared 'rizz' to be the word of the yearWed Dec 06 2023 - 18:59
Rising Champ – Frank McNally on a jockey’s quiet comeback and the 90th anniversary of a famous literary rulingA noisy Mansion House was silenced by a brave man who speaks in whispersTue Dec 05 2023 - 18:59
Field Studies — Frank McNally on GAA pitches, gaps of danger, and the decline of the liquid lunchSober analysisFri Dec 01 2023 - 18:59
Mad Cow Roundabout – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of the Dublin Cattle RunAt its 1957 height, the Dublin Cattle Market was Europe’s biggestThu Nov 30 2023 - 18:59
‘Death had marvellously improved him’ – Frank McNally on the Irish doctors who had the last word on NapoleonThe man behind the maskWed Nov 29 2023 - 18:59
Frank McNally: The French are right. Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a travestyThe best thing about the movie is Josephine, as played by Vanessa KirbyTue Nov 28 2023 - 18:59
Running riot — Frank McNally on a manic night in DublinMy eyes stung for no apparent reason, until I guessed it was pepper-spray floating on the breezeFri Nov 24 2023 - 18:59
Bonaparte at the seams — Frank McNally on Napoleon, Wolfe Tone, and the O’Meara dynasty A brush with historyThu Nov 23 2023 - 18:59
Strong Language – Frank McNally on ‘moithered’, ‘míle murder’, and the lesser-spotted ‘hecatomb’Expanding vocabularyWed Nov 22 2023 - 18:59
Fast Forward — Frank McNally on the forgotten mass hunger strike of 1923Free State authorities kept publicity for the Anti-Treaty protest to a minimumTue Nov 21 2023 - 18:59
An exorcism ‘sent shivers up my spine’: Offaly faith healer who treats people at his pubIn the heart of Co Offaly, Joe Gallagher treats people for ailments such as eczema, ringworm and once an ‘evil spirit’Sun Nov 12 2023 - 07:00
Martin Market – Frank McNally on the joys and pains of MartinmasThe continued association of the date with eating and drinkingFri Nov 10 2023 - 18:59
A poet’s last stand – Frank McNally on the death of Dylan Thomas, 70 years ago Even if the 18 whiskeys never happened, Thomas must certainly have set a few drinking records in his short lifeWed Nov 08 2023 - 18:59
Multiple Joyce – Frank McNally on how the author is general, all over IrelandA phantom engagement of sortsTue Nov 07 2023 - 18:59
Ogs and Ends - Frank McNally on Michael Collins’s other nickname, the Liffey on film and a Dublin dialect dysfunctionIt appears the Big Fellow had a funny accent – even by Cork standardsFri Nov 03 2023 - 19:10
“Want flowers, love?” - Frank McNally on the distinctive sounds of DublinThe ould triangle going jingle jangle/All along the banks of Temple BarThu Nov 02 2023 - 19:00
The Greatest Escape? Frank McNally on one man’s mission to make a movie about the Catalpa RescueRollicking true story has been made into a screenplay ahead of its 150th anniversary in 2026Wed Nov 01 2023 - 19:30
All That Glit – Frank McNally on the ancient origins of a slippery wordPatrick Kavanagh may not have used the word in his poetry, but Seamus Heaney didTue Oct 31 2023 - 19:36
Why is it so hard to find the source of the river Liffey?As part of a new feature series, Frank McNally boldly fails where many experts have failed beforeSat Oct 28 2023 - 06:00
Cliffhanger from Cooneen - Frank McNally on the only Irish ghost that ever emigratedIreland and Scotland should have patented Halloween before it went corporateFri Oct 27 2023 - 19:24
Balladeer Diary - Frank McNally on the Dubliners, ‘Tonehenge’ and sculptor Edward DelaneyAnd a lesser controversy, still also lingering, about the lyrics in the third verse of Raglan RoadThu Oct 26 2023 - 19:28
Time waits for Naumann – Frank McNally on a buried tragedy in Joyce’s UlyssesInvestigating a possible allusion to a man not yet deceasedWed Oct 25 2023 - 19:37
Fighting Talk – Frank McNally on the perilous pubs and less-than-mean streets of DublinEnjoying an oasis of calm in the early hours of SaturdayTue Oct 24 2023 - 19:30
The harps, the harps – Frank McNally on the continued revival of two once-doomed instrumentsThe mystic chords of memoryFri Oct 20 2023 - 18:59
Gray Area – Frank McNally on a notorious 19th-century loyalist, ‘Sam Gray of Ballybay’More than once he got away with murder – literally – because he could pack juriesThu Oct 19 2023 - 18:59
New Word Order – Frank McNally on why some neologisms take off while others don’tBig Brother, Newspeak, Double Think, and Thought Police all soon became standard EnglishWed Oct 18 2023 - 18:59
Cultural memory – Frank McNally on remembering and forgetting the murder of Noel LemassA reference in Samuel Beckett’s novel Mercier and CamierTue Oct 17 2023 - 18:59
Garden Home – Frank McNally on the Irish origins of a quintessential American suburbLisburn-born Alexander Turney Stewart and a retail empire that paid for a cathedralFri Oct 13 2023 - 18:59
Lost and found – Frank McNally on literary and alcoholic New YorkOne for the roadThu Oct 12 2023 - 18:59
Manhattan transfer – Frank McNally on a family weekend in New YorkOur B&B was not so much in the middle of nowhere as in its outer suburbsWed Oct 11 2023 - 18:59
Athenry Fields Forever – Frank McNally on the existentialist threat of Zombie and a possible Irish origin for Liverpool’s AnfieldFor one reader, Zombie’s growing dominance in Irish sport represents a kind of Limerick imperialismThu Oct 05 2023 - 18:59
Venice Vigil – Frank McNally on an epic Californian reading of Finnegans WakeThe group was in no hurry, meeting once a month since 1995 to read a page at a timeWed Oct 04 2023 - 18:59
Borstal Boy Meets Butcher Boy (with Blindboy in between) – Frank McNally on the Kavanagh Weekend in InniskeenTrips to Mount ParnassusTue Oct 03 2023 - 18:59
A history of Ireland in 100 goodbyesAn Irish Diary: ‘So I waved goodbye with a wistful eye’, and other Irish farewellsFri Sept 29 2023 - 18:59
Brief Encounter – Frank McNally on sharing the pain of total strangers The encounter reminded me of another stranger whose path crossed mine some years agoWed Sept 27 2023 - 18:59
