Shane MacGowan

Even as very young children growing up in Tunbridge Wells, we were sure of our roots. Identity is not a postcode, and Shane understood this more than most

From the inside story behind Shane MacGowan’s masterpiece Fairytale of New York to Christmas cooking with Mark Moriarty and Rory O’Connell

Deadlines, from filing copy to car park closures, leave this journalist late to the party

The Mass, the words and the music

‘It’s nearly Christmas and we’re 20 nautical miles off the east coast of Australia.’ Kate Ashe Leonard hopes to make it to Sydney in time

Town turns out to welcome singer home for the last time as wife Victoria Mary Clarke delivers eulogy

As Pogues singer's cortege passed Westland Row only the slow beat of a drum and the lament of an uilleann piper could be heard before the applause began

Funeral featuring some of The Pogues’ greatest hits concludes with The Parting Glass as thousands line streets for singer who died aged 65

Procession to be led by Artane Band and lone piper as horse-drawn carriage bears coffin ahead of Co Tipperary burial

Pogues frontman gave lyrical meaning to the tension of an Ireland that demands a complex present while yearning for a simple past

Radio review: Fault lines trump fairy tales as Newstalk Breakfast duo do their own thing

A transatlantic ballad on the life and death of a man called Big Jim Dwyer

The Pogues’ festive classic was pipped to the UK top spot in 1987 by Pet Shop Boys, but is now in battle for pole position with Wham! and Mariah Carey

London Irish gather to pay tribute to late Pogues frontman who gave voice to their identity

Untethered nationalism is heady and exciting right up to the point where it gets out of hand – sports fans know this better than anyone

MacGowan told the stories of people on the edges of society. He never shirked from their degradation, pain and humanity while also elevating their lives into something rich, beautiful and mythic

Pogues singer had a deep connection with Tipperary, and some of its pubs, where he said he felt at home

From the archive: In this Irish Times article from 1985, the late singer talks about the ‘Irish ghetto’, the BBC’s Pogues ban, and ‘despair, dullness and sobriety’

Despite the many medical challenges of his final years, he retained an admirably cussed streak to the end

From the archive: How The Irish Times reviewed Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, the band’s second album, in 1985

The Pogues in the early 1980s felt to thousands of second-generation Irish like the answer to an unspoken prayer

Their record Haunted, sung by MacGowan and O’Connor in 1995, is now a classic

A creature of the late night, MacGowan seemed to rage against the dawning of the day as much as the dying of the light

The singer’s voice made Rob Doyle feel braver, more reckless and strong

From the archive: Brian Kilmartin and Dave Fanning were at the Dublin venues in March and September for the band’s early Irish appearances

President leads tributes to Pogues singer-songwriter remembered as ‘one of greatest lyricists’

Death of Fairytale of New York singer Shane MacGowan: Victoria Mary Clarke says the 'measure of her dreams' has died

A selection of photographs capturing the talented singer’s celebrated music career and life

‘I truly believe that in 100 years from now most of us will be forgotten but Shane’s music is going to be remembered and sung’

Pogues frontman kicked open the door to Irish music for millions who might never have experienced it, instilled pride among the Irish in Britain and made Ireland itself cool

Pogues' frontman's 10 most memorable lines, from Fairytale of New York, Dark Streets of London, Transmetropolitan and more

An Irishwoman’s Diary

Musician and film-maker Don Letts on Shane MacGowan, The Clash and being black in Britain

I’ll write to make the actors cry again – laugh, too. We’ll need a laugh after this

Big names hit by sharp slide in earnings as shuttered businesses fall silent this Christmas

Thirty-three years on, it’s perhaps the greatest Christmas song ever. Here’s how it was made

The singer says the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl Christmas duet is ‘under attack’

England’s former Ireland underage midfielder makes his presence felt

Through addiction, infidelity and other life struggles, music was her constant escape

Singer comes across as deeply humbled in this Late Late Toy Show for grown-ups