Road to perdition: Frank McNally on the strange, tragic fate of a Kerry historian in 1920s America
A new documentary tells the story of Patrick Foley, who left Dingle in 1909 and died violently in mysterious circumstances
Walpurgis Night: Frank McNally on the superstition of April 30th
The sinister reputation of the date has origins in folklore of northern Europe
Cultural exchange: Frank McNally on the mutual benefits of being an occasional tour guide
I suggested my guests look up Raglan Road on a well-known Swedish institution
The mood in Brussels is poised between worried and smug
Mood in Brussels, as detected during two days of press briefings at least, was poised between worried and smug
Last Post and Chorus: Frank McNally on memories of a long-lost Dublin restaurant
Kaminski snr bought the restaurant some time after he graduated from Trinity College in the 1950s
How a 16th-century English failed monk tried to bridge Anglo-Irish linguistic gulf
You wouldn’t want to mistake squish for huff
The nationalist tobacco shop that hosted James Joyce and Arthur Griffith
Its precious visitor books were rescued decades later from a barrow on Dublin’s quays
Dearly imparted: Frank McNally on Paddy the philanthropist, the BBC banning of Clannad, and Beckett’s womb with a view
Might Paddy Dear be persuaded to throw a few million our way, for the relief of distress in dear old Ireland?
Wilde Romantic Way: Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Oscar’s amorous father
Not all of William Wilde’s exploits are commemorated on a plaque
Frank McNally on a Dublin woman’s attempt to assassinate Mussolini, 100 years ago
It’s hard to say for sure what drove Violet Gibson
High on life – Frank McNally on Aldous Huxley, psychedelic drugs and why artists love depicting drapery
For the artist or mescaline taker alike, Huxley concluded, ‘draperies are living hieroglyphs’
Frank McNally: A heart-stopping epitaph on the grave of a little-known teenager
A stone in Rome’s ‘Protestant Cemetery’ commemorates Rosa Bathurst, who drowned in 1824, aged 16
‘That’s the wrong Ireland’: The eternal quest to find a pub showing Czechia v Ireland in Rome
After finding myself lost in translation, it didn’t help that every available TV was showing Italy v Northern Ireland
Plaques broad and narrow – Frank McNally on Dublin street honours big, small and missing
City keen to celebrate citizens and even daft causes, but one omission needs correcting
Born-again poet – Frank McNally on the confused centenary of Frank O’Hara
New Yorker had two ‘birthdays’, one of which was to spare his parents’ blushes