The lilting Cork accent in my local Lidl reveals a truth about automated voicesPlus, filling in the blanks and the real meaning of lifeThu May 21 2026 - 19:00
Devil in the detail: Frank McNally on the diabolical reputation of St DunstanThe 10th century holy man’s demonic pact is blamed for the occasional frost around his feast dayWed May 20 2026 - 19:00
Here are 20 things I have learned in 20 years of writing An Irish DiaryDeadline fears, the law of typos and becoming a master diarist are just someWed May 20 2026 - 06:00
Ballinode to Joy: Frank McNally on quiet roads, noisy weather and the perils of Monaghan football A fellow county man has taken on the challenge of getting people out on their bikes in Monaghan - although not, alas, on Inniskeen RoadFri May 15 2026 - 19:00
All Well and Good – Frank McNally on the holy (and unholy) waters of KilmainhamNearby and unseen, the holy well gurgles onThu May 14 2026 - 19:00
Suspended sentence – Frank McNally on English revisionism and 1916 executionsIf any Methuen editors are reading, there are two problems with your footnoteTue May 12 2026 - 19:00
Strained relations – Frank McNally on the usefulness of Irish for keeping track of your cousinsDid the Irish system of accounting for family arise from Brehon Law? Fri May 08 2026 - 19:00
Unchained melody: Nocturnal declamping is part of the soundtrack to city lifeEavesdropping can bring you into a world of fascinating speakers and conversationsThu May 07 2026 - 19:00
Clouds in cuckoo land: Frank McNally on the meteorological ‘scaraveens’ of MayCaught unawares by the sudden cold spells that happen this time of year? Blame the cuckoosWed May 06 2026 - 19:00
All about the Bass – Frank McNally on a Joycean angle to a million-pound questionNo small beer for winner of TV quizshow’s jackpotTue May 05 2026 - 19:00
Any portent in a storm: Frank McNally on dogfights, doomsday and a tale of two DundalksRobert Ross, royal diplomacy and linguistic battles over whiskeySat May 02 2026 - 06:00
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 circumstancesThu Apr 30 2026 - 19:30
Walpurgis Night: Frank McNally on the superstition of April 30thThe sinister reputation of the date has origins in folklore of northern Europe Wed Apr 29 2026 - 19:30
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 institutionTue Apr 28 2026 - 19:00
Frank McNally: The mood in Brussels is poised between worried and smugMood in Brussels, as detected during two days of press briefings at least, was poised between worried and smugFri Apr 24 2026 - 19:00
Last Post and Chorus: Frank McNally on memories of a long-lost Dublin restaurantKaminski snr bought the restaurant some time after he graduated from Trinity College in the 1950sThu Apr 23 2026 - 19:00
How a 16th-century English failed monk tried to bridge Anglo-Irish linguistic gulfYou wouldn’t want to mistake squish for huff Fri Apr 17 2026 - 19:00
The nationalist tobacco shop that hosted James Joyce and Arthur GriffithIts precious visitor books were rescued decades later from a barrow on Dublin’s quaysThu Apr 16 2026 - 19:00
Dearly imparted: Frank McNally on Paddy the philanthropist, the BBC banning of Clannad, and Beckett’s womb with a viewMight Paddy Dear be persuaded to throw a few million our way, for the relief of distress in dear old Ireland?Wed Apr 15 2026 - 19:00
Wilde Romantic Way: Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Oscar’s amorous fatherNot all of William Wilde’s exploits are commemorated on a plaqueTue Apr 14 2026 - 19:00
Frank McNally on a Dublin woman’s attempt to assassinate Mussolini, 100 years agoIt’s hard to say for sure what drove Violet GibsonFri Apr 10 2026 - 19:00
High on life – Frank McNally on Aldous Huxley, psychedelic drugs and why artists love depicting draperyFor the artist or mescaline taker alike, Huxley concluded, ‘draperies are living hieroglyphs’Thu Apr 09 2026 - 19:00
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 16Wed Apr 08 2026 - 19:00
‘That’s the wrong Ireland’: The eternal quest to find a pub showing Czechia v Ireland in RomeAfter finding myself lost in translation, it didn’t help that every available TV was showing Italy v Northern IrelandTue Apr 07 2026 - 19:00
Plaques broad and narrow – Frank McNally on Dublin street honours big, small and missingCity keen to celebrate citizens and even daft causes, but one omission needs correctingThu Mar 26 2026 - 19:00
Born-again poet – Frank McNally on the confused centenary of Frank O’HaraNew Yorker had two ‘birthdays’, one of which was to spare his parents’ blushesWed Mar 25 2026 - 19:00
Pidgeon homed – Frank McNally on the repatriation of an Old IRA man from 1970s LondonSouvenirs from traditional military salute for veteran at Glasnevin risked an awkward explanation or twoTue Mar 24 2026 - 19:00
The Irish airman who survived one of the most dangerous jobs of the second World WarO’Dwyer and his colleagues were on the front line of an intelligence war Fri Mar 20 2026 - 19:00
The mystery of flying ships in ancient Meath that ended up in a Texas newspaper Perhaps the strangest twist in the tale’s evolution is the one by which it turned up in 1890s TexasThu Mar 19 2026 - 19:00
High-level hyperbolics: Frank McNally on the Irish approach to bigging things upBe it song lyrics about a beautiful place or the fight to rebuild a public toilet, use of language is always keyWed Mar 18 2026 - 19:00
I was thankful I had filed away the obscure detail of who finished second to Ronnie Delany in 1956Not that The Irish Times team needed any help crossing the finish line first to claim victory in the annual Dublin Rape Crisis Centre corporate quiz nightFri Mar 13 2026 - 19:15
‘Die roaring’: What we can learn from the demise of Doran’s bull and Orwell’s elephantOrwell’s account was partly corroborated by a police colleague of the timeThu Mar 12 2026 - 19:00
Double trouble: Frank McNally on the dramatic effect of saying the same thing twiceAn ordinary person might ask you to ‘cease’ doing something. A lawyer will require you to ‘cease and desist’, and then you’re in troubleThu Mar 12 2026 - 06:00
Frank McNally on a posthumous anthology from a ‘reluctant businessman’ and literary wit Intrepid investigation reveals Frank O’Dowd and I did indeed cross pathsTue Mar 10 2026 - 19:00
The long and melodious trail from a sweet English barmaid to a former Irish finance ministerThe long and colourful path from a sweet English barmaid to a former Irish finance ministerFri Mar 06 2026 - 19:00
Frank McNally on the lasting legacy of George Boole, a celebrity victim of the Irish climate He walked the three miles from home to university during a downpour, and then delivered a lecture in drenched clothesThu Mar 05 2026 - 19:00
‘You have mocked God,’ Enoch Burke tells judge after jailing of his mother and sisterJudge notes we live in a democracy, not a ‘theocracy governed by the Burke family’Wed Mar 04 2026 - 19:09
Voices from the Grave: The mixed paternal legacy of ‘Irish tenor’ Jeff BuckleyThe other big influence, on the last two members of the family at least, was the absence of a loving father figureTue Mar 03 2026 - 19:00
Getting our oar in: Frank McNally on the perils of linguistic imperialismTheir eccentricity might be charming if it wasn’t for the assumption that everyone else speaks that wayFri Feb 27 2026 - 19:00
Ernie O’Malley’s century-old memoirs now read like a nature writer at warIn his memoirs, the former IRA organiser wrote in unique detail about the Irish landscape as he travelled the countryThu Feb 26 2026 - 19:00
Haunted by Hamlet: The sad story of Ireland’s greatest Shakespearean scholarWhen Belfast-born William John Lawrence died in penurious English exile at the start of the second World War, his manuscript on the origins of Hamlet was lost tooThu Feb 26 2026 - 06:00
Why experts believe Shakespeare may have had an ‘Oirish’ accentLinguistic detectives believe Shakespeare would have said ‘divil’ instead of ‘devil’ and would have drunk a cup of ‘tay’ Tue Feb 24 2026 - 19:00
‘O, the drenching grey weather’: Irish rain in 40 wonderful phrasesFrom October to April, the walls of Limerick glistened with the dampSun Feb 22 2026 - 19:00
‘It’s the All-Ireland final of theatre’: The Plough and the Stars, 100 years on from its riotous first runFrank McNally sits in on a new production of Seán O’Casey’s play and revisits the ‘chaotic scenes’ that greeted it in 1926Sun Feb 22 2026 - 05:27
A history of Ireland, as told through the medium of... rainIt has rained in Ireland every day of 2026 so far. From Samuel Beckett to Flann O’Brien, the country’s literary heritage is awash with the stuffFri Feb 20 2026 - 19:01
From daring raids to a sudden absence, where have all of Dublin’s pesky seagulls gone?‘I have long been slightly paranoid about seagulls and would not be surprised if they’re running night drills for an all-out attack on the civilian population’Fri Feb 20 2026 - 09:32
Books of revelation: Frank McNally on a surprise twist in the Drumcondra book skip sagaIn sharing a photograph of the redbrick terrace, I unearthed a hitherto unknown family connection Fri Feb 13 2026 - 19:00
Rough diamonds: Frank McNally on a geometric oddity unique to Ulster (and Pennsylvania)While most towns have squares, for some reason they’re called diamonds in the North – whatever shape they are Thu Feb 12 2026 - 19:00
Not on your life: Frank McNally on the Northern Ireland football star who said no to This Is Your LifeWhen Tottenham captain Danny Blanchflower was ambushed by Eamonn Andrews and his big red book in 1961, he turned and ranThu Feb 12 2026 - 06:00
Stage IRA Man – Frank McNally on the real and pretend 1916 Rising of actor Arthur ShieldsHe went to the Abbey Theatre to collect a rifle hidden under the stage and join the fightingFri Feb 06 2026 - 19:00
