Prof Pierce Grace outlines a gripping new book that sheds light on the murky and bizarre spy operations of WWII.
Telly Medicine
Aoife Connors brings you a round-up of the upcoming medically-related programmes on television and radio. Your life in their hands For those who want to see what it’s really like to be a junior doctor in a UK casualty room, a new series with the inside story hits BBC 3 screens from Tuesday, February 22, [...]
Kids are alright in fly-on-the-wall doc
The life and times of actress Greer Garson
Dr John Wallace looks at the career of Academy Award-winner Greer Garson, star of Random Harvest, Mrs Miniver and the superb Goodbye Mr Chips. Irish actors are much sought-after in Hollywood these days. Stars like Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Brendan Gleeson and the recent Golden Globe-winning Colin Farrell and Gabriel Byrne are just [...]
The real literary detectives
Dr Stephen McWilliams plots the links between literary figures and detective novels — some with a strong medical influence — and investigates the possibility of writing his own sleuthing novel. If the shelves of my local bookshop are to be believed, most 19th-century literary figures were super-sleuths in their time. Indeed, any prominent child of [...]
When I was young and so much younger than today..
John Wallace looks at the recently restored film Help! starring The Beatles What impressed John Lennon about Paul McCartney when they first met in 1957, was that the 16-year-old McCartney could tune his own guitar. Lennon could not. Paul could also play When the Saints Come Marching In on the trumpet. So, he had no [...]
Legends of music set to play Ireland
Dr John Wallace takes a nostalgic look back at the histories and the rock ‘n’ roll craziness behind some of the well-known artists that are coming to our shores to perform this summer. An impressive range of musical acts are due to perform in Ireland in the coming months. They include Neil Young, formerly of [...]
In Bruges and the mass hysteria of bad taste
Gonna buy 5 copies for my mother
Dr John Wallace looks at a book detailing the history of the most influential magazine in pop culture, Rolling Stone, which doubles as a history of the culture of recent times A fascinating book, Rolling Stone, 1000 Covers, is not just about the evolution of a magazine, but about the evolution of the culture of [...]
Why the Spartans lived for the glory of the battlefield
In the fifth century the Pass of Thermopylae in Greece was the scene of a defensive battle by an outnumbered Greek force against a vast, invading Persian army. Among the Greek defenders, were 300 Spartans. The army of Persia, under King Xerxes, was one million strong and it was poised to crush Greece, ‘an oasis [...]