Commandant Edward Daly, leader of the Volunteer forces who occupied the Four Courts and surrounding areas on Easter Monday, 1916. Daly was executed on May 4, 1916

A new book provides fascinating and detailed insights into one of the most pivotal battles of the 1916 rising — the battle for control of the Four Courts in Dublin, writes Pat Kelly.

Wine labels from Terras Gauda white wines

Giovanni Morelli waxes lyrical about the Albariño grape, traditionally planted in Galicia, before turning his nose to the latest in wine forgery.

‘Good wine is a good familiar creature if it will be well used’

William Shakespeare

— Othello.

If I remember correctly, and memory is a fragile thing, the first time I tasted or even heard of Albariño was when I was having lunch with Chiara by the pool in the Arts Hotel in Barcelona about 15 years ago. The Arts is one of the best Hotels in which I have ever stayed.

I remember the wine was crisp, a little fruity and a beautiful slightly green colour. The grape, Albariño, has traditionally been planted in Galicia. However, since its rise in popularity over the past 10 years, it has been planted in California and Australia.

DNA testing

Interestingly, the so-called Albariño planted in Australia is not Albariño, but a French grape from the Jura in the Pyrenees called Savignan (not Sauvignon). This has been confirmed by DNA testing! Albariño from Galicia comes from the area Rías Baixas DO and the municipality of Cambados in the province of Ponteverda.

Since the early 1990s, these wines have become widely available in Ireland. The cheaper, mass-produced varieties can be tasteless, but recently I have tasted three wines from Terras Gauda, the Abadia San Campo, 100 per cent Albariño, the Terras Gauda O Rosal, 70 per cent Albariño, 20 per cent Loureira and 10 per cent Caiño Blanco and the La Mar,  85 per cent Caíño Blanco and 15 per cent Albariño.

Terras Gauda is a relatively young company, a little over 20 years old, but it has put a lot of effort into planting the best Albariño clones and blending this grape with others in the region. All of these wines are well made but the outstanding one is Terras Gauda O Rosal 2010. Fermented with natural yeasts, this is unusual as it is a blend of Albariño with other grapes. This had a floral nose, a beautiful structure, long follow-through and a magnificent greenish colour.

Albariño, Abadia San Campo, which retails at between €16.95 and €19.95, is available from the Corkscrew, Chatham Street; Fallon & Byrne; Redmond’s of Ranelagh; KC Peaches, Dublin 2; Gourmet Food Parlour, Swords; Mayfield Eatery, Terenure; Deveney’s, Dundrum; The Grapevine, Glasnevin; Red Earth, Mullingar; Sweeney’s, Dublin 11; Worldwide Wine, Waterford; and Barry’s Off Licence, Midleton, Co Cork.

The O Rosal is available from Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; Martin’s Off Licence, Fairview; Sweeney’s, Dublin; The Wine Boutique, Dublin 4; Worldwide Wines, Waterford; Mulcahy’s, Charleville, Co Cork; Matson’s, Bandon; Manning’s Emporium, Bantry, and retails at €21.99.

I tasted the Pittacum 2007 and the Pittacum Aurea. These are well-made wines from a grape with which I was totally unfamiliar, Mencía. It comes from Bierzo, a small region in the northwest of Castilla y León on the eastern border of Galicia. Terras Gauda have a major interest in this vineyard and the vines are 50 to 80 years old. The wine has a beautiful magenta colour and a nice balance of fruit and wood with a good, long finish. I really enjoyed it.

Soft fruity taste

Lastly, I tasted Quinta Sardonia 2007 (SQ). This wine is a blend of mostly Tinto Fino (otherwise known as Tempranillo in Spain) and Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. I really enjoyed this; a lovely soft, fruity taste and not overpowered by the French Oak. The makers say they follow biodynamic principles (see my last article).

Recently I have been reading a book called Blink. It’s about how you know something instinctively, after years of experience, and then you have to spend a long time proving it! It’s a bit like seeing a patient who you know is sick but you don’t quite know what is going on. It may take some time and a lot of investigations before making a precise diagnosis.

What has this got to do with wine? Absolutely nothing, you may say. But hold on a minute! Blink talks about forgery in art and how it can be spotted intuitively and recently there has been much concern about forgery in wine.

Wine forgery in LA

John Harlow in The Sunday Times has been writing about the FBI and wine forgery in Los Angeles. The gentleman they were investigating, Rudy Kurniawan, apparently had a Lamborghini, a Merc and a Range Rover in his driveway, together with a sophisticated laboratory containing blank wine labels, heat-aged corks and decades-old wine bottles, which sell for about €850 each in his house. Mr Kurniawan wore grey T-shirts and black jeans and collected Damien Hirst art works. Gynaecologists and cardiologists beware. Make sure your wine and art purchases are not forgeries!

The experts — and who are they— say that at least 5 per cent of fine wines are fake and wine investment is growing more perilous by the day. Funnily, Kurniawan boasted that he preferred to drink wines that were made before phylloxera devastated French vineyards in the 19th Century. As Harlow says, few wine-drinkers in Los Angeles had ever tasted pre-phylloxera wines so he remained unchallenged.

People got suspicious when Kurniawan offered a grand cru Clos Saint-Denis 1945, originally a church-owned vineyard. Laurent Ponsot, for the family, said that they did not start bottling wine until 1982 and the wines would have been signed by his grandfather Hippolyte. As Ponsot says: “There was no television then”.

The Dusties

According to Harlow, Kurniawan did not like the fusty wine merchants, whom he referred to as ‘the Dusties’. However, these same ‘Dusties’ were his downfall, as the staff in Corney and Barrow spotted mistakes on labels and misspellings on the lead covering the bottles of a case of Romanée-Conti 1971 which, if genuine, would be expected to fetch €100,000 at auction.

The sad fact is that many fake bottles are in collectors’ cellars, from Beijing to London and from Hong Kong to Los Angeles.

So if you want to splash out vast amounts of money on wine, make sure you know what you are doing and remember Blink:  trust your intuition.

Happy drinking.

Giovanni

Sharpening his skills: Dr Scott Walkin in Amsterdam

In the fourth in a series of articles on running ahead of the inaugural Pinewood National Medical Half Marathon Championships in Mayo in May, Ballina GP Dr Scott Walkin focuses on building up your speed and ‘sharpening’.

Dr Scott Walkin focuses on building up your speed  and ‘sharpening’

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle — when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

(Author unknown)

The Pinewood National Medical Half Marathon Championships is on May 12. For many entrants, the focus will be on increasing the distances covered in training to maximise the chances of completing the event.  For runners aiming to finish towards the front of the field, it is around about now that the emphasis on training often changes to include training for speed.

The last article on running outlined some general training principles. Included amongst them was the widely-accepted advice to train first for distance. Only when a baseline of endurance has been developed should the quest to increase speed begin. The baseline training generally comprises running incrementally, increasing distances at relatively slow speeds. This is often referred to ‘LSD’ or long, slow distance. For those athletes with at least six months, or better still, 12 months of LSD behind them, training focused on increasing speed could be considered.  In both cases, LSD and speed refer to the non-pharmacological varieties!

Speedwork

One of the earliest proponents of this so-called ‘sharpening’ training or ‘speedwork’ was Franz Stampfl. In 1954 he helped to guide the famous neurologist Dr Roger Bannister to be the first to run a mile in under four minutes. Stampfl’s ideas were refined and adapted by the Australian swim coach Forbes Carlile and by the enormously successful Kiwi running coach, Arthur Lydiard.  ‘Sharpening’ is an umbrella term for a number of different training regimes, which involve running at race-pace or faster for a variety of distances. The distances covered are generally much shorter than the distance of the target race. Examples of speedwork include interval training, hill repeats, time trials, short races and fartlek (from a Swedish term, which translates to ‘speed play’).

The effect of sharpening can be dramatic. One of Lydiard’s athletes, Peter Snell, had his chances of success in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo written off by commentators. He looked sluggish in the heats. Under Lydiard’s watchful eye, he timed his sharpening to peak for the finals in the Games and even used the heats as part of his sharpening training. His competitors had peaked at the start of the Games. As a result, Snell took gold in both the 800m and the 1,500m that year, easily overtaking those athletes who had beaten him in the heats.

The popularity of certain types of sharpening is such that they have developed into a brand! Perhaps the most famous is ‘Yasso 800 training’.  This is a type of so-called interval training, where the athlete tries to run a particular distance (in this case 800m) in a specific time. A brief rest is taken by jogging or walking, and then the same distance is covered in the same time.  Yasso 800s are typically used to train for marathon distance.  If the target time for the marathon is 3 hours, 45 minutes, then the idea is to run 800m in 3 minutes 45 seconds. Bart Yasso argues that if an athlete can build up to 10 x 800m intervals, each completed in the specified time (3m 45s here), then the athlete should be able to come in in the target time (assuming the LSD training has been done too).

Athlete’s regimen

Sharpening has a raft of narratives supporting its effectiveness. It is a staple part of any elite athlete’s regimen. Any running website is a testament to its benefits. There are, in addition, scientific trials that support the anecdotes. One of the first examples, Lindsay et al (Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996:1427) shows that cyclists improved their 40km cycling times by 3.6 per cent after four weeks of sharpening — a dramatic improvement in a short period of time.

There is, of course, a catch.  Tim Noakes, runner, medical doctor and Professor of Exercise and Sports Science warns that speedwork increases injury risk, reduces resistance to infection and its benefits last for a probable maximum of two-to-three months, after which performance deteriorates.  In addition, a period of rest after each period of sharpening is needed to allow recuperation from the intensity of sharpening.

Whilst the specifics of sharpening training are beyond the scope of this article, useful advice on speedwork is available free from reputable running websites. Examples include www.halhigdon.com and www.my.asics.co.uk and the training section of www.runnersworld.com.

Back to Bannister: when asked about whether he looked back upon his achievement of breaking the four-minute barrier for a mile as the greatest of his life, the now 83-year-old responded that the 40 years he worked as a neurologist were more significant to him. His greatest contribution to academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure and orthostatic hypotension.

l Online entry to the Pinewood National Medical Half Marathon Championships available at www.rivermoymarathon.ie

Informal consultation: Benedetta Lanza consulting the phases of the moon

After suggesting some whites from the Rhône Valley, Giovanni Morelli looks into how biodynamic farmers are minimising the use of artificial pesticides and following the moon’s cycle.

‘The white Hermitage is the first wine in the world.’
— Thomas Jefferson, 1791.

I suppose, like most of you, when I think of the Rhône Valley, I conjure up memories of fruity, full-bodied reds consumed mostly in winter. Well, not according to Thomas Jefferson, who lived in France and was a well-known wine collector and drinker.

The Northern Rhône is very different to the South. The climate is continental, warm in the summer and cold and damp in the winter. The banks are steep and vines grow best on south-facing terraces. Some of these vineyards were planted by the Romans.

The area is small, with limited production of white wine. The most famous areas are Condrieu and Château Grillet. These white wines are made from the Viognier grape, have a very distinctive taste and are very expensive.

The Condrieu on sale in M&S currently is about €60 per bottle! So these wines are collector’s items, or bought by Senior Counsels or gynaecologists.

However, all is not lost, even in these depressing times. I came across a really beautiful Viognier recently from Stéphane Montez, Domaine du Monteillet 2010. Although it is a single grape and made just outside Condrieu appellation vineyards around the village of Chavanay, south of Château Grillet,  it is classified as a Vin de Pays from Des Collines Rhodaniennes.

This wine is not cheap and perhaps you will want to go 50/50 with a colleague for a case, but it is available from the wine room@PerrySquare, Limerick, and www.thewinestore.ie at €23.50 per bottle. You will enjoy it. I believe it is available in many restaurants, but God knows what they charge.

Do you know what ‘organic’ means? When buying smoked salmon I thought, incorrectly as it turned out, that organic meant wild. In fact, it means the opposite. Organic smoked salmon is farmed! I have always been suspicious of organic vegetables. They seem to have a large amount of earth attached and cost considerably more than ordinary veg.

You can imagine my surprise when reading a book written in the early part of the 20th Century I came across a reference to ‘biodynamic’ in South America.  Colonel PH Fawcett in the early 1900s wrote: “In fact, it was then quite common throughout South America to plant in accordance with the moon’s phases, and any neglect to observe these was said to render crops more liable to attack from pests… personally, I believe we have yet much to learn much about the moon’s influences.”

This idea of crops being influenced by the phases of the moon is similar to the later philosophical thoughts of Dr Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). Steiner, influenced apparently by Goethe, working with farmers, developed the idea of biodynamic agriculture.

He is quoted as saying, “something stupendous takes place on the earth as a result of the full moon’s forces…” so again different thinkers, philosophers, seem to have the same ideas around the same time, but perhaps not. What has this got to do with wine? Well, quite a lot, perhaps. In France, in the 1950s, Maria Thurn, a gardener, was influenced by Steiner’s ideas. Her calendar is based on the movement of the moon through the 12 houses of the Zodiac.

Although biodynamic farmers minimise the use of artificial pesticides, they still use sulphur as an anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant, and mixtures of copper sulphate and lime to prevent the fungal infections caused by the fungal species Erysiphales, otherwise known as powdery mildew.

My friend Benedatta Lanza of Poggerino in Tuscany is also ‘biodynamic’ and she consults the phases of the moon before planting and harvesting.

I must admit I have not compared biodynamic wines with those grown with multiple pesticides, but many of my friends tell me there is a difference. Like most things, perhaps some degree of ‘biodynamics’ is desirable without going the whole way. Time will tell.

In the meantime, enjoy your wine, biodynamic or not!

Ciao,
Giovanni.
Ref: Exploration Fawcett, Phoenix. 1953. ISBN 978-0-7538-2790-1

Fresh from a spot of wine tasting in Tuscany, Giovanni Morelli recalls the best bottles and questions the merits behind some wine scoring systems.

‘Blind tastings are to wine what strip poker is to love.’
Kermit Lynch, Californian wine importer.

I spent a recent holiday in Tuscany and Rome with Chiara. The weather was sunny and crisp and the 2008 Chianti Classicos were drinking well. As we all know, the Italians, and those who live in Italy, take their food seriously, as do many foreigners who live there. We had a wonderful lunch on New Year’s Eve with some Danish and Irish friends.

A 'tower house' in Tuscany

Aperitifs were in the garden and consisted of dates wrapped in pancetta and baked in the oven in a little olive oil. Mouth watering! The dates were washed down with liberal quantities of Franciacorta, Monte Rossa. This is a sparkling wine from Lombardy (see IM, Dec 12, 2011) and not to be confused with Prosecco (more later).

This was followed by a short wine-tasting for the gentlemen! We started with the Percarlo 2007 from San Giusto a Rentennano. This wine is made from 100 per cent Sangiovese and enjoys a great reputation. It is certainly full of fruit, well made and complex, but my view, which was shared by the other Irishman, was that it would certainly improve with another few years in the bottle.

San Giusto a Rentennano is near the town of Gaiole and has belonged to the Martini di Cigala family for almost 100 years. The wine is aged in French oak barriques for almost two years and is unfiltered. The 2007 received three glasses from Gambero Rosso and costs about €50 per bottle. As far as I can establish, this wine is not available in Ireland.

From the Percarlo, we proceeded to taste the 2007 Il Carbonaione. This wine, from Podere Poggio Scalette in Greve, is also made from 100 per cent Sangiovese. For me and my Irish friend, this was the winner. Beautiful fruit, complexity and lovely follow-through. Yes, it might be even better in a couple of years but is certainly drinking well at present. This wine is about €25 and again, unfortunately is not available in Ireland.

The two other wines we had with lunch — and the ladies were included at this stage — were the Chianti Classico from Rocca di Montegrossi and Riecine, both from 2008.

The Rocca di Montegrossi is a really good example of Chianti Classico with plenty of territorio. The vineyard is owned by a relative of Barone Ricasoli, who owns a number of castles in Tuscany, including Brolio.

This wine is available in Ireland from Quintessential Wines at 9 Dublin Road, Drogheda (Tel: 041 983 0960).

The RRP is €23.50, but the importer says he will deliver six bottles anywhere in Ireland for €125 if you mention this article in IMT! (sales@quintessentialwines.ie.) The 2008 is currently in stock.

Chianti Classico from Riecine is always one of my favourite wines. Made by Seán O’Callaghan, a relative of the O’Callaghans who own Longville House near Mallow, it has, in my view, a slight edge over Rocca di Montegrossi.

This opinion was not shared by all of the lunch guests, however.

Riecine: a well-made Chianti

Riecine (not to be confused with Rietine) is near Gaiole and is a relatively small holding, producing about 45,000 bottles per year.

Happily, this wine is also available in Ireland from Louis Albrouze at 127 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 2. The 2008 is in stock and the RRP is €19.95. He is the sole retailer in Ireland but tells me he can deliver anywhere in Ireland if you phone or order online (Tel:01 66 74 455, www.louisalbrouze.com).

We know our American friends are obsessed with numbers but they are not unique. For those of you who follow cricket (admittedly a minority), you will know that a batsman who makes 100 runs will be in the record books, but the guy who makes 99 will never appear.

Strange! Robert parker introduced a wine scoring system in America and some people swear by it. I cannot believe a wine taster can differentiate between 95/100 and 96/100.
I have no idea what the reproducibility is and as Eric Pfanner pointed out in the Herald Tribune in January, the score might change over time.

So when should a wine be ‘scored’? At the time of barrel tasting or years later? He quite correctly says: “The important thing about scores and written notes alike is not to get too hung up on them.” I agree.

You’ll be glad to hear that the English version of the Italian Wines 2012 book from Gambero Rosso has now been reduced in size (not content) and you can now carry it around without incurring personal injury.

Happy drinking.
Giovanni.

Letters to and from his home cost postage of two shillings and nine pence each way until the penny post was introduced in 1840

Dr Patrick Rowan reviews a limited-edition book that chronicles one doctor’s working life in adverse social and medical conditions.

Dr Atthill, in his Recollections, recounts his remarkable medical career and describes the adverse environment in the Dublin in which he was practising.

He qualified as a doctor at the age of 19 and his medical positions included that of working as a dispensary medical officer, as physician to the Adelaide Hospital and finally as Master of the Rotunda Hospital.

This book was originally published in 1911, the year after the author’s death, and is now issued in a limited edition of 750 copies because of its contribution to Irish medical and social history.

Dr Lombe Atthill was born in 1827 and was the son of the Church of England Rector of Drumcree, near Portadown. He spent some time at a school in England. Letters to and from his home cost postage of two shillings and nine pence each way until the penny post was introduced in 1840.

At the age of 16, he came to Dublin to be apprenticed to Dr Maurice Collis, a surgeon at the Meath Hospital, who insisted that the youth also attend Trinity College Medical School.

After qualifying, he worked in the Fleet Street Dispensary. For this he received no pay and was obliged to get donations of a guinea each from two people — or else he had to pay this himself.

He gives graphic descriptions of the appalling conditions of the sick poor in Dublin during and after the Famine. Several families were sharing one room and others were confined to basement rooms without light or heating. Typhoid fever and typhus were rife. He watched Daniel O’Connell walking around the streets and listened to the blind beggar Zosimus recite his rhymes.

When he was offered the position of Dispensary Medical Officer in Geashill, Co Offaly, at £80 per annum, he jumped at the offer.

He found the patients in Offaly “cunning” and there was very little private practice in this rural area, where some of his patients were reduced to eating boiled nettles.

After two years, he returned to Dublin, hoping to build up a private practice but found it was hard going. He toyed with the idea of going to England but he had now married and his wife persuaded him to stay in Dublin. Meanwhile, he had received an MD from Trinity College.

His next big break came when he was appointed physician to the Adelaide Hospital. Here he set up a busy outpatient service and was establishing a good practice when he was offered the post of Assistant Master in the Rotunda Hospital. He had to resign his post in the Adelaide and worked in the Rotunda Hospital for the next 20 years until he was appointed Master in 1878.

Despite much opposition from the Governors, he was successful in establishing an outpatient clinic. He found that the hospital was in need of various improvements and had a lot of trouble trying to persuade people to support the hospital financially.

One big problem he had to tackle was the state of nursing in the hospital. Very few of the nurses were trained and some were even illiterate. He had great trouble in getting them to change from their severe black attire to a nurses’ uniform, but eventually succeeded.

Atthill was friendly with many of the greats of 19th Century Irish medicine, including Graves, Stokes, Crampton and Corrigan. The last was so popular that it is said his servant left more money when he died than did Corrigan because of all the bribes from people who wanted to see the doctor, but Atthill was present once when Corrigan dismissed his servant for taking a bribe.

One-guinea fee
A lady from Cork had given the servant one shilling to be first to see Corrigan and when he had completed his examination and requested his fee, the patient told her she had already paid the servant. The fee at that time was one guinea.

Atthill had various ups and downs during his lifetime.

When leaving the mail steamer at Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), the ship’s Master suddenly moved the ship so the doctor and the gangway dropped into the sea. Despite his heavy clothing, he managed to stay afloat until he was dragged ashore.

He witnessed the enthusiastic reception Queen Victoria received when she visited Dublin in 1849 but her appearance was marred by torrential rain, which left the unpaved streets in a quagmire.

He has the usual grumbles about ungrateful patients and those who choose not to pay — so human nature hasn’t changed much over the years!

Lombe Atthill was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians and President of the Royal Academy of Medicine. In his retirement he spent much of his time yachting.

This book gives a valuable insight into the social and medical conditions during the lifetime of this apparently very pleasant person.

• Recollections of an Irish Doctor by Lombe Atthill. Published by Ballinakella Press.

Operation Transformation’s Dr Eddie Murphy, Principal Clinical Pyschologist, HSE; Dr Eva Orsmond, nutritional expert; and Karl Henry, fitness expert

Aoife Connors takes a look at the latest health-related TV shows to be broadcast this coming week, including Operation Transformation’s efforts to tackle type II diabetes.

Need to get fit after the traditional Christmas over-indulgence? There couldn’t be a better time to start with the return of Operation Transformation to RTÉ One television for a fifth series. In an effort to raise awareness about the increasing prevalence, complications and seriousness of type II diabetes, the new series will consistently feature the chronic condition, as 5 per cent of Irish population are now living with the disease.

On January 19, Operation Transformation was due to hold a National Type II Diabetes Day when the IMO and ICGP were to provide doctors from 9am to 1pm in nine centres throughout the country. Any member of the public that is deemed high-risk, after completing a risk assessment form at the centre, will receive a free capillary prick test. Filming was expected to take place between 9am and 12pm, with live radio broadcasts from each centre.

In the new series, Operation Transformation hopes to reverse one man’s diabetes as Michael Casey volunteers to be the subject of this innovative study. Prof Gerald Tomkin, Consultant Endocrinologist at the Beacon Clinic, will conduct the study for the first time in Ireland.

In total, five overweight leaders overcome physical and emotional challenges as they battle to become fit and trim by changing or kick-starting their exercise regimes and new eating habits. Another issue to be highlighted in the series is the growing problem of maternal obesity. The Operation Transformation crew spent a week in the Coombe Hospital talking to doctors and people who are seeing the effect of obesity in Ireland’s maternity hospitals. The programme shows first-hand the effects by following the journey of one woman who became pregnant whilst overweight.

In an effort to get everyone out and about walking, Operation Transformation was also organising a nationwide walk on January 14, in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council. And building on the success of last year’s 5k run in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, the programme will host a 5k race in the Park on February 18 next.

The public and those following the programme online are encouraged to participate, while fitness expert Karl Henry has designed a 5k training plan that is available at www.rte.ie/ot.

The series has also launched the ‘Fit for Life’ campaign this year in conjunction with Prof Niall Moyna, University Professor at the School of Health and Human Performance, and a member of the Centre for Preventive Medicine in DCU. Prof Moyna believes that if a child is fit by the age of 18 years, they will have a better chance of being fit for life. He states that the education system should reflect the importance of physical activity, particularly at leaving certificate level, where points should be awarded for physical education, similar to any other examination subject.

Nurses
In a new fly-on-the-wall six-part series on RTÉ One television, The Nurse documentary series follows the daily lives of six nurses, their patients and their communities.

Community and public health nurses make almost 10,000 house calls every day.

From Inishbofin to inner city Dublin, nurses work at the frontline of the health service every day and the series aims to capture this work by portraying life from cradle to grave through a nurse’s perspective.

In demonstrating a day’s work for a community nurse, the six-part programme portrays the nursing care required for the elderly, those alone in our communities, new mothers and the terminally ill.

A large proportion of the nurse’s day is spent travelling in the car from one call to the next, on top of the paperwork that must be completed.

Each programme highlights different cases where community and public health nurses across Ireland help their patients cope with cancer, multiple sclerosis, amputation and electrocution. The nurses also encourage a teenage girl to combine motherhood and education, while another nurse battles on behalf of an MS sufferer who is struggling to maintain his independence. (Thursdays, RTÉ One, 10.15pm)

Junior doctors
In another medical TV drama, Junior Doctors returns to BBC screens for a second series, giving viewers an insight into the lives of doctors in training. The cameras follow eight newly-qualified junior doctors as they embark on their foundation years in some of the busiest and most challenging departments at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The doctors attempt to balance their new-found responsibilities with being a young adult, juggling demanding shifts and sometimes life and death situations, with their own hectic social lives.

With night shifts, difficult patients and endless paperwork, the reality of life for the young doctors starts to unfold in their journey from first-day nerves to accomplished professional.

Each year, around 7,500 junior doctors start work across the hospitals of Great Britain, with almost 90 foundation year one and foundation year two junior doctors taking up their positions at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, on what the nurses call ‘Black Wednesday’ (BBC Three, January 24 at 9pm).

A salty grave: The ship Rena, which ran aground on the rocks off the New Zealand coast with its cargo

What many news agencies failed to report about the stricken container ship Rena was that it was carrying 4,000 cases of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc destined for Ireland, reports Giovanni Morelli.

‘Whatever does not kill me strengthens me’ – Nietzsche.

I hope you all had a pleasant and peaceful holiday. My New Year’s resolution is NOT to make any resolutions because if past experience is worth anything, none of them are observed for more than a few weeks.

I am writing this from Tuscany and, as a lover of all things Tuscan, I have visited the town of Sansepolcro with Chiara to see the beautiful painting (fresco) of The Resurrection by Piero della Francesca.

Apparently Aldous Huxley said about it in an essay in 1925, “… And when at last one has arrived at Sansepolcro, what is there to be seen? A little town surrounded by walls, set in a broad, flat valley between hills; some fine Renaissance palaces with pretty balconies of wrought iron; not a very interesting church, and finally, the best picture in the world… we need no imagination to help us figure forth its beauty. It stands before us in entire and actual splendour, the greatest picture in the world.” I cannot say if it is the most beautiful picture in the world but it is very moving and certainly leaves a lasting impression.

According to Tim Butcher from Cape Town, the fresco was ‘saved’ by a young British gunnery officer during World War II. Tony Clarke was about to give the order to shell the town of Sansepolcro when he remembered Huxley’s essay and that Piero’s fresco was there.

He knew that if the town was shelled, the church and the fresco would probably be destroyed so he did not give the order. The Germans evacuated the town, the British troops entered and the fresco was saved! If you are in Tuscany, be sure to go and see it.

What has this got to do with wine? Absolutely nothing, you might say. Well, the connection is rather tenuous, I must admit. I was following a story by Robert Taylor in the Wine Spectator about the ship Rena that went aground on the rocks off the New Zealand coast. The ship began to break up and it is interesting to read the different perspectives by reporters.

The Wine Spectator was reporting the story because the ship contained 4,000 cases of Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc, which apparently was destined for Ireland.

The general manager of Astrolabe, Jason Yank, was quoted as saying: “All I’m concerned with the minute is making sure the Irish market has their Astrolabe for Christmas. You don’t want to upset the Irish.”

A number of coincidences are reported. The name of the reef on which the ship ran aground was called the Astrolabe reef and the ancient navigational instrument which might have prevented the ship from becoming impaled on the reef is called an astrolabe! Other newspapers and media reported the huge oil leak and the damage to wildlife and never mentioned the wine!

I took a trip to O’Briens wine shop and purchased a bottle. They have two Sauvignon Blancs from Astrolabe, one at €18.99 and the other around €32. I chose the former! It was a clean, refreshing, well-made wine but I still think it tasted too much of gooseberries. I can get a much better Sauvignon Blanc from Touraine or even a better Sancerre for about the same price. But, as I have said many times, wine drinking is a very subjective pastime.

A piece of news that might make you feel better in these troubled times — Nicholas Bakalar, writing in the International Herald Tribune, quotes a study from the Journal on Alcohol and Drugs, in which wine-drinkers lived longer than abstainers and high-wine drinkers lived longer than low-wine drinkers. They also found that moderate consumption of other alcoholic drinks, such as beer, had a beneficial effect on longevity. Needless to say, there are many possible explanations for their observations and as the authors say, the results of the study were observational, not experimental.
Whatever the reasons, I think I’ll continue to have a few glasses of wine daily.

Best wishes for 2012 and Buono Anno Nuovo.
Giovanni.

The Temple Street Children’s Hospital Christmas ‘lighting-up’ ceremony

Aoife Connors previews some health-related television and radio programming coming to your screens over the Christmas holidays.

The magical Christmas atmosphere in Temple Street Children’s Hospital is set to be portrayed on TV screens over the holiday period as TV3 recently filmed the ‘lighting-up’ of the hospital’s exterior on December 8.

For the first time in the hospital’s 140-year history, Temple Street is being lit up by hundreds of sparkling Christmas lights decorating the hospital’s exterior. The initiative is part of an innovative fund-raising project that involves a number of Irish companies sponsoring a light bulb for the Christmas event, in an effort to raise funds for the hospital.

The ‘Light up a Child’s Life’ event brought patients, families and staff together for the countdown to the inaugural big switch-on at Temple Street, while the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir performed Christmas carols along with Santa and his elves.

The lighting-up ceremony was filmed as part of the Temple Street Children’s Hospital Christmas Special, which is due to be broadcast on December 19 (TV3, 7.30pm) and also on Christmas Day.

On a recent visit to the children’s hospital, the TV cameras captured the decorations going up, as letters were posted to the North Pole and the doctors and nurses strove to do their best to make Christmas magical for their young patients.

Some inspirational children and teenagers were interviewed as they prepared to go home with their families for the holidays. The TV cameras also witnessed a very special visit on Christmas Eve for those who needed to stay.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s flagship arts documentary series ‘Arena’ returns, with the first documentary exploring the extraordinary life of Sir Jonathan Miller. Known as a brilliant humourist, qualified doctor and  practising artist, Miller straddled the great divide between the arts and sciences, and influenced British culture through the media of television, radio, theatre and opera.

The documentary follows Miller as he reflects on his participation in television and rediscovers his work on the stage, as well as taking him back to his formative years in Cambridge, and his scientific and artistic heritage after he departed London for the city of Florence, his second home.

On BBC 4, viewers can discover why the brain looks like a giant walnut and how it can fit in enough wiring to stretch four times around the equator, as well as how a magnet on your head can stop you mid-sentence. Prof Bruce Hood will be delivering a demonstration-packed three-part series called ‘Meet Your Brain’.

In the first of this year’s Christmas Lectures to be screened on December 27 at 8pm, Prof Hood gets inside the individual’s head to explore how the brain works. He measures the brain’s nerve cells in action, reads someone’s mind from 100 miles away and reveals how the brain ultimately creates its own version of reality.

Nine-year-old Michael Stokes, who features in the first episode. Michael is pictured with Temple Street’s head porter John Doyle

The latest installment of the documentary series on Temple St  sees the programme-makers given unprecedented access to the hospital and its patients. Aoife Connors reports.

The Children’s University Hospital (CUH) Temple Street has opened its doors once again to TV3 cameras as the channel launched series two of the interesting documentary based on the daily highs and lows for patients, families and staff within the hospital.

The six-part series follows the inspiring journey that children, parents and staff at Temple Street go through each day. The documentary-makers were given unprecedented access to the hospital wards and theatres as they follow the young patients and families who struggle through their medical journey and emotional turmoil in the hospital. It also highlights a family’s joy in seeing their child’s treatment having a successful outcome, as many families give everything up to see their child recover and live a healthy, happy life. The series also shows the staff members who devote their time and working lives to the children in their care. It airs on TV3 screens on Monday nights, Nov 7 to Dec 12 at 8pm.

In the first episode, ‘Family Ties’, Specialist Plastic Surgeon Dr Dylan Murray and his team at the hospital’s craniofacial department met 12-year-old Cealan and his mum Róisín as they prepared for surgery. The craniofacial team at Temple Street offers a national paediatric service aiming to treat and normalise deformities of the skull, face and jaws, whether congenital or acquired. Some 11 years ago, Cealan swallowed dangerous corrosive acid and was left with several internal and external injuries. He has been a patient at Temple Street since the accident.

A brave patient, Cealan has undergone 50 separate procedures following the accident in the hope that one day he will have the ability to eat and drink normally.

Mr Murray explains: “Cealan presented to me following 50 previous operations with an inability to open his mouth because of extensive scar tissue. This resulted not only in difficulty eating and breathing but also severe restrictions in the growth of his jaw. We undertook an operation to remove the scar tissue inside his mouth and replace it with soft and pliable skin from his forearm using micro surgery.”

The first programme also featured a lively nine-year-old boy called Michael who arrived at the hospital for treatment for his brittle bones. This episode also featured newborn identical twin brothers Ben and Cian, who are awaiting a hernia operation.

The second episode, entitled ‘Where Life Begins’, followed the journey of newborn baby Neill who was at the hospital to undergo vital surgery. Born with a large tumour on his lower back, Baby Neill required immediate investigation and the tumour needed to be removed. The tumour is a huge burden on his vital organs and survival. His mum and dad lovingly looked on in the hope that they could soon bring their loved one home for the first time after long and intensive surgery.

Also on the programme, a little girl named Brooke arrived at the hospital after being bitten by her dog and we meet Craig, who needed to undergo surgery on his cataracts.

On November 21, the third episode of Temple Street Children’s Hospital, ‘Critical Decisions’, followed the lengthy journey of a 15-year-old who was involved in a road traffic accident. The teen was left with a large amount of glass in his wounds, therefore the team had to ensure he did not suffer any significant brain injuries.

The third episode of the show also features a young girl named Rene, who needed to have a large mole removed from her forehead. Waiting at her bedside, her mother reflects on the burden the mole placed on her daughter’s life. She hopes the required surgery will give Rene confidence, strength and a healthy life.

Meanwhile in the emergency department, the documentary makers meet Karl, who arrived at the hospital after being hit with a hurl by his friend.