Pavarotti (12A) Peter Ustinov remarked once of Pavarotti, “Luciano is difficult to pass at the net in tennis – even when he’s not playing”. His appetite was so large he asked for kitchens to be added to the hotel rooms he stayed in. A man for whom the term ‘larger than life’ would have…
It doesn’t often happen, but I love it when broadcasters do something really imaginative and innovative in religious programming. Life and Soul (RTÉ1 and Radio 1 Extra) is a new addition to RTÉ’s Sunday morning religious services slot and based on last weekend’s first episode it has a lot going for it. An occasional series,…
Frenzy and Betrayal. The Anatomy of a Political Assassination by Alan Shatter (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe Carroll Alan Shatter has had to wait five years to give his version of his political downfall in May 2014 and the long ordeal of having his name cleared by two commissions of enquiry and finally the Supreme Court.…
Under the Bed by Robert Pierse (A Little Platoon, €15.00; copies from bookshops, or jm.murphy@outlook.ie / 087 1844378, for €20 inc. post and packaging) This is a collection of interesting stories, drawn from the lawyer author’s experience of many different places and people, many, however, close to home on the Munster Circuit by a solicitor…
Mainly about books by the books editor Under the City Hall of Dublin at the top of Dame Street – right in the heart of Dublin – one of the rooms of the basement crypt has been converted into a charming little café, the rest of the vaults to a museum devoted to unrolling…
I find it hard to enjoy TV dramas if there isn’t someone to ‘root’ for, if there aren’t sympathetic characters. And so I have mixed feelings about Wild Bill (ITV and Virgin Media One). It’s a crime thriller with an American cop taking over a UK police department, ironically in the English town of Boston, Lincolnshire.…
Pat O’Kelly The last programme in the National Concert Hall’s 2018/19 International Series brought a welcome return to Earlsfort Terrace of the London Symphony Orchestra. Under the direction of its Milan-born principal guest conductor Gianandrea Noseda, the concert was almost extravagant in its soloists – French violist Antoine Tamestit, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov and…
The Cultural Reception of the Bible: Explorations in Theology, Literature and the Arts by Salvador Ryan & Liam M. Tracey OSM (Open Air / Four Courts Press, €50.00) With essays by over 30 contributors from Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin to the poet John F. Deane, this compendium covers a very wide range of topics and eras. “The…
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the end of the American century by George Packer (Jonathan Cape, £25/€30) Felix M. Larkin Richard C. Holbrooke, the subject of this biography, was a bombastic, egotistical, but immensely talented US diplomat who served at senior levels in the administrations of three Democratic presidents – Carter, Clinton and Obama. He…
The Battle of the Four Courts by Michael Fewer (Head of Zeus, £20/€28) Easter Week in the GPO has been the subject of many books, providing a day by day, almost an hour by hour, account of what happened, if not why. The siege of the Four Courts in 1922 has not been so lucky. Yet…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello