Sunday Miscellany

Radio essays, poems and complementary music, broadcast from Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday mornings since 1968.

Back-to-school blues, Thackeray’s Irish tour, and Dev’s favourite transport

Ireland’s State Coach, the bittersweet first day of school, Thackeray’s travels in Ireland and young boys robbing orchards, with Jonathan White, Zoë Devlin, Enda Wyley, Lourdes Mackey, John MacKenna, Grace Wells and Tom ConatySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

08-31
36:34

Exam Jitters and Curtain Raisers

Leaving result anxiety, fox cubs by moonlight and meeting Mícheál MacLiammóir -- and a new poem from Paul Muldoon. With Denise Blake, Emma Prunty, Kathy Donaghy, Denis Tuohy, John MacKenna and Paul MuldoonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

08-24
33:20

Angels, Animals and Daughters of Memory

From the shores of West Kerry to Dublin city’s Georgian squares, to a Traveller man’s campfire – a special programme on Ireland’s treasure trove of shared heritage, marking National Heritage Week, with Eimear Ryan, Theo Dorgan, Colin Regan, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Oein DeBharduin and Paula MeehanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

08-17
41:07

Oasis, Owls and a Wildean Whodunnit

Marmalade sandwiches and illicit pints of Guinness, and the human tremors and reverberations of history from the Baltic Way to the atrocity of the atom bomb. With David Coughlan, Maeve Edwards, Joe Taylor, Denise Blake, Conor Hanratty and Mary O’DonnellSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

08-10
36:45

Night Owls and Guardian Angels

Fairytales and boarding school blues, travelling light and a treasured sewing machine: a Miscellany archive dip with Michael Harding, Eugene McEldowney, Vona Groarke, the late Peter Jankowsky, Geraldine Mitchell, Kieran Fagan and the late Mary Russell, who died recentlySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

08-03
37:11

Dreaming in Green and Gold

All-Ireland football hopes from Kenmare to Killybegs, Leonard Cohen’s magical Lissadell concert, and more, with John Toal, Regina Devenney, John S Doyle, Tony Griffin, Noel King, Denise Blake and John CooneySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

07-27
34:29

Hurling, Hitch-hiking and a Baby Elephant

Thumbing a lift, taming a feral cat, the story behind how Babs Keating became Tipperary’s “barefoot wonder” and a father’s love for Cork’s Na Piarsaigh, with Doireann Ní Bhriain, Joe Whelan, Cormac Murray, Theo Dorgan, Lani O’Hanlon and John AllenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

07-20
35:06

Live Aid and Limpets

Hazy summer days from West Kerry to Beirut, and saluting the pioneering Yeats sisters, with Michael Hilliard Mulcahy, Eunan McKinney, Mae Leonard, Alexander McMaster, Angela Keogh, Mariam Tell and Vincent WoodsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

07-13
36:48

A New York State of Mind

Coat checks and cityscapes in New York City; preparing for a family wedding; and reflections on wearing wigs. With Gary Coyle, Neil Hegarty, Cathy Power, John Tuomey, Julie Feeny and Lauren GreenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

07-06
34:24

Ways of Seeing, Notions of Home

How we see ourselves, and others, and what constitutes home; a selection from the Belfast Books Festival in 2023 and 2004 with Wendy Erskine, John Toal, Neil Hegarty, Marie Howe and Paul McVeighSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06-29
34:02

Travelling West, Travelling East

The mud of Glastonbury and the elegance of the Monet garden, a St John’s Eve bonfire and the bravery of Irishman Graham Dale, with Conall Hamill, Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha, John Toal, Maeve Edwards, Joe Rooney and Antonia Gunko KarelinaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06-22
39:29

Fathers, a Faith Healer and a Missing Football

Solstice meditations, a Sydney nightwalk and a visit to Joyce’s Nighttown, with Colin Regan, Kieran FitzGerald, Grace Wells, Fran O’Rourke, Katrina Bruna and Christian O’ReillySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06-15
35:27

Sunflowers, Spirit Animals and Ziggy Stardust

Live from the Belfast Book Festival 2024, at the Crescent Arts Centre, with Ways of Seeing. Writers: Jan Carson, Lucy Caldwell, Glenn Patterson, Emily Byers-Ferrian and Maria McManus, with music from Scott Flanigan, Sinéad McKenna & Micky Fearon and TrúSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06-08
32:21

Glorious Boglands and Glory Days

Exam jitters and poetry grinds for teenagers, the heyday of the Irish Press newspaper, and silage-making with a reluctant farm horse, with Alexander McMaster, Denis McClean, Rachael Hegarty, Lani O’Hanlon, Leo Cullen and Catherine FoleySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

06-01
33:01

Baltic Adventures and a Colorado Rocky Mountain High

Campervan travels with an intrepid German grandmother, a loaf of heavenly batch bread, and the Heysel Stadium Disaster remembered, with Alexander McMaster, Maeve Edwards, Michael Hamell, Elizabeth Oxley and Vincent WoodsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

05-25
33:44

Empty Nests, and Dining with the Future Pope

Leaving home and a kind of homecoming; Eurovision memories and a tribute to a beloved brother, with Gráinne Quinlan, William Wall, Fabian McGrath, Joan Shiels, Eileen Heron and Hugo Hamilton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

05-18
34:21

Royals and Riverkeepers

Post-war wanderings and pilgrimages of the heart, a Rembrandt double-portrait and a poem for Béaltaine, with Denis Tuohy, Clare O’Dea, Barbara Leahy, Kerry Neville, Alan Cook and Lani O’HanlonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

05-11
37:34

Seals, Birds and Bees

Encounters with wildlife, labour struggles in Italy and remarkable island architecture, with Michael Cullen, William Wall, Nollaig Rowan, Michael Hilliard Mulcahy, Kevin Connolly and Moya CannonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

05-04
36:05

Birthdays and Broken Hearts

Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, Jane Austen’s sense and sensibility, pilgrimages of the heart -- and a flickering candle, with Daniel Mulhall, Roslyn Dee, John Toal, Eileen Battersby, John MacKenna and AM CousinsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

04-27
37:23

Bell Chimes and Baby Chicks

Easter miracles and a newly risen Notre-Dame; natty hats and singing in public, with Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, Aidan Mathews, Roslyn Dee, Olivia O’Leary, Maria Moynihan and James HarpurSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

04-20
35:27

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