Culture That Made Me: Broadcaster Cormac Ó hEadhra picks his touchstones
Cormac Ó hEadhra presents the new current affairs show, Mo Thír Mo Thuairim, on TG4.
Born in 1980, Cormac Ó hEadhra grew up in the Connemara Gaeltacht, Co Galway. He joined RTÉ in 2003, beginning on Raidió na Gaeltachta. He co-hosted RTÉ Radio 1’s drivetime show from 2020 until last year. His documentaries include Réabhlóid Mheiriceá: Na Laochra Gael. He is presenting a new current affairs panel series, Mondays at 10pm on TG4.
is Pádraic Ó Conaire’s short story collection in Irish. It’s brilliant. It’s written in my dialect of Irish. Really strong stories – powerful women and difficult life situations, real-life stuff that transcends the generations. Nóra Mharcais Bhig and the difficult life she had stays with me.
He was describing this guy drunk as a skunk. He used a phrase in Irish I’d never heard before: “Thóg sé an dá thaobh den bhóthar leis.” Literally translated, he was walking and “he had two sides of the road with him,” meaning he was staggering from one side to the other. It was a beautiful way to describe it.
Poetry can say things a whole book could not say. I'll give an example. There's a Paddy Kavanagh poem, He's half mocking a person, this great guy debating whether to go abroad, would he be a better than he is in Ireland. He says, “To risk an important man like you / In the dangerous European stew.” He's saying, “You're OK where you are,” castigating Europe as much as anything. Hilarious.
A documentary I loved is It tells you a lot about journalism in 1974. It brings in the Mobutu dictatorship in Zaire. You learn about Don King and his influence on boxing. Ostensibly, it was about “the rumble in the jungle”, the fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, but it was also about politics, pop culture at the time. The music was superb. James Brown was in the documentary. It talked about the black struggle in America vis-a-vis Africa and how blacks in America viewed Africa as the homeland for so many. There were great American writers at the fight – Norman Mailer, George Plimpton. It's beyond sports.
is a conversation between a psychiatrist, Howard C Cutler, and the Dalai Lama. It’s not strict Buddhism, but principles the Dalai Lama has about what to avoid, what evokes happiness or conjures it up. I'll never forget it. I read the book around the time we had our first kid. He was going on about the practice of patience and tolerance. I remember being woken up again in the night by our baby crying. I was so wrecked the first thing that came to my mind at 3am was patience and tolerance. I remember thinking this Dalai Lama is onto something.
TG4 did a documentary about the iconic photo of the boys on the beam in 1932 called They're sitting unharnessed on a steel beam having lunch while building a skyscraper in New York, during the construction of the Rockefeller Center. It’s the old TG4 thing of “súil eile”. Everybody knows the photo, but nobody knows the story behind the photo. It’s a great documentary.
As a political interviewer, Richard Crowley was brilliant. He was probing, relentless, respectful, intelligent and composed. He had poise. If I'm looking back, Richard always stood out. He was always incisive and unflappable.
Gay Byrne was a class apart. It was a different time. Chat shows were more about organic conversation and Gaybo was the king. With raconteurs like Peter Ustinov, he met them on the level, intellectually. Equally, he'd have a guy on about plucking chickens in Monaghan. He would meet that guy on the level. The conversation would not jar. It would flow. He wasn't flawless, but nobody is.
is a book by a biochemist in Cornell University, Dr. T. Colin Campbell. He compared the Western diet and commonly found illnesses with illnesses and diet in China. He found that chronic diseases such as cancer and coronary disease, as in the West, were found in more affluent areas in China. He made the case that dairy and meat was bad. It's well written, well argued. It’s a superb book.
Jared Diamond writes about anthropological ideas. In his book, he explains why societies, cities and centres of power grew where they grew and why people did what they did in certain places. It was down to simple things like terrain, landscape, accessibility, or where a river was. Also, how power works, why certain people had power, what authority figures do to retain power, a monstrous class of people. Very often societies which grew were similar in different parts of the world without knowing that they were [alike]. An amazing book.
is a film I still talk about with my mates and family. I still get texts with links to the film. I'd meet my brother and we'd say, “Sex, Frank?” “No, not right now, Ed. We've got work to do.” Or Leslie Nielsen’s character was holding a suspect. He started searching him and reaching into his pockets, but he was reaching into his colleague Ed’s pockets, who was holding his arms. He said, “Look, Ed, he's got a picture of your wife!” So stupid, but so brilliant.
I watched when I was in 4th class. It was a great move by the teacher. Suddenly we were learning about this diminutive, little guy wrapped in cloth in India who, when faced with guns asked everyone to sit down. To us, it seemed like suicide, but we learned about sending a message around the world through peaceful action and protest. Also, the fact he was a trained lawyer. That stayed with me because he elevated himself into a position where he understood the system. He understood the law, yet he was able to move beyond a rigid adherence to the law, to rise above it and look down at the system and say, “There is a rigidity and an unfairness in these laws that's discriminatory to the people that are living within that system.” That was eye-opening for me.
is a podcast by a journalist working with the He talks about big themes or big political stories in America of the day, a deep dive, questions and answers session with experts on the day. He might talk about Trump and his latest decision, AI or the people's relationship with government in America, which is different to here. It's well researched, well considered. The guests are very good and knowledgeable.
is another very good podcast on American politics. It has different presenters, including David Axelrod, who used to be a Democratic advisor. There’s also a guy on the Republican side, Mike Murphy. They go through different themes in American politics. A lot of it is them giving out about Trump. It's an interesting, insider's take.
