Truth is really stranger than fiction in the life of Dr Aidan MacCarthy and Bob Jackson’s account, while scrupulous on detail, doesn’t get bogged down with it, writes Eoghan O’Sullivan.

KNOTWEED is flowering, those beautiful, lacy flowers that first won the hearts of the ladies and gents of Victorian England. 

I never dreamed that I could be anything as fabulous as a performer. It was beyond my wildest dreams.

It’s time to snuggle-up and Esther N McCarthy shows you how to do it in style this autumn.

In the first of an occasional series journalist and cycling enthusiast, Dan MacCarthy, highlights some of the great cycling routes of Munster. This week, The Adrigole Circuit.

A dead dolphin at Broadstrand, Seven Heads, West Cork, carried in on a high tide and now above the tideline, so not likely to be carried out again. It’s a big animal, rotund and heavy. It’s on a popular walking route: what’s to be done?

Irish Examiner resident cyclist Dan MacCarthy has travelled Munster mapping out the best cycling routes the province has to offer

Irish Examiner journalist Dan MacCarthy speaks to Irish Olympic medallist and Irish Sports Council chief executive John Treacy, as well as Collins Press publisher Con Collins about his new book, Cycling Munster – Great Road Routes

Today is the perfect day to take advantage of the quiet roads and pedal your way along some of Munster’s best cycling routes, says Dan MacCarthy

Saddle up to get a view of our magnificent landscape. There is simply no better way to appreciate our country says Dan MacCarthy

THE last Master of the Lusitania was known to his friends as “Bowler Bill” because of the hats he wore when off duty, writes Ray Ryan

Richard Fitzpatrick reveals some books that are certain to cause a stir this spring.

Catherine Conlon

That estimable survivor of the showband era, Big Tom McBride from Co Monaghan, once had a hit about an old-fashioned Irish mother “in the fields where the wildflowers grow’’.

Is there anyone that doesn’t like trees? We might even dare to suggest that everyone loves an individual tree, or trees.

A 92-year-old US woman who met her colourful Irish husband in most unusual circumstances will tonight recall the event.

A remote island outpost, renowned for its peace and captivating beauty, has been a magnet for photographers for well over a century.

So this week, Esther N McCarthy prepares for a little teddy bear’s picnic outdoors, with colourful seating, great images and then it’s off to bed.

The cliffs of the Seven Heads in west Cork are garnished with confections of sea pinks in full bloom, blankets of yellow kidney vetch and mantles of golden bird’s-foot trefoil.

The photograph above was taken 74 years ago today: it shows the then President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, flanked by Éamon de Valera, the Taoiseach of the time, and Oscar Traynor, then the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, at an international soccer match between Ireland and Poland.

Onions and shallots drying in the sun in the garden of Trevor Sargent, County Dublin.

Whether you say it’s all bunk or it’s a nightmare from which you’re trying to awake, there’s one thing you can count on when it comes to history.

Initially planned as a multimillion euro tourist attraction in Kerry, the tall ship the Jeanie Johnston now lies permanently berthed in Dublin.

WE see them almost everywhere we look, every day, but don’t give them a second glance.

WE’RE getting to the time of year when book tokens are in circulation, so I’m going to mention a few recently published books with an outdoors theme that I have enjoyed.

THE Air Corps performed a fly-past of Cork Airport yesterday to mark its 50th anniversary.

WALKING is the flavour of the season.

I HAVE A friend in Tokyo who says she’s unworried by the regular aftershocks.

A READER tells me a pair of racing pigeons, with rings, arrived at his farm four months ago, stayed around the yard and have now hatched two eggs, both parents sitting.

I WAS impressed with The Shorebirds of Ireland, recently published by The Collins Press, a beautifully-produced treasury of well-written, informative text by Jim Wilson, with a gallery of wonderful bird photographs by Mark Carmody.

AFTER the dry weeks it’s suddenly the rainy season.

A WARTS ‘n all new book on Limerick hurling which has raised hackles in official circles will be launched next week by county hurling sponsor JP McManus.

IN 1752, the Emperor Joseph II opened the royal menagerie to the citizens of Vienna.

ISLAND literature has a proud history in Ireland, and these three books are a fine contribution to the canon.

Green, Blue and Grey.

ONE of the most encouraging things about modern landscape photography in Ireland is, perhaps, its integrity.

Damien Enright gets swept away by Ireland’s ocean

Donal Hickey on a photographic exploration of Ireland’s high places.

Richard Collins on the traditions surrounding birds.

Damien Enright on bird-watching and massaging hedgehogs.