Nothing beats the thrill of playing and winning All-Ireland medals but Elaine Harte’s found the next best thing.

DEBUT authors seem to have dominated the fiction charts this year; from The Miniaturist to the success of The Girl On The Train.

Check our our guide to the best of tonight's TV.

When Michel Faber’s wife died after an illness it had an inevitable impact on his next and last book he tells Richard Fitzpatrick

Thank You, Jackson

Aisling Bea is a performer in the old vaudeville tradition, a Lucille Ball for modern times — she writes, she acts and she does stand-up.

There's a little more urgency to the latest instalment of 'The Hobbit' series, but has director Peter Jackson gone far enough?

Highlights include Top of the Lake and Celebrity Masterchef Ireland

BP failed to implement a new safety plan on the Deepwater Horizon rig even though it realised a blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was its greatest danger, a court heard today.

WHEN Dara-Lynn Weiss decided to come ‘the heavy’ with her overweight seven-year-old, she couldn’t have imagined the controversy.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced today that she will abdicate on April 30 after 33 years as head of state.

Shadow Snatcher by Lou Kuenzler (A&C Black; €7.10).

WHEN Caroline Finnerty included twins in her debut novel, she little knew that she would experience it all first hand. She’d had no pregnancy symptoms at all when, during a fateful scan she was told there were two babies and not just one.

Caroline Finnerty

Bryce Dallas Howard has given birth to her second child.

Limerick City Gallery of Art launches its new enhanced exhibition spaces this evening, writes Tina O’Sullivan

Foreign Bodies v

Decisions intended to save time and money created an unreasonable risk that triggered the largest offshore oil spill in US history, which could happen again without significant reforms, the top-level panel probing the BP blowout said tonight.

JOHN OXX, enjoying a modest campaign by his high standards, can saddle Karasiyra to land the Listed Lenabane Stakes at Roscommon tonight.

SOLENT RIDGE is the nap choice to defy top weight in the Racecourse Signage Handicap at Sligo tonight.

THE progressive Leblon should prove hard to beat in the Listowel Writers’ Week Mares Hurdle at the Kerry track this afternoon.

OUT of luck on sixth-placed Akdarena in the Investec Oaks at Epsom, Kevin Manning’s dash to the Curragh last night proved worthwhile when Irish Derby-bound Carraiglawn landed the listed Silver Stakes.

The deadly blow-out of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.

Sophie emerged as favourite for the 'Big Brother' crown tonight – despite going on the offensive with an outspoken diary room rant.

Evicted Big Brother contestant Bea didn’t think she would be kicked out of the house.

Bea was evicted from the Big Brother house last night.

Halfwit and Marcus will face the boot from the Big Brother house tonight.

The ‘Big Brother’ housemates have been told they can discuss nominations.

'Big Brother' housemates Siavash, Bea and Freddie think bringing Irish beauty Noirín back to the house would be worse than getting evicted.

All of the 'Big Brother' contestants are up for eviction this week.

Noirin has branded Bea "manipulative and dangerous".

Freddie and Bea are planning to clap if Noirin is evicted later tonight.

Self-styled "international playboy" Kenneth Tong walked out of the Big Brother house early today.

Paul McCartney infuriated his estranged wife Heather Mills over the festive season by returning their daughter Beatrice to her mother an hour late.

Heather Mills fears she may be forced to sell her home to pay for her divorce from Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills have agreed a $100m (€144m) divorce settlement, according to reports.

British rock royalty Paul McCartney has revealed that Prince Harry fancied his daughter.

Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills is concerned for the safety of her daughter after being warned she is being targeted by a vicious gang.

Strangers are showing their support for Heather Mills in her divorce battle by hugging her in the street, she said today.

Paul McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney is expecting her first child in the new year.