DR CIARA Kelly has her own prescription for success. Determined to live life to the full, she looks not to her contemporaries for inspiration but to Dr William Wilde, a 19th-century surgeon.

MY DAUGHTER comes into the kitchen from the sitting room, where she’s been watching Snog, Marry, Avoid, and asks me why there are so few women politicians.

Mark Gallagher wipes a tear from his eye as he recalls 365 sporting days of highs and lows, winners and losers, some guts and a lot of glory.