For Kate Humble, presenting Animal Park is like being part of a soap opera.

In his twilight years, leading Irish businessman Michael Smurfit has found a new vocation as a commentator and author.

There’s always been a sort of wayward independence attached to the coastal Cork property Walton Court — and, little wonder really, as this historically colourful house dates back to 1776, the same year as the US Declaration of Independence.

Building on the success of the Wild Atlantic Way, the Hidden Heartlands showcase the very best our inland counties have to offer, writes Ciara McDonnell.

From reformed pop icons to vintage rockers and singing showmen, there’s a lot to look forward to in live music in 2019. Here, in chronological order, Ed Power looks at some of the highlights.

Drew Brees used one hand to hold his helmet and the other to wipe away tears.

“Hey Google, isn’t there a grand stretch in the evenings?”

Those glued to Escape to the Chateau, (including wedding finale last weekend on Channel 4), may now have a much greater appreciation and understanding of what it takes to make an old house work, writes Rose Martin.

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (12A) is an epic tale of the greatest mass rescue of World War II, when 400,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force were left stranded and undefended on Dunkirk beach as the German army closed in for the kill.

Richard Armitage tells Esther McCarthy about filming Pilgrimage, a new film about monks being hunted by knights in the 13th Century

Film critic Barry Norman has died at the age of 83, his family has said.

Thick-skinned and fearless, Kajsa Norman goes behind the lines in Afrikanerdom, where she finds a racist, cultish and tribal people but, as Josephine Fenton discovers, she also finds some hope for a dying race

Here are the top three films you don’t want to miss this week, writes Declan Burke.

Jordan Spieth might have found a new way to finish the front nine at the Masters. He’s just worried about trying it when anyone is looking.

The long-awaited Apple Pay mobile payment service has finally launched in Ireland, offering iPhone and Apple Watch owners the option of paying for a wide variety of products and services through their device.

Talent seems to run in the family as Bono’s niece has a near sellout on the opening night of her solo art exhibition.

Rose Martin reviews a new book that looks inside some of Britain’s great country houses of the landed gentry and aristocracy which have been continually occupied by the same family for generations.

One recent evening, towards the tail end of his annual Christmas sojourn in West Cork, The Menu purchased a little ‘dote’ of his favourite of all cheeses, Milleens, to enjoy by the fire with a fine vino, still intent on staving off the return to reality for another few days. 

IT’S easy to see what Michael Collins was trying to achieve in The Death of all Things Seen.

Sue Leonard talks to Michael Collins, who has drawn on his own experiences and those of earlier, tragic, generations of emigrant Irish to breathe life into his latest novel.

We delve into the past ahead of the final major championship of the season.

What a way to grab you and your country’s maiden major championship victory.

Michael and Marguerite Crowley, from Bauravilla Upper, Skibbereen, Co Cork, have won the the overall prize at the 2016 Carbery Quality Milk Awards.

Jordan Spieth’s Masters meltdown at Augusta National joined the list of memorable collapses when the heat of a major tournament is on.

There’s no such thing as a sure thing in golf and while Paul McGinley believes the stars will align and Rory McIlroy will soon put together a performance for the ages, there is no guarantee it will happen in the Masters.

Matt Jones clung on to win the Australian Open ahead of Adam Scott and defending champion Jordan Spieth.

Warning once this has been seen, it cannot be unseen.

THE history of the Norman conquest is threaded through the forthcoming New Ross Piano Festival. The Ros Tapestry shows how the Normans were invited by Dermot MacMurrough, whose daughter Aoife married Strongbow.

Confidence is key. Just ask Pádraig Harrington, who shot four sub-par rounds in Italy last week and still finished a modest 33rd in the Italian Open.

Paula Radcliffe has warned that “many innocent athletes” face being implicated in the doping scandal currently engulfing athletics following allegations of large-scale blood test irregularities.

What does the word legacy mean to you, asks Colm O’Regan

A British grandfather who helped subdue a gunman armed with an AK-47 on a train from Amsterdam to Paris is to be presented with France’s top honour for bravery.

The man who boarded a high-speed Amsterdam-to-Paris train with a Kalashnikov rifle before being tackled by passengers had ties to radical Islam and may have travelled to Syria.

The US airman who was stabbed in the neck as he disarmed a terrorist with a Kalashnikov on a French passenger train has left hospital.

For natives of Mullinavat, Waterford is town, 11 miles away. For natives of Ballyhale, seven miles north, Kilkenny is town, 13 miles away. 

PAUL HOLLYWOOD is stripping off his leathers as he settles down to discuss the forthcoming sixth series of The Great British Bake Off.

Sergio Garcia was not the only player at Chambers Bay to question the quality of the putting surfaces at this week’s US Open but having taken to his Twitter account to air a much-shared view, the Spaniard the Americans love to heckle inevitably drew the most flak.