Róisín Ingle

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Róisín Ingle

When Domhnall Gleeson was 14 he saved up for a school trip to Egypt to see the pyramids of Giza. He went with a group of classmates from Malahide Community School, and it’s not that the moment was wasted on him, but he says getting to see the pyramids again with “an adult brain”, for his latest movie role, was a more profound experience. In that new film, Fountain of Youth, Gleeson plays an Irish billionaire, and it brought the chance to get up close to the ancient monuments.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Róisín Ingle

Dara Ó Briain arrives into the west London restaurant he’s chosen for our meeting a few minutes late and full of apologies. He was on the language app Duolingo and was doing quite well so didn’t want to stop because he was getting extra points. The comedian is learning Spanish. It’s one of his latest “little passions”. Another of these endeavours is the quest to improve his swimming kick. He’s a regular at his local pool in Chiswick. He’s also struggling with his spin turn.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Róisín Ingle

I Feel Bad About My Neck is a collection of essays by Nora Ephron that I read or listen to every now and again. It’s a great title, extremely relatable for many women of a certain age when hairs start to sprout in unexpected places and brown spots appear on our hands. It’s all down to this phenomenon called ageing. A beautiful thing. But it’s also a transition and like any transition, it can take time to adjust. I don’t feel bad about my neck.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Róisín Ingle

My friend sent me the photo on a Saturday morning. It was a photograph of a book in the window of an Oxfam charity shop in Dublin. Not just any book, it was My First Book by the late and marvellous Maeve Binchy. My friend had never seen it before but I knew the book well. It’s a collection of her writing in The Irish Times first published in 1970. In my house, it’s a sacred tome. I got my copy years ago at a second-hand book stall at a market in Howth.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Róisín Ingle

It’s a drizzly, grey day in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, where I’m meeting history-making jockey Rachael Blackmore. We’re in Rachel’s Cafe, the bustling restaurant of a sprawling garden centre. “They’ve spelt your name wrong,” I say in mock indignation, pointing at the sign, and she laughs and says, “well spotted”. Blackmore is one of those Rachaels with an a.