Documentary on One Podcast

DocArchive (1959): Centenary of Lourdes

19 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In 1858 Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen year old girl had multiple visions of the Blessed Lady in a grotto in the outskirts of Lourdes, Frances. One ...

The Curious Ear (2008) - With Her Lipstick and her Keys

11 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The Beatles were an English music rock band that formed in Liverpool, U.K in 1960. They became widely regarded as the greatest and most influential ac...

Rail Baggage - Part 2

07 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Everyday hundreds of people travel between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on the Belfast Dublin train. In part 2 John Toal explores opin...

The Curious Ear (2008): Eight Days a Week

06 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Kilkenny man, Seán Kilkenny is a huntsman who’s devoted to his pack of hunting dogs - whose job it is to follow and kill the fox. We eavesdrop on S...

Rail Baggage (Part 1)

28 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Everyday hundreds of people travel between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on the Belfast Dublin train. In part 1 John Toal explores opin...

Tangled Web, Part 2 - The Sound of Dissent

21 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

2nd part of a two part documentary on the history of adoption in Australia. Throughout the 1950's and 60's, adoption was widely accepted in Australian...

Tangled Web - Part 1

14 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1970's almost 10,000 babies a year were given up for adoption in Australia - it seemed unstoppable. Why? Single parents were invisible - famili...

Clouds in Harry's Coffee

07 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

During World War Two, 32 Irishmen spent five years in captivity at the Farge Concentration labour camp. They became known as "Hitler’s Irish slaves"...

Act Like a Lady, Lift Like a Beast

07 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

How does a petite, not-particularly-sporty advertising executive become a world record breaking power lifter? Clare Connolly is pushing herself to her...

A Letter To Ann

31 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, a 15 year old girl gave birth to a baby boy beside a grotto in Granard, Co. Longford. Bothe she and her son had died. This documentary looks ...

Bound By Regulations

24 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In Ancient Ireland, Fairs were a social gathering, for buying and selling - but they were also a place where you could hire labour - men, women and ch...

Joe Browns Liffey Swim

20 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Brown has handicapped the Liffey Swim for 25 years. 2009 was his last year - The Curious Ear was there. Joe Brown has handicapped the Liffey Swim ...

The Garda Who Limped

17 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Garda John Wilson awoke one night to find a rat tied to the front door of his home. He was shocked but not surprised - John Wilson is a Garda Whistleb...

They Didn't Suit You

10 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The world of a laughing Irish 'quizzer' - John Nolan runs table quizzes, he hosts a quiz show on his local radio station. In October 2013, John travel...

The Champ

03 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Sports people will tell you it’s not a real sport and actors will tell you it’s not acting - the world of Irish pro wrestling and the rise of one ...

Heavens Special Children

26 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A beautiful, yet tragic story - of how the lives of two boys born profoundly disabled in 1960's Ireland took incredibly different paths - based entire...

Christmas Moments

23 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Documentary On One team travelled to various parts of Ireland to record memories of Christmasses past and wishes for this Christmas – in letters...

DocArchive (1984): New Emigrants, The Young Irish In Britain

18 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcaster Paddy O’Gorman hears from the young Irish who left for London as Ireland was deep in recession. Making home in Britain wasn’t easy as ...

Dogs and the City

13 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A tale of puppy love: Ger Philpott with his three beautiful dogs - Frost, Thunder and Drizzle and his quest to have a litter of puppies.See omnystudio...

DocArchive (1980): Mother and Child Scheme

11 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Health Minister Dr. Noel Browne proposed a new mother & baby scheme that would lead an Irish government into political chaos in 1950. If introduced, i...

Sounds Mad

06 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A story about hearing voices - and learning to live with them. About how your past shapes your future, until you begin to understand it. Do you think ...

DocArchive (1994): Return to Limehill

04 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Irish writer Sheelagh Conway grew up in the village of Limehill, East Galway. A village in rural Ireland enriched with stone walls and flat green fiel...

Sunken Treasures

29 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Diving for buried treasure no longer the story of fairy tales – with over 17,000 shipwrecks recorded in Irish waters, do we think about what lies be...

DocArchive (1949): Republic of Ireland Act

27 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In '48 The Irish Government enacted the Republic of Ireland Act. Legislation that officially closed the door to British Rule and association. A topic ...

Lions on Tour - The Jersey Returns !

22 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In 1930 a boat set sail from Southampton carrying 29 Lions rugby players on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. 83 years later, a woman from New Zeal...

Oswald Froze A Moment - Ireland on the day JFK died

15 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

If you search 'November 22, 1963', you get lots on the death of JFK, but lots more happened in Ireland that day: births, deaths, dinner in the middle ...

Pregnant on my Lunchbreak

08 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Angela has always wanted children, but in the absence of Mr Right, she took an alternative route to motherhood. She chose artificial insemination - an...

The Dingle Sturgeon Story

01 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

On April 2, 1966, a fishing-boat came into Dingle harbour carrying a very rare and valuable catch: a wild sturgeon - the fish whose eggs are used to m...

Tallaght District Court

31 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Noelle Fitzsimons sits in Tallaght District Court every day the court sits. She's a volunteer with Victim Support and works with the Court Support Ser...

Travenol Gathering

28 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

300 women and 15 men in a Mayo medical devices plant - a recipe for fun and significant social change in an impoverished area.See omnystudio.com/liste...

Milltown Bodhrán Festival

24 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Ronan Kelly travels to the first World Bodhrán Championships in Milltown, Co. Kerry - meeting some very interesting characters along the way, some of...

Valentines Bones

18 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Irish comedian Maeve Higgins looks for people who write to Saint Valentine in Whitefriar Church Dublin. She meets people who are looking for love, ask...

Wexford Bed Manager

17 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Marianne Argue has an unglamourous job in the frontline of the health service crisis: she's a bed manager in Wexford General Hospital.See omnystudio.c...

Michael Jackson's Irish Driver

11 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In 2006 Westmeath taxi driver Ray O'Hara found himself with a VIP in the back of his cab, and a fare that would last 6 months with the King of Pop.See...

Jim Barry's Ax

10 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Jim Barry is from Portlaoise; he's spent his working life in technology and now he's set up a company with his children to produce products for bedroo...

Skelligs Calling

04 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A sonic portrait of Skellig Michael in the company of world-renowned sound recordist, Chris Watson. Chris captures the gurgling of Storm Petrels and t...

Retro Lovers

03 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Two different tales of Irish people who share an enthusiasm for retro Americana.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Little Cross of Bronze

27 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Every county in Ireland, except one, has at least one winner of the Victoria Cross. This radio documentary delves into this little known aspect of Iri...

Nurse Roche

26 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

District Nurse, Margaret Roche, recalls working as a rural midwife in Co. Wexford from the 1950s to the 1970s.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...

A Murder in the Neighbourhood

20 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A shocking incident in a quiet Canadian town, as told by the neighbours who unwittingly found themselves caught in the middle of a domestic abuse inci...

The Hook: A People and a Place

19 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In 2004, Wexford Co. Council built new public housing in the villages of Campile and Fethard-on-Sea and to mark this project the Council also commissi...

Peter Daly - Good Cop/ Bad Cop?

13 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

An incredible story. 80yr old Donegal man Peter Daly was a member of the notoriously corrupt NYPD Special Investigations Unit during the 1970s. Peter ...

Smashing Pianos

12 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Why people are breaking up pianos, what the keening means at a funeral in South Africa and the boxing barber/hair-cutting boxer - extracts from three ...

First Days, Final Days...Revisited

06 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

20 years ago the Documentary Unit put a microphone on a small boy starting national school in Dublin. Now, 20 years later, where is everyone? Especial...

Undue Alarm

30 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The biggest known oil reserve in the world. A tiny community of aboriginal Canadians. And a Limerick GP. How an Irish doctor came face to face with th...

The Dublin Lock-Picking Club

29 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

TOG is a hackerspace group. Every other Tuesday they meet to pick locks. They have a table full of padlocks that range from simple 3-pin ones to more ...

A Very Brief Encounter

23 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

It's 1913 and when a Longford woman's engagement to a rich Glasnevin resident is derailed, where does she turn for comfort - the Dublin Courts. Miss E...

Mike Fitz - Drifter

22 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

'Drifting' is the 'art' of driving a car sideways. Mike Fitz says he can park better with a handbrake than conventional manoeuvering. It sounds scary ...

Life in La Modelo

16 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In August 2001, three Irish men who were travelling on fake passports were arrested in Bogota Airport, Colombia. The men became known as the 'Columbia...

Tallaght Treasures

15 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The car boot sale in the grounds of Tallaght stadium every Saturday morning has people queueing from 3a.m. Salum is there for books, Calthe is looking...

Tusk: Hunting Irelands Wild Boar

09 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Wild Boar became extinct in Ireland during Celtic times, hunted into legend by our ancestors, but could it be making a comeback? Shane Dunphy seek...

The Man Who Makes Faces

08 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

PJ Heraty is a sculptor. One day, over 30 years ago, he was called to an interview with 14 other artists to a Dublin pub. This led to a career working...

The Last Lonely Irish Idiophone

02 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A look into the secret life of Richard Pockrich's Glass Harp, celebrating its music and exploring the strange career of its wild and wacky inventor an...

For the Burren ! To Death's Door !

01 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A coach among coaches - Gus O'Loughlin of The Burren tug-of-war team. He has sworn he'll bring a team from The Burren to an All-Ireland final and he's...

Sugar and the Blue Eyed Slave

26 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Nicknamed the ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’, for centuries the island of Montserrat has had connections with Ireland. However, lurking in it's h...

Dún Laoghaire Doldrums

25 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Four men go sailing out of Dún Laoghaire - there's no wind - nothing for it but to sit around and tell stories of whaling and banjaxed boats... Four ...

Number 3 - Lessons in History

19 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What Joe Duffy finds in a 200-year old house on Mountjoy Square Dublin - a safe house, a Dáil chamber, a wealthy home and a fresh start for adult stu...

Curious Ear - Mr Ball Control

18 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A 68-year old Galway man with a passion for soccer tricks and a few Guinness world records to his name. In his last attempt, he managed 'keepie uppies...

The Comeback Kid

12 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In October 2005, 25-year-old Shane Mullins drove drunk, crashed his car and sustained a catastrophic brain injury. He fought his way back from the bri...

Dromsligo's 'Three Amigos'

11 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A visit to a horse rescue centre in Cork in the company of the bustling Julie Waters, the centre's manager. The mood is one of concern at the distress...

The Cure at Hand

05 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Ireland has a long history of faith healers and cures. Many claim that certain individuals have the gift to heal - others say that remedies passed dow...

The Kindness of Strangers

04 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when a woman walks up to you on the street and gives you a bunch of flowers? The 2011 London riots shocked many Londoners but in Bernadet...

Hear, See, Feel

28 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

How do you experience music when you can't hear?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Door Into the Dark

27 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A Waterford forge comes to life once moreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Doc Archive (2006): The Nore Bar

26 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when they turn off the TV in the Nore Bar, Kilkenny City every second Tuesday night? The young folk leave after watching the football, th...

An Angelman year

21 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Zac, Luke and Clara are three children living in Ireland. In America, another little girl they don't know - Molly Brockie - is undergoing clinical tri...

County London

20 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time since the 1970s, 'County London' have advanced to the Connacht semi-final in the GAA Senior Football Championships. Maybe not a big...

Lucia Joyce - Diving and Falling

14 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine being the daughter of one of the world's most experimental and famous writers. Lucia Joyce was the troubled and talented daughter of James Joy...

Racing The Tide

13 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

There's more to one Connemara beach than sunbathing. Omey Island is off the coast of Galway. At every low tide you can travel to the island across a m...

A Tale Told in Thread - The Ros Tapestry

07 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Invasions, battles, romance - centuries of history brought to life in 15 huge embroidered panels telling the epic story of the founding of New Ross, C...

Irish Jack

06 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Why is this man Ireland's No.1 "Who" fan?… Why is this man Ireland's No.1 "Who" fan?…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Ever

31 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A story of co-parenting, of a parenting contract and the creation of a 21st century modern day family. Brian Kelly is from North Cork, Phoenix, the mo...

The Exam

30 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in Norway - 8 died in a bombing and 69 were subsequently shot in one of Norway's worst human atr...

The Undiscovered Country

24 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

This is a documentary about travelling theatre, about a childhood trauma, about a place on the border, and about a 70-something man's search for his f...

31 Years of Memories

23 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Two men with Irish connections on opposite sides in the Falklands War.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Songs My Mother Taught Me

17 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A 'documentary novel' by Chris Brookes about war brides – women, including Chris's own mother, who married allied servicemen during World War II. A ...

Dalkey Meals on Wheels

16 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A day out with the cooks, drivers and customers of the Meals on Wheels in Dalkey, Co. Dublin. (First Broadcast March 2006) A day out with the cooks, d...

Over There - Green Cab

10 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A London taxi tour around the stories of the Irish in London, including the more recently-arrived.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Banna Polar Bears

09 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Now that the weather's picking up, you may be thinking about going for a swim. But, no matter how hardy you think you are, you'll have to go a long wa...

Over There - The Green Line

03 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The London Underground has The District Line, The Circle Line and so on. "The Green Line" is a notional Tube line that Robert Mulhern has taken to fin...

Twigs

02 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The artist who burns his artSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hark !

26 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

'Hark' takes our modern ears on a sound-rich journey through the acoustic world of Elizabethan England.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

The Curious Ear (2006): Patricia Cantlon's Unique Guesthouse

25 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Cullintra House, Co. Kilkenny: a 250 year old farmhouse set amid 230 acres of farm and woodland, has been the home of Patricia Cantlon's family since ...

DocArchive (1990): George Redmond Gentleman Piano Tuner

23 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

This is the life of 83 year old George Redmond from West Cork. He spent his lifetime tuning pianos for the great and good of Ireland, meeting many sea...

The Curious Ear (2013): Ramble In

18 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Like most places, Kerry had a tradition of 'rambling' houses or 'visiting' houses. This was where neighbours would gather in one house on winter eveni...

The Echo Chamber

12 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Story of the Jihad Jane. 3 people go online, they meet in a chat room and their lives change forever.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The Echo Chamber: The Story of Jihad Jane

12 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

One day three people in different parts of the world went online, the meet in a chat room, they talk with each other, it will change their lives forev...

The Curious Ear (2013): Mr. Greenland

11 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Adrian Vernon Fish has twin preoccupations: composing contemporary music and the country of Greenland. From his home in Co. Mayo, he travels around Ir...

Neither Nor

05 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The music and stories of a young Northern Irish jazz singer, Victoria Geelan. She's neither fully Catholic nor Protestant; neither blind nor partially...

The Curious Ear (2013): Mill Creek Blues

03 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Maurice Brennan has always wanted to visit America. As a child he loved the literature of Mark Twain. On his first visit headed to the Mark Twain Fore...

Two Miles An Hour

29 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Eugene O’Brien takes a trip on a barge through the heart of the midlands, experiencing his home county in a different – and much slower –...

The Curious Ear (2013): Pink Day

28 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The secretary of a Dublin boys' secondary school, Moyle Park College, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, the teenagers at the Clondalkin sc...

Frank the Poet - A Convict's Tour to Hell

22 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Originally from Cashel, Frank McNamara's songs and poems were spread through convict Australia by his fellow prisoners. Today a new generation of musi...

Michael Whelan - Air Corps Historian (2006)

21 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Whelan's museum in a huge hangar at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel stores hundreds of artefacts but also thousands of stories behind those obje...

Athy Is The 'Hood, Man

15 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

It's tough enough being a teenager, trying to work out who you are. But, say you're a teenager with African parents but you've grown up in Ireland. Wh...

Big Brother Big Sister

14 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The joy of milkshakes, driving ranges and just 'chattin' '. Big Brother Big Sister is a programme where young adults meet up with young teenagers once...

Rhapsody in Bohemia

08 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Pomp rock's classical pretensions come under scrutiny in this palyful reconstruction of Queen's pop classic 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.See omnystudio.com/lis...

Card Club

07 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2006, card clubs and casinos were becoming popular. At the time, the government were making noises about regulating them and even closing them...

DocArchive (1986): Fathers Role Of Fathers In Today's World

05 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Becoming a father for the first time is daunting to many men to say the least, as it’s not only mothers who find new parenting challenging. Fathers ...

Streets in San Francisco

28 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Duncan McNiff is an Irishman who's an amateur podcaster. He wanders the streets of San Francisco meeting and recording people with interesting stories...