Sunday Miscellany
Episodes
Embers, Oscars and Gold from the Dairy
08 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Butter and buttercups, teenage rites of passage, and a curly-haired girl… with Ciarán Cannon, Margaret Hickey, John MacKenna, Rosaleen McDonagh, Ka...
Melody, Meaning and Morning Dew
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A tribute to the late, great poet, Michael Longley, the politics of dress code, a celebration of lambing season, and wild Dingle peninsula Irish words...
Rock Stars and Rugby Glory
22 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Triumph in Twickenham, diamonds and daffodils, and green shoots of hope in dark times, with Mark Horgan, Joseph O’Connor, Olive Travers, Carla King,...
Sea dips and serene cruising
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bracing coastal waters, past-their-prime vessels and the glorious freedom of swimming, with Mae Leonard, Mervyn Wall, Benedict Kiely, Marie McSweeney,...
Home comforts and ways of living
08 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The comforts of home, the spaces we inhabit and the things we can't do without, with Maurice Craig, Treasa Brogan, Bill Hammond, Mary Arrigan, Fachtna...
Magical childhoods
01 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Magical woodlands, stone sanctuaries and divine intervention, with Val Mulkerns, Sam McAughtry, Vona Groarke, Nuala Hayes, Peter Jankowsky, Catherine ...
Working yourself, or watching others at it
25 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Labour-saving devices, hard labour, labouring cerebrally or otherwise, all forms of work are the theme of today's archive programme, with John Ryan, A...
Rituals at home, rituals in the community
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Miscellany 50: The Archives was a special series that celebrated the writing Sunday Miscellany featured in its first 50 years. This programme focused ...
A flash of pink, a magic box and a bird’s eye view
11 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 100 years, the seismic impact of Ireland's new public service broadcasting service on individual homes, society and our political landsc...
Roses, Rain and a Door Ajar
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Wedding vows, thoughts of home and New Year wishes, from Sweden to Vancouver Island to Rostrevor, County Down, with Conall Hamill, Lani O’Hanlon, Ne...
A Piano Man and a Wexford Ball
28 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Post-Christmas blues and a December birthday, angels of heaven and the origins of Gaelic football in Wexford, with Mary O’Donnell, John Toal, Jackie...
A Christmas Day Miscellany
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Palestrina in Rome, an outsize Santa suit, and gifts of kindness from the Liberties to Lagos… featuring recordings from the NCH with the RTÉ CO and...
Joy to the World: Christmas Miscellany Part 1
21 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A winter wedding, a New Year’s Eve disaster, a Christmas baby and balm for the broken-hearted…Part 1 of Christmas Miscellany with the RTÉ Concert...
Songs, Seafarers and a Guiding Star
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Skerries to Strabane, East Galway to Alexandria: chance encounters, Christmastime musical delights and a deer of light, with Victoria White, Seá...
War Stories and Winter Light
07 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
John and Yoko in County Mayo, Con Houlihan at 100 and a sniff of Christmas, with Donal Fallon, Louise Kennedy, Niall McArdle, Peter Cunningham Aidan H...
Bicycles and Belfast Boys
30 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
George Best and Harry Gregg’s footballing friendship, a long-forgotten fire in the Liberties and a poet in Kinsale, with Roslyn Dee, Las Fallon, Sha...
Grief and History: Voices from Bloody Sunday, 2020
23 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A special programme marking the anniversary of one of the worst days of violence of the War of Independence, with the support of the GAA Museum at Cro...
Old Friends and New Beginnings
16 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ravens, crows and the last Irish wolf, diplomatic journeys and a poetry journal’s elegant farewell, with John MacKenna, Denise Blake, Zoë Devlin, P...
Starry Skies and Student Rites-of-Passage
09 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The art of persuasion, the pity of war and the sanctuary of home, with tributes to the late, great Conor Gearty and Sister Stanislaus Kennedy; the wri...
Ghosts, Goldcrests and a Lost Manuscript
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A prayer for Rudolf Valentino, fleeting memories and a snowy night of opera in St Petersburg, with Georg Grote, Louise Kennedy, Beth Kilkenny, Justin ...
A Last Briquette and a Magic Mountain
26 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Silver sparks, a bog for a pillow and the ‘deserts of the midlands’… A ‘Writing the Bog’ special programme, part 2, in collaboration with th...
A Stolen Tulip and a Hare’s Eyes
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Creative discoveries from reading to singing to dancing to painting - a live selection from Waterford Writers’ Weekend and the Red Line Book Festiva...
Architecture, Home and the City
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do the places we build shape our lives? A programme marking Open House Dublin Festival of Architecture, with Éimear Arthur, Cormac Murray, Emmett...
Ringing Bells and Magic Nights
05 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Saluting some treasures of our culture, language and landscape; remembering Brian Friel on his tenth anniversary, and a poem for the late, much-missed...
Both Sides Now
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Homecomings and departures, a friend for all seasons and tributes to Derek Mahon, Michael Hartnett and more, with Donal Hayes, Grace Wells, Joe Whelan...
Strange Days and Seasonal Moods
21 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
September rituals and youthful rites of passage, with Paul Muldoon, Carol Taaffe, Conall Hamill, Georg Grote, Antonia Hart and Frank ShouldiceSee omny...
Sun and stardust, Irish words for rain and a gift from Edna O’Brien
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A re-broadcast of a special Culture Night Miscellany, hosted by President Higgins and Sabina Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin in 2024, with Manchán Ma...
Writing the Bog, Part 1
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stories of the Irish boglands, past, present and imagined future, in collaboration with the Irish Architecture Foundation's Bog Bothy project, with Ma...
Back-to-school blues, Thackeray’s Irish tour, and Dev’s favourite transport
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ireland’s State Coach, the bittersweet first day of school, Thackeray’s travels in Ireland and young boys robbing orchards, with Jonathan White, Z...
Exam Jitters and Curtain Raisers
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leaving result anxiety, fox cubs by moonlight and meeting Mícheál MacLiammóir -- and a new poem from Paul Muldoon. With Denise Blake, Emma Prunty, ...
Angels, Animals and Daughters of Memory
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From the shores of West Kerry to Dublin city’s Georgian squares, to a Traveller man’s campfire – a special programme on Ireland’s treasure tro...
Oasis, Owls and a Wildean Whodunnit
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Marmalade sandwiches and illicit pints of Guinness, and the human tremors and reverberations of history from the Baltic Way to the atrocity of the ato...
Night Owls and Guardian Angels
03 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fairytales and boarding school blues, travelling light and a treasured sewing machine: a Miscellany archive dip with Michael Harding, Eugene McEldowne...
Dreaming in Green and Gold
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All-Ireland football hopes from Kenmare to Killybegs, Leonard Cohen’s magical Lissadell concert, and more, with John Toal, Regina Devenney, John S D...
Hurling, Hitch-hiking and a Baby Elephant
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thumbing a lift, taming a feral cat, the story behind how Babs Keating became Tipperary’s “barefoot wonder” and a father’s love for Cork’s N...
Live Aid and Limpets
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hazy summer days from West Kerry to Beirut, and saluting the pioneering Yeats sisters, with Michael Hilliard Mulcahy, Eunan McKinney, Mae Leonard, Ale...
A New York State of Mind
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Coat checks and cityscapes in New York City; preparing for a family wedding; and reflections on wearing wigs. With Gary Coyle, Neil Hegarty, Cathy Pow...
Ways of Seeing, Notions of Home
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How we see ourselves, and others, and what constitutes home; a selection from the Belfast Books Festival in 2023 and 2004 with Wendy Erskine, John Toa...
Travelling West, Travelling East
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The mud of Glastonbury and the elegance of the Monet garden, a St John’s Eve bonfire and the bravery of Irishman Graham Dale, with Conall Hamill, La...
Fathers, a Faith Healer and a Missing Football
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Solstice meditations, a Sydney nightwalk and a visit to Joyce’s Nighttown, with Colin Regan, Kieran FitzGerald, Grace Wells, Fran O’Rourke, Katrin...
Sunflowers, Spirit Animals and Ziggy Stardust
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Live from the Belfast Book Festival 2024, at the Crescent Arts Centre, with Ways of Seeing. Writers: Jan Carson, Lucy Caldwell, Glenn Patterson, Emily...
Glorious Boglands and Glory Days
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Exam jitters and poetry grinds for teenagers, the heyday of the Irish Press newspaper, and silage-making with a reluctant farm horse, with Alexander M...
Baltic Adventures and a Colorado Rocky Mountain High
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Campervan travels with an intrepid German grandmother, a loaf of heavenly batch bread, and the Heysel Stadium Disaster remembered, with Alexander McMa...
Empty Nests, and Dining with the Future Pope
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leaving home and a kind of homecoming; Eurovision memories and a tribute to a beloved brother, with Gráinne Quinlan, William Wall, Fabian McGrath, Jo...
Royals and Riverkeepers
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Post-war wanderings and pilgrimages of the heart, a Rembrandt double-portrait and a poem for Béaltaine, with Denis Tuohy, Clare O’Dea, Barbara Leah...
Seals, Birds and Bees
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Encounters with wildlife, labour struggles in Italy and remarkable island architecture, with Michael Cullen, William Wall, Nollaig Rowan, Michael Hill...
Birthdays and Broken Hearts
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, Jane Austen’s sense and sensibility, pilgrimages of the heart -- and a flickering candle, with Daniel Mulhall, Ro...
Bell Chimes and Baby Chicks
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Easter miracles and a newly risen Notre-Dame; natty hats and singing in public, with Fachtna Ó Drisceoil, Aidan Mathews, Roslyn Dee, Olivia O’Leary...
Wobbly Lambs and Swooping Swallows
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stirrings of spring and a stubborn donkey, Easter in Beirut and meeting Samuel Beckett, with Kate O’Shaughnessy, Louise Kennedy, Peter Cunningham, J...
Bedsit Blues and Poker Nights
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dentists’ drills, dry stone walls and debtors’ prison, and the Great Gatsby at 100, with Tim Carey, Rebecca Hunter, Brian Crowley, Jessica Freed, ...
Dedicated to the One I Love
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Handwritten letters and mother-daughter rites of passage, a search for identity, and the delightful landscapes of Ireland’s South West, with Barbara...
Bittersweet Memories and a Mighty Mouse
23 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Car troubles, revolutionary whispers and a tribute to a hero of Dublin city, with John Toal, Catherine Foley, Rosaleen McDonagh, Kathleen Murphy, Just...
Riverdance and Ronnie Drew, Saint Patrick and the Pogues
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Saint Patrick’s hidden holy well, a White House welcome, an encounter with musical genius and a “grand stretch” in the evenings, with Liz Nugent...
Red Books and Yellow Sand
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canine clutter and a feline warrior, a friendship forged in music and a century-old literary scandal, with writers Philip Judge, Alexis MacIsaac, Laoi...
Gongs and Goldfinches
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Oscar night fever and Jaws at 50, placenames of Waterford and saluting Ronnie Delany at 90, with John O’Donnell, Zoë Devlin, Val O’Donnell, Niall...
Emigrant Tears and Encounters with Strangers
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ghost signs of Dublin, Wexford tales, and climbing Carrauntuohil, with Jamie O’Connell, Margaret Galvin, John MacKenna, AM Cousins, Aoife Barry and ...
Second Chances and Stormy Seas
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ministering angels and mutiny at sea, a devastating fire in a Dublin market, and a poem for the late Ivor Browne, with Antonia Hart, Eddie Vallely, Wi...
Weepy Movies and Meeting Marianne
09 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bittersweet love stories, eye-catching cover art and home thoughts from abroad, with Feargal Ó Dubhghaill, Molly Furey, Joe Kearney, Margaret Galvin,...
Candlemas, Chaplin and the Curragh
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Slip-sliding resolutions, sleepy sheep and saluting the darkness even as winter turns to spring, with Conall Hamill, Beth Kilkenny, Kevin Gildea, Karl...
Stormy Seas and a Stitch in Time
26 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sailing to Antarctica, a few sticks of furniture and the life of O’Reilly in Australia, with Hugh Weldon, Margaret Galvin, Mary Dowey, Beth Kilkenny...
Rainy Days and Range Anxiety
19 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Cherbourg to Belmullet to Western Vancouver: friendship, poetry and voyages of the heart, with Mattie Brennan, Peter Cunningham, Cathy Sweeney, G...
Tea Leaves and Theatre Tales
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Silk Road meditations, dreamy prophecies and the hard winter of 1947, with Emer O’Kelly, Eileen Casey, John MacKenna, Alexander McMaster, Lani O’H...
Snowy Landscapes and Fresh Beginnings
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Diplomatic travels and inner journeys, from Leitrim to Lourdes, from Ontario to Togo and Nauru – meeting a Daniel O’Donnell fan along the way… a...
Music, Memories and Miracles
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A friendly spy, Joyce’s favourite music, and remembering the Dead at Christmastime… with archive from and tributes to some much loved writers we l...
Turkeys, traditions and Christmas contemplation
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas food, seasonal gifting and contemplation and a Dublin legend, with John Toal, Donal Fallon, Maggie Armstrong, Margaret Galvin, John F Deane ...
Seasonal reflections and unexpected guests
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reflections on the Christmas season and an unexpected house guest, a miniature Miscellany for Christmas Eve, with Olive Travers, James Harpur and John...
Starry Nights and Ghostly Bells
22 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Puccini in Rome, Star Wars fever and a child’s Christmas wonder: part 1 of Christmas Miscellany with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and special guests, ...
Meeting Wham, and a Christmas Angel
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stories of the revolution and the Irish revival, and heroes and heroines of every hue, with Declan Kiberd, Jim Maguire, Mary Hassett, Síobhra Aiken, ...
Gargoyles, Geese and Election Blues
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Saluting Notre-Dame on its grand reopening, wild geese on the wing, rediscovering a love of Latin and saying Thank You to life – by way of Joan Baez...
Turf, Thatch and Secret Worlds
24 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guy Mitchell in Finglas, a century old bank raid, and other tales from the 80s and 90s programme archive, with Aodhán Madden, Nuala Hayes, Brian Leyd...
Soft Days, a Swing and a Swedish Song
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Irishwomen abroad, wearing vintage and bridging the eternal generation gap – with Peter Cunningham, Helen Lahert, Daniel Mulhall, Denise Blake, Kate...
Persimmons and Poppies
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A brush with the law in the London of 'Minder', late flowering and vanishing Dublin, with Derek Mahon, with Peter Trant, Neil Hegarty, Niamh Donnelly,...
Jewelled Fruits and a Late, Late Harvest
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Apples, blackberries, and bravery in Nazi-occupied Budapest, with Amanda Bell, John MacKenna, John Toal, Brian Farrell, Kathy Donaghy, Oliver Sears an...
Angelus Bells, Opera Nights and Nosferatu
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Angelus bells, Wexford opera nights and a glimpse of Nosferatu, with Joe Kearney, Joe Brennan, AM Cousins, Tom Ryan, Judith Mok, Maura Gilligan and Ca...
Poetry of the Skies
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cosmic wonders and maths miracles; book tokens, baby names and a much loved poet’s birthday tribute, with Enda Wyley, Paul Durcan, Colm O’Regan, D...
Architecture and the City
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From Donegal to Dublin, how do the places we build shape our lives? A programme marking Open House Dublin Festival of Architecture, with Éimear Arthu...
Autumn Apples in Leitrim
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From traces of the Gauls in France to a Kurdish boy’s story of finding refuge in Ireland, voices from Leitrim’s Iron Mountain Festival: Mary Byrne...
Libraries and a Lost Key
29 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paints, pigments and the perfume of old paper. Love objects and the love of books. More from Culture Night at Áras an Uachtaráin, hosted by Presiden...
Live at the Áras: Culture Night
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Irish words for rain, ghosts of Kilmainham, a tribute to Edna O’Brien and a sprinkle of stardust - a special live Miscellany at Áras an Uachtaráin...
Artistic treasures and Romantic Ireland
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Glorying in artistic treasures, and dealing with artistic reality, with Caitríona Lally, Julie Feeney, Cristín Leach, Julie Morrissy and John Graham...
Sweet Treats and Sweet Music
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Brass bands, boarding school blues, and a blacksmith in his forge in Rathiniska, with Carol Taaffe, Colin Regan, Paul Johnston, Margaret Dunne, Fiona ...
A Sea Rescue, and School Leavers Set Sail
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Coming-of-age tales and the extraordinary story of the Irish merchant ship the MV Kerlogue, and Seamus Heaney on the byroads of County Wexford, with E...
Urban animals, Frankenstein in Tuscany, and Nell McCafferty at Italia 90
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Urban animals and comedy in the city, Frankenstein in Tuscany, and minding the great Nell McCafferty at Italia 90, with John Egan, Ann Marie Durkan, J...
Angels, Animals and Daughters of Memory
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the shores of West Kerry to Dublin city’s Georgian squares, to a Traveller man’s campfire – a special programme on Ireland’s treasure tro...
Olympians, Elvis and a Storytelling Queen
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Irish experiences of the Olympic Games in Moscow 1980 and Paris 1924, Peig Sayers’s resurgence, and a love story at Lough Derg, with John Kirwan, Nu...
Olympians, Artists and Innisfree
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A walk in the woods, writing advice from Maeve Binchy and blood in the water at the Melbourne Olympics, with Fergal McCabe, Bernadett Buda, Mike MacDo...
Tribes, Bards and Olympic Dreams
28 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dance moves on the pitch, climbing the Reek, an encounter with screenwriter Robert Towne -- and swimming lessons from Tarzan, with Karl O’Neill, Vic...
Radio Games and Hurling Dreams
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sliotars, Cork and Clare superstars and the incomparable Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh remembered, with John Cooney, Seamus McKenna, Róisín Bugler, Ji...
French culture, Irish sporting history and the physical world
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Finding inspiration in France, a slice of Ireland's sporting history and the importance of our physical world. With Judith Mok, Cathy Power, Alice Rek...
Skyscrapers, painting by owl-light and wigs
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Love and a family wedding, an architect’s New York, navigating Irish-African inheritances, wigs and being an artist and easel painting in Donegal. W...
Safe Harbours and a Selkie Song
30 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ways of Seeing 2: More words and music from Belfast Book Festival with Paul McVeigh, Marie Howe, John Toal, Mícheál McCann, Maria McManus, and music...
Sunflowers, Spirit Animals and Ziggy Stardust
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Live from Belfast Book Festival at the Crescent Arts Centre, Ways of Seeing: writers Jan Carson, Lucy Caldwell, Glenn Patterson, Emily Byers-Ferrian a...
Butterballs, Bullseyes and Bloomsday
16 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reflections on fatherhood, and literary Dublin’s first Joycean jaunt, with Patricia Joyce Oliver, Rory Gleeson, Donal Fallon, Ann Breslin and Oliver...
Celestial Considerations and Serendipity
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A dip into the Miscellany archive with 1990s pieces by Michael Harding, Nicky Barry, Kevin O’Connor, Patricia O’Reilly, Catherine Ann Cullen and P...
Baby Birds and Barefoot Running
26 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thin Lizzy in Tramore, Brehon Brutalism in Ballsbridge, feathery feats of nature -- and the wisdom, or not, of meeting your heroes. With John Toal, Jo...
Spring blooms and a batch loaf
19 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sea pinks on the Copper Coast, intimations of mortality in the Irish hawthorn tree, and ways of making a show of yourself, with Pat Boran, Peter Cunni...
Chieftains and Cherry Blossoms
12 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cows and cowboy boots, a rookie promoter’s first gig in Galway, and glory days of fun and friendship in Monet’s garden. With Maeve Edwards, Joe Ke...
From La Scala in Milan to Bruce Springsteen in Dublin
05 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From Milan to Dublin, a programme on song and speech, finding and using your voice, dancing and self-expression-- with Mark Brennock, Doireann Ní Bhr...
A Sculptor’s Sculptor and a Swallow on the Suir
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Month’s mind tributes to the late sculptor Imogen Stuart and poet Michael Coady; bonny labouring boy, the smell of new boots and an old coat. With P...
Miracles and Talking Birds
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Saints and prayers, crowning glory and a Shakespearean starling, with Elizabeth Oxley, Moya Cannon, Dermot Bolger, Pat Boran, Rosaleen McDonagh and Co...