Phenomná

This week I am joined by Andrea Bolger who is talking about Ninette de Valois who was born in Wicklow (under a different but also unusual name) and went on to found the Royal Ballet Company. Listen to learn all about Ninette and her amazing achievements and also to learn how my Mother and definitely not my lack of talent prevented me from becoming a ballerina.... Sources to follow

This week Morgan finishes our two part episode on Lizzie Halliday. Listen in to hear about how things finally caught up with Lizzie, her trial and ultimate demise Notes/ References Kevin Owens: Killing Time in the Catskills: The twisted tale of the Catskill Ripper Elizabeth "Lizzie" McNally Halliday (2019) Marian Broderick: Wild Irish Women: Extraordinary Lives from History (2012)

This week we're joined by writer Morgan Ormond for the fist in our two part episode on Lizzie Halliday. Lizzie was a 19th Century arsonist, bigamist, committer of grant theft horse (which is apparently a thing) and serial killer. Listen to hear all about her path of destruction. Notes/ References Kevin Owens: Killing Time in the Catskills: The twisted tale of the Catskill Ripper Elizabeth "Lizzie" McNally Halliday (2019) Marian Broderick: Wild Irish Women: Extraordinary Lives from History...

This week, guest Mairead Kiernan shares the tale of Maeve Brennan. Maeve was a glamourous and troubled writer who wrote for the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A combination of Carrie Bradshaw, Nora Ephron and Grey Gardens, Maeve has seen a recent resurgence of popularity in Irish literary circles. Listen to this week's episode to find out more. Notes/ References Maeve Brennan: Homesick at the New Yorker; Angela Bourke, 2016; The Visitor; Maeve Brennan, 2001...

We're starting Season Two with a bang as we tell the story of Bridget Cleary who was burned as a fairy changeling in 1895. Turns out we weren't too fond of fairies back in the day. Listen in to hear what led to Bridget's unfortunate demise. Guest co-presenter: Mairead Kiernan Music: Maija Sofia: The wife of Michael Cleary Notes/ References/ Further Reading: Amazon Lore: Black Stockings, 2017; Dictionary of Irish Biography: Cleary, Bridget, Angela Bourke.; Angela Bourke, The burning of...

Kit Cavanagh was a bar owner in Dublin whose husband went out to pay a bill and never came home. A year later, she learned that he had been enlisted in the army so she did what any self respecting wife and mother of three would do.... she dressed up as a man, joined the army and went to try bring him home. Listen to this weeks episode for the rest of her adventure. Notes/ References Wild Irish Women Extraordinary Lives from History by Marion...

Teresa Deevy was a prolific playwright for the Abbey in the 1930s before going on to write for radio and television in Ireland and the UK. She also happened to turn deaf a decade before radio appeared in Ireland meaning she never heard any of her works performed. Listen to this week's episode to find out more about her "deevious" ways. I accept that is a terrible pun but it's here now and there's nothing you can do about it.... Notes/ References: “The Abbey Dramatists: 1926–1945.” After...

After tragically losing all of her children to yellow fever, Cork woman Mary Harris became the mother of a movement. She mobilized tens of thousands of workers all over the US to strike, unionize and fight against harsh working conditions, labor exploitation, inequality and class warfare. Persistent in her mission to unite workers of all races, men, women and children, her home became "anywhere there is a fight". The name 'Mother Jones' brought fear and dread to the wealthy land owners as...

Zandra Mitchell led the type of life that doesn't seem real. She left Ireland at a young age and toured all around the globe as a jazz musician. She shared the stage with jazz legends and lived the interwar jazz lifestyle. She was also one of only forty Irish citizens in Germany for World War Two. Life is a cabaret old chum, so put on your pearls, pour your whiskey and come learn about Zandra's extraordinary life. Notes/...

This week Shaunna tells us all about Lizzie LeBlond who left a luxurious life in Greystones to become one of the world's first female mountaineers. She traveled to great heights especially considering that she didn't even know how to put on her own boots when she set out. Reese Witherspoon eat your heart out Notes/ Further Reading: County Wicklow Heritage: A Wicklow Woman's War Women's Museum of Ireland: Elizabeth Lizzie LeBlond Irish Times: Greystones woman climbed mountains in a...

This week we uncover the story of "Typhoid Mary" the unfortunate Irish cook whose name has become synonymous with disease and pestilence. More than just a pop culture reference, listen now to hear her full story. Notes/ References Dictionary Of Irish Biography: Mallon, Mary (‘Typhoid Mary’) “Controlling Typhoid Mary.” Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, by Trevor Hopppe, 1st ed., University of California Press, Oakland, California, 2018, pp. 17–42. Chan, Kit...

To Hell, to Connacht or to the high seas. This week we dissect the folklore from fiction as we discuss the life of legendary pirate Queen of Connacht, Granuaile in part two of our pirate special. *Correction: In this episode Shaunna mistakenly says Grace O'Malley lives until the age of 93 when in fact she lived to 73, (which is still pretty astonishing considering the life she lived). Notes/ references Grace O Malley, The Biography of Ireland’s Pirate Queen 1520-1603- Anne Chambers, Gill...

We have cabin fever so this week we are kicking off our two part pirate special with Anne Bonny, the lesser known Irish pirate. Forced to leave Kinsale at a young age due to questionable parentage, Anne ending up carousing around the Caribbean with her paramour Calico Jack and a crew of unscrupulous pirates. She captured public imagination as a hard living, violent pirate and a woman no less. Tune in to hear the blood curdling legends and more than a few pirate puns... it's been a long...

This week Shaunna tells us about Margaret Cousins a hippy with an iron core. Margaret graduated from smashing windows in Dublin to fighting for women's rights in India, with some mystical detours along the way. Notes/ Further Reading Women's Museum of Ireland: Margaret Elizabeth Cousins RTE: Global Lives: Margaret Cousins Ireland XO: Margaret (née Gillespie) Cousins 1878 The White Woman's Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia During British Rule By Kumari Jayawardena Internet Archive:...

This week Maria and Shaunna come to you from lock down to talk about Kathleen Lynn your newest feminist icon. Dr Lynn was one of the first female doctors in Ireland, a revolutionary who was active in the 1916 Rising and War of Independence and who also founded her own hospital. Maria also gets to talk about syphilis again. It always comes back to syphilis... We may be going a bit mad from the lockdown. To view the Loopline documentary go to:...

This week Shaunna looks at Lola Montez who we have decided is the 19th Century Cardi B. Lola was a wild child who traveled more than all of your Tinder matches combined, was an early burlesque dancer and almost toppled a monarch. Expect terrible pop culture references, plenty of Buffy and learn which disease Maria is obsessed with this week (hint: it predates the coronavirus and your favourite historical figure probably had it) Notes/ further reading:...

We accidentally picked a health themed episode before all of the coronavirus stuff started to really kick off. Prescient? Maybe. This week's episode is about nun and nurse Sister Anthony O'Connell AKA the Florence Nightingale of the Civil War AKA the Angel of the Battlefield. Self isolate with us and learn about this badass woman who embedded with the Union Army during the American Civil War Notes/ References Limerick’s Life: WHO WAS MARY O’CONNELL? AN ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD, Sharon...

In this episode Shaunna tells us the fascinating story of Eliza Lynch who left famine struck Ireland as a child and went on to become the Heroine of Paraguay. Notes/ References History Ireland Americana: The Americas in the World Around 1850, James Dunkerly Wikipedia

Often overshadowed by Countess Markievicz, Cork woman via England, Mary MacSwiney was a revolutionary who was considered to be Ireland's last true Republican. This week we talk about her contribution to the Irish Republican cause and subsequent potted legacy Notes/ References Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Irish Biography, Mary MacSwiney by Brian Murphy Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times: Eleven Cork Women in the Revolutionary Years 1916-1923 by Shandon Area History Group Ireland’s...

This week we look at artist Mary Swanzy. Mary was a contemporary of Picasso, one of Ireland's first cubist painters and fond of the odd snarky quip Notes/ References: Irish Examiner: Irish artist Mary Swanzy was a woman of many styles Crawford Art Gallery: Mary Swanzy Irish Times: Mary Swanzy: From strait-laced girl to first Irish cubist Irish Times: Mary Swanzy, one of Ireland’s leading modernist painters Visual Arts Cork: Mary Swanzy