Life after Stalin - A Dubliner's Diary

A nostalgic look back at Dublin’s old department stores in an era when a bit of grandeur and customer service counted for something, and the customer didn’t have to serve themselves. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul […] The post Episode 24 – Crowning the Customer first appeared on Nearcast .

Casement was a distinguished British public servant who was executed for treason following an attempted gunrunning in 1916  and became one of the principal Irish martyrs in the rebellion against British rule in Ireland. He was re-interred in Glasnevin Cemetery with full military honours after a State funeral in 1965. I was there. About the series Life after Stalin – […] The post Episode 23 –...

We could hear the Artane Band practicing from our back garden. My mother used to say it was where the bold boys were sent. It’s only in retrospect I realise what those children were going through. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul […] The post Episode 22 – Artane Industrial School first appeared on Nearcast .

Tomorrow’s World. When the TV remote control was a futuristic device; the moon landing in 1969 and how, in 1977, Dunsink Observatory managed to loose the moon rock which President Nixon presented to Ireland. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In […] The post Episode 21 – Tomorrows World first appeared on Nearcas...

The gin didn’t agree with me. Teenage drinking in the late 1960s and one particular night at the dance in the school hall. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how he was born in 1953, the […] The post Episode 20 – The gin didn’t agree with me first appeared on Nearcast .

Leave no trace. I’m not a fan of bucket lists but, the older I get, the more I wonder about legacy. ‘Leave no trace’ is the hikers’s motto – but it would be a sad life that didn’t leave even the faintest footprint. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a […] The post Episode 19 – Leave no trace first appeared on Nearcast .

Who is my neighbour? In the early 1970s I volunteered one night a week in a Simon Community night shelter to work with Dublin’s street drinkers and rough sleepers. Later on Simon started to buy suburban houses to provide long term accommodation for the vulnerable homeless. Usually this was met with was opposition. I was reminded […] The post Episode 18 – Who is my neighbour? first appea...

Episode 17 – Under cabbage leaf. Remembering the coyness about the fact of life in the 1960s, ‘the Talk’ in school, the banning of all contraception until 1980 when condoms became available on prescription, the social stigma of unmarried motherhood; and the Constitutional  amendment in 1983 copper-fastening the right to life of the unborn. About […] The post Episode 17 – Under cabbage...

Episode 16 – The Troubles. Recalling the start of the Troubles when, on a shopping trip to Newry with my parents in 1968, we came across a civil rights march. They were calling for ‘One man, one vote’. My experience of studying in Belfast in the height of the Troubles in the mid-seventies, being caught […] The post Episode 16 – The Troubles first appeared on Nearcast .

When fluoride was added to the water supply in Dublin in 1964 our next door neighbour refused to use it. Another householder went further, bringing an action against the State. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where she lost. However the case served as a springboard for others to bring matters […] The post Episode 15 – Something in the water first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 14 – Clearing out the attic. To make way for new insulation and flooring in the attic we had to do a long overdue clear out. It was a nostalgic process. But nothing prepared me for my reunion with my L.P. collection. On the covers all the artists remained young and handsome while I […] The post Episode 14 – Clearing out the attic first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 13 – Reds under the Bed. Reflecting on the perceived Soviet threat in the 1960s when every household got a leaflet on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Then, in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink such a catastrophe. My father was in the Army […] The post Episode 13 – Reds under the Bed first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 12 – Mad Men. Attracted by TV images of advertising executives on Madison Avenue, New York;  getting a job in advertising in Dublin and the humdrum  that came with it; then happening upon Madison Avenue many years later. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and […] The post Episode 12 – Mad Men first appeared on Nearcas...

Episode 11 – A Poor Player. Learning to play the guitar, forming a band, and our first gig in the school hall which could have gone better. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how he […] The post Episode 11 – A Poor Player first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 10 – Cardboard Money Boxes. The foreign missions, collecting money in school for the ‘black babies’, famine and my personal encounter with malnourished children. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how he was born […] The post Episode 10 – Cardboard Money B...

Episode 9 – The Dark Chocolate Box. Giving up sweets for Lent and the annual box of chocolates from my grandmother in Limerick every Easter. Repurposing the box as a treasure chest for prized possessions, including a piece of Nelson’s Pillar and the flag I waved for President Kennedy on his visit to Ireland in […] The post Episode 9 – The Dark Chocolate Box first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 8 – Shan Mohangi. The gruesome story of a South African medical student who killed and dismembered a local girl in Dublin  in 1963, made all the more shocking because Ireland had such a low crime rate at the time. Contains graphic descriptions of violence and adult content – listener discretion is advised. About […] The post Episode 8 – Shan Mohangi first appeared on Near...

Episode 7 – Corporal Punishment. The widespread and acceptable use of corporal punishment in schools, the social acceptance of slapping in the home and one particular instance of corporal punishment I have never forgotten. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the […] The post Episode 7 – Corpo...

Episode 6 – Fever – Being diagnosed with meningitis at the age of six; my long stay in a fever hospital and the institutional effects of being abruptly and completely isolated from my family. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In […] The post Episode 6 – Fever first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 5 – Protestants – Reminiscing about our Protestant neighbours in Artane and Coolock, the ancient  Protestant Church in Coolock compared to the makeshift Catholic one in Artane; and remembering my own Church of Ireland side of the family. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and […] The post Episode 5 – Protestants...

Episode 4 – ‘Note the Bullet Holes’ – My father’s tour of duty with an Irish Army battalion on a United Nations peace-keeping mission to the About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how he was […] The post Episode 4 – ‘Note the Bullet Holes’ first appe...

Episode 3 – Chanel – Going to school in Chanel College in the 1960s, when Coolock was an actual village; the Marist community and the school’s sporting culture. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how […] The post Episode 3 – Chanel first appeared on Nearcast...

Episode 2 – Artane – Remembering the old neighbourhood when Artane was full of newly weds in new houses on old agricultural land; when cars were scarce, buses were green, traffic was light and people could get home to eat their dinner in the middle of the day. About the series Life after Stalin – […] The post Episode 2 – Artane first appeared on Nearcast .

Episode 1- Life after Stalin – Reflecting on maternity services around the time of my birth in the early 50s, the Catholic practice of having children baptised as soon as possible after birth and my own baptism in Westland Row in 1953. About the series Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast […] The post Episode 1 – Life After Stalin first appeared on Nearcast .

Life after Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary is a podcast series written and presented by Paul Harrison. In the series Paul reflects on how he was born in 1953, the day before Joseph Stalin died. Paul take’s a light-hearted look at what has happened in the world since his entry into it and Stalin’s exit […] The post Life After Stalin – A Dubliner’s Diary (Trailer) first appeared...