Tubridy Show Archive - January 2008

Click on a date to listen to the programme.

Thursday 31st January
It's the morning of Brian O'Connell's driving test.  Ryan chats with him from Ennis, as Brian prepares for his test at 10.05am.

Ryan thanks the people of Birr for their support of yesterday's outside broadcast and reads some more suggestions of names for Birr natives.

Has Iraq become America's second Vietnam?  Ryan asks Robert Brigham, Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at UCD, and RTÉ correspondent Richard Downes.  He also takes a listen to some audio, featuring audio of US presidents comparing Iraq with Vietnam.

Ireland - the view from afar.  Mary Minihan in Italy, Catherine Murphy in Australia, Conor Sweeney in Russia and Bernie Dwyer in Cuba report on the Irish stories making the news where they are.

Wednesday 30th January
The Tubridy Show broadcasts live from Emma's Café on the main street in Birr, Co. Offaly.

Adrian Shine, owner of Emma's Café, tells Ryan about the attraction of Birr.

Maria Tecce sings her own, special version of the Pointer Sisters' classic, Slow Hand.

Editor John O'Callaghan takes Ryan through the headlines in this week's Midland Tribune.

Apprenticeships and skills discussion - Rody Molloy (FÁS), Patricia White (St Brendan's Community School) and Stephen Grant (Grant Engineering).

Ryan chats with local You're a Star hopeful Catherine Harding, historian John Joyce and actor Des Keogh.  Des is currently on a national tour with John B Keane's The Love-Hungry Farmer.

Teresa Conlon from Co. Monaghan wins a luxury Murder Mystery weekend at the County Arms Hotel in Birr.

Local sporting folk - Gordon Kennedy (4x400 Olympic hopeful), Brenda O'Donoghue (Guinness Book of Records marathon runner) and John Grehan (inventor of the plastic hurley)

Maria Tecce closes the programme with Besame Mucho.  Red, Hot and Tecce is on RTÉ Radio 1 each Friday night at 9.  Check out www.mariatecce.com for gig details.

A big "thank you" from the TTS team to everyone in Birr for their support and generosity!

Tuesday 29th January
Michelle Curtin, brand manager and personal shopper with Brown Thomas, David Shaw, senior lecturer on DIT's new postgraduate diploma course in fashion buying and management and Darren Freeman Barlow, fashion buyer with Sasha talk about the role of the fashion buyer and how trends are set and managed by the industry.  For more information on the DIT course, see www.dit.ie

Lord Professor Robert Winston will be giving a talk in Trinity College Dublin this evening.  The title is 'Too Old to Reproduce?'  He talks to Ryan about his research in fertility treatment since the 1970s and how IVF treatment has become a costly business. 

Steve Martin is a co-author of Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion (Profile Books).  He talks to Ryan about the science of persuasion and how we can convince people to do what we want them to do and buy what we want them to buy.

Monday 28th January - (Audio not available)

Rob Kavanagh was diagnosed with ADHD - Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - at the age of 23.  He tells Ryan about his childhood, how his diagnosis came about, and having children of his own.

Ryan talks to Rob's mother, Rose, and to Deirdre McCarvill, who has a 13 year-old daughter with ADHD.

You can find advice and contact numbers from HADD, the family support group for people with ADHD, online at www.hadd.ie.

Ryan announces that the programme will broadcast from Emma's Café, Birr, Co. Offaly on Wednesday of this week.

Now that the economy's wobbling badly, are we facing a new era of austerity?  Dearbhail McDonald of the Irish Independent and Liam Delaney of the UCD Geary Institute predict some of the changes that might occur in an economic down-turn.

Friday 25th January
Cities of the Future - architecture critic Shane O'Toole and Angela Brady of the London Development Agency predict what Ireland's towns and cities will look like in 2050.

Diarmuid Byrne asks people on the streets of Dublin what the city might look like in the future, while Ryan reads some listeners' responses to the idea that future living might mean apartment living.

Singer Camille O'Sullivan and barber Ciarán Keenan review Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd.

Thursday 24th January
Armagh man Seamus Mc Garvey has been nominated for an Oscar for cinematography for his work on Atonement.  He talks to Ryan about working with director Joe Wright, author Ian McEwan and actress Saoirse Ronan and his path to an Oscar nomination.

Former newspaper journalist David Simon is the writer of Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Wire, two gritty TV series that have been highly acclaimed.  The Wire is set in Baltimore and is broadcast on TG4 on Monday nights.

Rupert Wingfield Hayes is the BBC Moscow correspondent.  He discusses recent Russian activity in the Bay of Biscay and the attention the Russian government have been giving recently to British Council staff in Moscow.

Wednesday 23rd January
We have been following thirty-something learner driver Brian O'Connell as he prepares for his driving test next week.  On Tuesday Brian attended a course run by Steer Clear for transition students in St. Mary's secondary school in Mallow.  Further details on www.steerclear.ie

Rita Carter is the author of Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality (Little Brown).  She talks about the notion of our personalities being made up of various 'selves' and how we can manage those different elements.

Siobhán O'Connell of Business Plus magazine and Michael Cullen of Marketing magazine discuss shock tactics in advertising and whether controversy adds to a campaign or turns people off the product.

Tuesday 22nd January
Presenter of The Business John Murray tells Ryan about some of the best-known partnerships in business, including Page and Brin and Ronan and Barrett.  Ryan also talks to Carolyn Donnelly of fashion duo Quinn and Donnelly and Hugh Wallace of architects Douglas Wallace.

Since 2004, more than 27,000 Latvians have registered to work in Ireland.  But what do we actually know about Latvia?  Ryan meets two Latvians living in Ireland, Ilze Tropa and Igor Safchenko.

Later today, Hasbro launch a competition for places on the first World Monopoly board.  Ireland's in the running for a place, and Ryan talks to Johnny Mair who, as a 25 year old, won the inaugural World Monopoly Championships.  Log onto www.monopoly.com now and start voting for Ireland!

Monday 21st January
They dominate the top shelves in newsagents, cost a small fortune to buy, and seem to be obsessed with booze and boobs.  But are so-called "lads' mags" like Nuts, Loaded and GQ actually any good?  Ryan asks Paddy Duffy, Barry Toomey, Daire O'Brien and Carol Hunt.

Ryan reads some listeners reviews of Christine Falls by Benjamin Black.  The best review of the month will win a €250 book voucher, courtesy of Barry's Tea.

Constance Black is an author, a successful lawyer and one of very few black women judges in the UK.  As a child, though, she was abused by her mother and had radical cosmetic surgery to change her looks.  Constance talks to Ryan about her two volumes of memoir - Ugly and Beyond Ugly (Hodder & Stoughton).

Friday 18th January
John O'Keeffe of the Sunday Independent on our politicians and their education qualifications.  How many have been to private schools, how many to third level and does their level of education have any impact on their level of responsibility in the Dáil?

Roddy Flynn of the School of Communications, DCU and Niall Hatch of Birdwatch Ireland went to see No Country for Old Men, the new film by the Coen brothers, based on the Cormac Mc Carthy novel of the same title.  It's set on the border between Texas and Mexico and stars Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem.

David Brophy, principal conductor, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Tasmin Little, violinist and conductor and Per Hauber, Head of Frontline Classics in Berlin discuss The Yellow Lounge, a new classical music nightclub in Berlin and other ways of making classical music sexy and accessible.

You can download Tasmin's Naked Violin, via www.tasminlittle.net; check out Berlin's Yellow Lounge on www.yellowlounge.de and David will be conducting the Orchestra of Scottish Opera's performance of The Brendan Voyage this weekend at the Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland, along with Liam Og O'Flynn and Altan: www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/68463

Roddy Flynn recommended The Road by Cormac Mc Carthy as a grim, but gripping read.  It's published by Picador.

Thursday 17th January
Ryan plays a segment of an interview with model and singer Carla Bruni from last year where she talks about life in the public eye, being linked to various famous men and how she intended to vote for Ségolène Royal.  Bruni is currently linked to French President Nicolas Sarkozy,.

Jim Power of Friends First and Professor Tom Begley discuss the merits and costs of doing an MBA (Masters in Business Administration).  Eamon Tighe and Dr. Taiwo Matthew are graduates of MBA programmes and they explain what difference the qualification made to their working lives.

Emily Hourican, Christopher Fitz-Simon and Aoife Finnegan on nomadic childhood.  Emily grew up in Belfast, Brussels and Dublin, Christopher moved all over Ireland as a child in the thirties and forties and Aoife moved to Bahrain for eight years when she was five.  They talk about the effect on their lives and where they call 'home'.  Eleven Houses by Christopher Fitz-Simon is published by Penguin.

Wednesday 16th January
Ann Marie Martin beat an eating disorder, was co-opted onto Dublin City Council and contested the 2007 General Election for Fine Gael.  Last week, Ann Marie left politics.  She explains her reasons.

Ryan reads some listener comments on American TV series The Wire.

Is it ever right to show emotion in the workplace?  Psychologist Sophie Rowan, consultant Tim Kelley and businesswoman Ann Grogan debate the issues.  Sophie's book, Happy at Work, is published by Prentice Hall.

To what extent do crowds and home venues influence team performance?  Ahead of Munster's crunch Heineken Cup match against Wasps, Ryan puts the question to Orla Muldoon of UL and GAA commentator Liam Griffin.

Tuesday 15th January
Ryan reads some listeners' responses to yesterday's debate on the use of creatine by teenage athletes.

Why do politicians parade their children at election time?  And what happens when politicians' children misbehave?  Shane Coleman of the Sunday Tribune chats to Ryan about soft-focus pictures of Bertie's grandchildren, John Gummer's daughter Cordelia and US "First Daughter" Chelsea Clinton.

Ryan plays a song that's been a big hit on Youtube - I've got a crush on Obama by the Obama Girl.

Author John Banville aka Benjamin Black joins Ryan in studio.  Christine Falls by Benjamin Black is our Book of the Month, while the documentary Being John Banville will be screened on RTÉ 1 television tonight at 10.15pm.

Louth man Tommy Smyth was installed as Grand Marshall of the New York St Patrick's Day parade.  He tells Ryan about his journey to America in the 1960s, his career as a radio and TV presenter and his plans for the 17th of March.

Monday 14th January
As the IRFU announces its latest guidelines on the use of supplements in youth sports their nutritionist, Ruth Wood Martin, discusses drugs in teen sport with Professor Brendan Buckley, Chairman of the Anti Doping Committee in Sport, Paul Byrne, body builder and former Mr Ireland and Paul Howard, former Sports journalist and author of the Ross O'Carroll Kelly books.

Useful links:
The Irish Sports Council: www.irishsportscouncil.ie
Irish Rugby Football Union: www.irishrugby.ie
Body Byrne: www.bodybyrne.ie
Paul Howard: www.rossocarrollkelly.ie

With the search for Amy Fitzpatrick, the Irish teenager missing in Spain intensifying, Ryan checks in with an array of Irish ex-pats. From the indolent life styles of the Mediterranean to the cheap child care and excitement of Eastern Europe, we hear from entertainer, Tony Francis in Benidorm; John Holden in Alicante; author, Julian Gough in Berlin; mother Jennifer Kane in Milan; Dermot Plaice in Crete; playwright Maureen McManus in Prague and celebrity chef Sean Redmond in Saudi.

Julian Gough: www.juliangough.com

Maureen McManus:
www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/mcmanus-maureen.html

And Ryan reads Ruth Jardine's review of Christine Falls by Benjamin Black.

Friday 11th January
Tony Jordan is the creator of ITV's new soap, Echo Beach, starring Jason Donovan and Martine McCutcheon. Oozing with sex, surf and sand, it's set in Cornwall and is screened alongside Moving Wallpaper, a spoof documentary that goes behind-the-scenes of the main soap. He joins Bryan Murray, of Brookside Trevor Jordache fame and Fair City's Bob Charles along with Una Mullally, TV critic with the Sunday Tribune, to discuss the merits of soaps.

Echo Beach and Moving Wallpaper screen on ITV at 9pm for the next 11 Thursdays.

Fair City screens Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on RTÉ 1 at 8pm

From the Musgraves to the Murdochs, Simon Carswell, financial journalist with the Irish Times, considers business dynasties at home and abroad.

Richard Downes, RTÉ News Broadcaster debunks Human Terrain System, the latest plans from the US Army to sent anthropologists into Iraq in an effort to understand the enemy.
Find out more on Storming Media

And Deirdre Lattin from Swords wins our Budget Travel trip to Crete. She first went there on a girlie holiday twenty five years ago where she met her husband Gino. He was the dashing dark handsome one she mistook for a Greek who turned out to be a Dub.

You'll find great deals and all details on Budget via www.budgettravel.ie

Thursday 10th January
Christina Lamb, foreign correspondent with the Sunday Times was a personal friend of Benazir Bhutto.  She plots the history of the Bhutto dynasty and the role of Bhutto's husband and son in the future of Pakistan.  Christina Lamb's book Small Wars Permitting is published by Harper Collins.

Conor Lenihan follows up with a discussion on Irish political dynasties - the son of Brian Lenihan and grandson of Patrick Lenihan, he resisted the political calling in favour of journalism for a long time, and says that he won't be encouraging his own children to follow in his footsteps.

Aindí Hynes is the father of Siobhán Hynes who was brutally murdered in Conamara in December 1998.  He talks of the impact on himself and his wife Bríd, and on their two other daughters.  Aindí will be participating in a programme called Victim Impact on RTÉ 1 TV on Sunday at 10.30pm. 

For more information about Victims of Homicide, contact Advic (www.advic.ie). 
Support after Homicide is a national voluntary organisation funded by The Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime and they provide one to one support for those bereaved by murder. Their number is 087 9837322.

Wednesday 9th January
Elaine Cobbe reports from France on the latest stories gripping the French - the smoking ban, President Sarkozy's love life, and Time magazine's declaration that French culture is moribund.

Ryan plays Glen Hansard's song 'Falling Slowly' from Once, which is hotly tipped to for a Best Song nomination at this year's Oscars.  What do you think?  Email us on tts@rte.ie.

Can you imagine what it's like to lose both your parents while you're still a child?  To take on the role of carer or breadwinner while in your teens?  Robbie Irwin of RTÉ Sport tells his story.

Roy Murphy from Wexford wins a holiday in Egypt, courtesy of Budget Travel.

Tuesday 8th January
Graham Linehan, along with Arthur Mathews, is the creative genius behind comedy series like Father Ted, the IT Crowd and Black Books.  He's the subject of a documentary by director Adrian McCarthy to be screened on RTÉ One Television tonight at 10.15pm.  Graham and Adrian talk to Ryan about Irish comedy.

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books have sold more than 9 million copies in 41 countries.  His latest book, Airman, is set in a mythical kingdom on the Saltee Islands.  Eoin tells Ryan about the inspiration for Airman, life as one of five brothers and his love for James Bond.  Airman by Eoin Colfer is published by Puffin.

Rosarie Cahill from Galway chats to Ryan and wins a week's holiday in Majorca, courtesy of Budget Travel.  Check out www.budgettravel.ie for details of their summer sale.

Monday 7th January
Journalists James Helm and Richard Delevan on New Hampshire - the economy and voting preferences of the Granite State and how voters might respond in this week's Primary. 

John Murphy from Dunmore East is the winner of today's Budget Travel competition.  He wins a holiday to Croatia.

Marion Fossett is the ringmistress of Fossett's circus.  She talks about life on the road in 2008 and how recognition of the circus as an art form has changed the way the circus is perceived in Ireland.  Fossett's circus is in Kilmainham until the 13th of January.

Friday 4th January
On the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik's fall to earth, we look at exploration - what is the modern equivalent of putting a man on the moon?  David Moore of Astronomy Ireland and broadcaster and traveller Manchán Magan discuss the boundaries of travel.

Alan Garfield was a precinct captain in the town of Dubuque, Iowa, for the caucus last night.  He talks about organising the various groups and how the voting progresses as candidates are eliminated.  Alan is familiar with the politics of Donegal, having spent a lot of time in Meenaleck, near Gaoth Dobhair.  He compares the excitement of the Iowa caucus to Irish general elections.

Film maker Louis Lentin travelled to Lithuania with his son Miki to trace the story of his grandfather Kalman who left his home to set up a new life in Ireland.  He was a quiet man who never spoke of his life in the shtetl.  Lentin's documentary Grandpa, Speak to me in Russian is on RTÉ 1 TV on Sunday at 10.55pm

Thursday 3rd January
He's left behind Dublin's city streets to find fame and fortune in the Hollywood Hills... but will the Americans be able to handle Jake Stevens?  The only man with the answer, PJ Gallagher, talks about his new TV series, as well as his life in and outside of comedy.  'Makin Jake' starts on RTE2 television on Monday 7 January, 9.30 pm, running for six weeks.    

What do Monica Lewinski, Shergar, Schindler and The Good Friday Agreement all have in common?  Nothing except 2008 is their anniversary.  Dr Ciaran Brady from Trinity College Dublin and Peter Murtagh from the Irish Times on historic moments to remember.

Wednesday 2nd January
2008 is an Olympic Year.  What's it like to participate in the Games?  And can we believe in the Olympic ideal in these days of corruption, cheating and doping?  Olympians Eamonn Coughlan and Michael Carruth and Beijing medal hopeful Eileen O'Keeffe discuss the issues.

Our Book Club with Barry's Tea is back for the New Year.  January's book is Christine Falls by Benjamin Black.  Ryan plays an extract from an interview with its author, perhaps better known as John Banville.

How do you spot talent, whether it be in the modelling or music professions?  Ryan asks former modelling agent Eddie Shanahan and A&R man Thomas Black.  Thomas Black is looking for new acts.  You can contact him by email on tblack@savientertainment.com.

Tuesday 1st January
Shane Coleman, political correspondent of the Sunday Tribune and author of Up the Poll, picks his political 'Ones to Watch' for 2008.

Design guru Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen joins Ryan to discuss his TV show, To the Manor Bowen, and identify design trends for the coming year.

Ryan plays an extract from last year's interview with former US president Bill Clinton, whose wife Hillary aims to make history by becoming the USA's first female president in 2008.