Podcast Archive
Welcome to the podcast archive page for "The Letter from Ireland Podcast". Here you'll find a link to all of our podcast episodes covering Irish Genealogy & Family History, Irish Surnames, Irish Culture & Customs, Ireland Travel and much more.
Browse the podcast episodes listed on this page and jump to one that interests you, or enter a placename, surname or other item in the search box below to see related podcasts.
All of our podcasts to date
In this episode, we feature two Irish Pub stories- intriguingly connected together. In the first story, we chat about the book McCarthy’s Bar – which gives a comical view of both the Irish Pub and the Irish by Pete McCarthy. We then travel to the pub featured on the cover of that book – McCarthy’s Bar…
Today we feature two Irish movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood – Grace Kelly and Maureen O’Hara. In one story we chat about the “Two Graces of County Mayo” and then we take a trip up Maureen O’Hara’s ancestry tree. We even manage to uncover songs on which they feature. Not to be…
In this extended musical edition of the Letter from Ireland podcast, we share 15 songs performed by 15 Irish artists. Each song has a connection with the song that went before it – and the one that goes after it. Hence the title! We feature artists you may already be familiar with – Van Morrison,…
In this episode we look at the journey taken by a branch of Vikings and their establishment of a Dukedom in what became known as “Normandy” in northern France. We look at their culture and traditions – traditions that they brought with them to England in 1066 and then onto Ireland in the late part…
In this week’s episode we look at the way that unmarried mothers – and other “social undesirables” were treated in Ireland, especially in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s. Carina reads out two letters – one on the Magdalene Laundries and the other shares the story of one mother who never gave up…
In today’s episode, we explore the different sort of Irish music that was coming onto the scene from the mid-1970s. We first look at the story of that great London-Irish band – The Pogues – and then onto the more subtle music of Paul Brady. In both cases, lots of background stories, music and craic.…
In this episode we take a musical trip around the nine counties of Ulster: Derry (Londonderry), Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan. Alongside the immortal “Danny Boy”, we feature at least one tune or song from each of the counties. I refer to a map while talking – and you can see…
In this episode we look at the many ways the Great Irish Famine was reported outside of Ireland – and the reaction from some of the groups that were exposed to that reporting. In one case, Mike’s own ancestors were included in a report that went out in English newspapers in the 1840s. One of…
We look at the stories of two different Irish pioneers in early north America – in what is now the country of Canada. The first is the story of Denis O’Donovan – who had the opportunity to choose his final resting place – and the second is Tadhg O’Brennan who may have been the first…
In this episode we look at the story of two men born seventy years apart on the west coast of Ireland – who went on to make a substantial mark on naval history. William Brown was born into poverty in County Mayo but went on to become the father of the Argentinian Navy while John…