Great Irish Lives: Obituaries of Ireland’s Finest
EDITED BY CHARLES LYSAGHT

Dr Johnson quipped that the Irish seldom speak well of one another: he was, Charles Lysaght reminds us, referring to the living. In death, Irish culture is notably respectful, being highly attuned to family sensibilities. And so it is left to the London papers to bring a little more acerbity into the summation of Irish lives.

The Times’ reputation for being at best patron­ising towards the Irish (at worst hostile) might have lent bias to this updated collection of Irish obituaries, but most of these remembered lives are well told, and represent an eclectic span: sportsmen (George Best, Jack Kyle) as well as comedians (Jimmy O’Dea, Dermot Morgan), writers (Joyce, Frank O’Connor, Molly Keane), artists and singers (Louis le Brocquy, Tommy Makem), as well as many politicians, churchmen, radicals and rebels, and ending with Terry Wogan.