‘Security is an amazing thing' – Why a nice job in the civil service has become the new cool
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RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- RTÉ News
'I thought they were just another band'
Ahead of their reunion shows in Croke Park in August, Dave Fanning presents a new three-part RTÉ Radio 1 series looking back on his interviews with Oasis Dave Fanning is recalling the first time he ever heard a hotly tipped new band from Manchester called Oasis. It was April 1994 and the five-piece led by two saturnine looking brothers called Noel and Liam had just released their debut single, an extremely impressive opening gambit entitled Supersonic. It was the start of something very, very big - but one Irish tasty maker didn't see it coming and he's the first to admit it. "I thought they were just another band," says Fanning, who has seen plenty of 'just another bands' come and go over his fifty years as a DJ and music fanatic. "I didn't jump at it and say their first album is the greatest album ever made. I had no idea." Funny how things turn out because starting at 6pm this Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1, the DJ and wireless veteran presents The Fanning Files: Oasis, a new three-part series looking back on his many meetings with the Mancunian super stars. Over the course of three episodes to be aired ahead of the band's reunion shows at Croke Park, Fanning will revisit the interviews he did with the band and the solo Gallagher brothers over the years - starting in 1994 and going all the way to 2024. "The first interview we did in the studio in 2fm in September 1994 just before the first album was released," Fanning recalls. "Bonehead and Noel did two live numbers - a very good version of Slide Away and the other was Live Forever, which Mojo magazine later put at No 1 in the top fifty Oasis songs ever." Fanning was to meet Oasis many times over the next thirty years and Noel remains one the funniest and sharpest men he's ever met. "He is fantastic!" says Fanning. "He's quick, he's smart, he knows how to tell a good story and he knows how to slag the brother in a way that is really quite warm and nice. "Liam is street smart and he's a bit mad but he's pretty cool but Noel is very together, very quick. He's well able to talk and he knows that he likes and he'll say it straight out." Anyone who remembers what was going on in rock 'n' roll back in the early nineties will know the wild success of Oasis wasn't just down to Noel's talent for penning football terrace anthems with Slade-sized choruses. "It was pretty obvious that it was going to happen," says Fanning. "It was perfect because Oasis were yobs! People were crying out for an in your face rock 'n' roll band. Oasis gave us that and maybe they were the last rock 'n' roll band. "It's all about lads throwing their arms around each other. Does that mean I love it? Give me Nick Cave or even Blur any day . . . " So, was he, to ask the question of the day back then, Oasis or Blur. "I would have been Blur." And way back in 1994, was Dave Fanning, who turns 70 next year, mad fer it? "Ehhhh, no. I was probably too old to be mad for it," he laughs. "I didn't buy the right hat or walk the right way but I did enjoy all that. I always enjoy a movement - like Madchester and Grunge and Liverpool, a hundred years ago." Of course, some might say that after two very good albums with Definitely Maybe and What's The Story (Morning Glory)?, Oasis very quickly calcified into dad rock bloat. "One of the interviews we have on the series is from 1997 for their third album, Be Here Now, and Oasis are on top of the world, the biggest selling rock act in the world," recalls Fanning. "And you can feel it - Be Here Now wasn't all that great, the songs are way too long, all the orchestra stuff is nonsensical, every song is six minutes long and they should be three minutes. You can see the overindulgence." The Fanning Files: Oasis will include contributions from Liam and Noel Gallagher, Bonehead, Andy Bell, Alan McGee and the band's original drummer Tony McCarroll. There will be stories, banter and anecdotes, including Noel's own story of why he walked away from it all at that Rock en Seine Paris gig back in '09. And, of course, Fanning will be in Croke Park to witness Oasis' first Irish shows in 16 years on 16 and 17 of August. ""Yes, I'll be there but I'm not looking so forward to it like everybody else is with their arms around each other, drinking pints," he says. "The thing is, Oasis don't put on a show. Look at Chris Martin, he really knows how to bring in the whole audience. Oasis do nothing! Your man stands there with his hands behind his back. "I went to see that covers band No-asis and your man stands there with his hands behind his back but when Noel is doing his solo songs, he ambles over and headbutts him! And the place goes wild." He adds, "Last Friday I went to the Purty Loft in Dun Laoghaire to see a David Bowie tribute act. Saturday and Sunday, I was at Billie Eilish. I also went to Coldplay in Croker last year - and they are for girls!"
The Journal
14 hours ago
- The Journal
'Relieved, elated – and maybe a bit proud': Roddy Doyle on chairing the Booker Prize panel
THE LONGLIST FOR this year's prestigious Man Booker Prize has been released – and chair of the five-person judging panel Roddy Doyle said he's 'loved every minute' of his experience. The Dublin author is the first winner of the prize to chair the panel. Doyle won the prize in 1993 for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, a novel about a ten-year-old boy living in north Dublin and the events that happen around his age group, school, and home. The 'Booker Dozen' of 13 books feature no Irish authors, but has British, American, Canadian-Ukrainian, Trinidadian, Indian, Hungarian-British, Malaysian, and Albanian-American authors listed. The longlist has been described as containing works that encapsulate 'a vast range of global experiences'. Among the authors on the longlist are one previous winner of the prize, a third-time longlisted author, two authors previously shortlisted, two debut novelists, the first novel from an opera librettist and the twelfth from a former professional basketball player, a book that first gained acclaim as a short story, and one that is the first in a proposed quartet. Doyle described the novels as 'alive with great characters and narrative surprises' which 'examine the past and poke at our shaky present'. Advertisement He is joined on the judging panel by Booker Prize-longlisted author Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀; actress, producer and publisher Sarah Jessica Parker; writer, broadcaster and literary critic Chris Power; and New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author Kiley Reid. Of Doyle's experience chairing the judging panel and narrowing down the submissions to the longlist, he wrote, 'it wasn't easy; at times, it was agony'. 'Seven months, 153 books – the five judges have met and decided on the 13 novels that make up the 2025 Booker longlist.' He said there were so many excellent books among the contenders that saying goodbye to some of them 'felt personal, almost cruel'. 'But I loved every minute of the experience, and being in the company of my fellow judges,' he said. 'There was a small, discreet UN peace-keeping force close at hand, but it wasn't needed. My four colleagues are a generous, funny group but what was clear from the outset was that these are people who love – actually, who need – great books.' He remarked on the list of locations featured amongst the novels. 'There are novels that experiment with form and others that do so less obviously… All, somehow, examine identity, individual or national, and all, I think, are gripping and excellent. 'As I write this, I have the 13 longlisted novels on my desk, in a pile. My phone tells me that one meaning of 'pile' is 'a heap of things'. It's a wonderful heap – I don't think I've seen a better one. At the end of our last, very long meeting, when we'd added the final book to the heap, we all felt relieved, elated – and maybe a bit proud.' The full longlist: Love Forms – Claire Adam The South – Tash Aw Universality – Natasha Brown One Boat – Jonathan Buckley Flashlight – Susan Choi The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny – Kiran Desai Audition – Katie Kitamura The Rest of Our Lives – Ben Markovits The Land in Winter – Andrew Miller Endling – Maria Reva Flesh – David Szalay Seascraper – Benjamin Wood Misinterpretation – Ledia Xhoga Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
15 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Trinidadian-Irish writer makes Booker Prize longlist
The longlist for the Booker Prize has been announced with no Irish-born authors included this year. However, Claire Adam, a Trinidadian-Irish writer, whose mother is from Cork, is among those selected for her novel 'Love Forms'. Chosen from 153 submissions, the list of 13 authors - described as a "baker's dozen" - celebrates the best works of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, according to the Booker Prize committee. The nominated books are: Love Forms by Claire Adam (Faber) The South by Tash Aw (4th Estate) Universality by Natasha Brown (Faber) One Boat by Jonathan Buckley (Fitzcarraldo Editions) Flashlight by Susan Choi (Jonathan Cape) The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hamish Hamilton) Audition by Katie Kitamura (Fern Press) The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits (Faber) The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (Sceptre) Endling by Maria Reva (Virago/Little, Brown) Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape) Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking) Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga (Daunt Books Originals) The 2025 judging panel is chaired by Ireland's 1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle and includes award-winning actor, producer and publisher Sarah Jessica Parker, Booker Prize-longlisted novelist Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, writer, broadcaster and literary critic Chris Power, and New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author Kiley Reid. The committee described its job as looking for the best work of fiction, selected from entries published in Ireland or Britain between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. The list, which features seven women and six men, includes five authors who identify as British or joint British - including one who identifies as Hungarian-British - and four who identify as American or joint American - including one who identifies as Albanian-American. Mr Doyle said: "There are short novels and some very long ones. There are novels that experiment with form and others that do so less obviously. "Some of them examine the past and others poke at our shaky present. They are all alive with great characters and narrative surprises. "All, somehow, examine identity, individual or national, and all, I think, are gripping and excellent."
