Wild Decembers is a novel by Edna O'Brien. It is set in western Ireland in the 1970s, and was later made into a TV series. [1] [2] [3]
Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. Around 40% of the country's population of 5 million people resides in the Greater Dublin Area. The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south-east, and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann, an upper house, Seanad Éireann, and an elected President who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President; the Taoiseach in turn appoints other government ministers.
County Cork is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, Ireland's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are Mallow, Macroom, Midleton, and Skibbereen. As of 2016 the county had a population of 542,868, making it the third-most populous county in Ireland. Cork County Council is the local authority for the county. Notable Corkonians include Michael Collins, Jack Lynch, and Sonia O'Sullivan.
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards in seven categories and has won four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and knighted on 9 November 2012. He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018. In 2020, he was listed at number 20 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.
Jeremiah O'Connell is an American actor, director, and television presenter known for his roles as Quinn Mallory in the television series Sliders, Andrew Clements in My Secret Identity, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me (1986), Joe in Joe's Apartment (1996), Frank Cushman in Jerry Maguire (1996), Derek in Scream 2 (1997), Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack (2003), and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan. He starred as Pete Kaczmarek in the single 2010–2011 season of The Defenders. He also had a starring role in the comedy horror film Piranha 3D (2010). Currently, he voices Commander Jack Ransom on the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, is co-host of The Talk, and hosts a version of Pictionary syndicated on Fox stations.
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an English-born Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGowan and the Popes, as well as producing his own solo material and working on collaborations with artists such as Kirsty MacColl, Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Steve Earle, Sinéad O'Connor, and Ronnie Drew.
The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in both Dublin and London in the early 1960s, and were signed to the Major Minor label in 1965 after backing from Dominic Behan who was paid by Major-Minor to work with the Dubliners and help them to build a better act fit for larger concert hall venues. The Dubliners worked with Behan regularly between 1965 and 1966; Behan wrote numerous songs for this act including the song McAlpine's Fusiliers created specifically to showcase Ronnie Drew's gravel voice. They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline which was part owned by Phil Solomon CEO of Major Minor, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". Often performing political songs considered controversial at the time, they drew criticism from some folk purists and Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ had placed an unofficial ban on their music from 1967 to 1971. During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.
Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson, Jonny Quinn (drums), and Johnny McDaid. Initially an indie rock band, Snow Patrol rose to prominence in the early– mid-2000s as part of the post-Britpop movement.
Wild Life is the debut studio album by the British–American rock band Wings and the third studio album by Paul McCartney after the breakup of the Beatles. The album was recorded in eight days, from 25 July to 2 August 1971, at Abbey Road Studios by McCartney, his wife Linda, session drummer Denny Seiwell, whom they had worked with on the McCartneys' previous album Ram, and guitarist Denny Laine, formerly of the English rock band the Moody Blues. It was released by Apple Records on 7 December in the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction.
Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives, having held a parliamentary seat since 1998. In the 2010 formation of the First Rutte cabinet, a minority government of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)—which he left in 2004—and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Wilders actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "tolerance agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties. He withdrew his party's parliamentary support in 2012, citing disagreements with the cabinet over proposed budget cuts. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam and the European Union (EU); his views have made him a controversial figure in the Netherlands and abroad. Since 2004 he has been protected at all times by armed police.
The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team.
Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 fantasy adventure drama film directed by Spike Jonze. Written by Jonze and Dave Eggers, it is based on Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same name. It combines live-action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery (CGI). The film stars Max Records and features the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, and Chris Cooper. The film centers on a lonely pre-teenage boy named Max who sails away to an island inhabited by creatures known as the "Wild Things", who declare Max their king.
James Peter Maxwell Dornan is an actor, model, and musician from Northern Ireland. Formerly a character actor, he often portrays solemn, steady characters. The recipient of two Irish Film and Television Awards, he has been nominated for a BAFTA Television Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 32 on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors of all time.
Christine Louise Lampard is a Northern Irish broadcaster from Newtownards, Northern Ireland. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as The One Show (2007–2010) and Daybreak (2010–11), while with Phillip Schofield she has presented Dancing on Ice (2012–14) and This Morning (2013–16). Lampard has also presented factual series for ITV including Off The Beaten Track (2013) and Wild Ireland (2015). Since 2016 she has been a presenter of the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women.
National Geographic Wild is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). The channel primarily focuses on wildlife and natural history non-fiction programming. It is a sister network to National Geographic TV.
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the world. The island is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The 60% smaller island of Ireland is to the west – and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks, form the British Isles archipelago.
Tyson Luke Fury is a British professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC and The Ring magazine titles since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020; previously he held the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring titles after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. With his defeat of Wilder, Fury became the third heavyweight, after Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali, to hold The Ring magazine title twice, and is widely considered by media outlets to be the lineal heavyweight champion. As of November 2021, Fury is ranked as the world's best active heavyweight by ESPN, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) and BoxRec,. He is ranked as the third-best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, fourth by ESPN and seventh by the TBRB and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Jessie Buckley is an Irish actress and singer. She began her career in 2008 as a contestant on the BBC TV talent show I'd Do Anything, in which she placed second. In the same year, she appeared in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. She then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 2013. Her early onscreen appearances include portrayals in BBC television series, such as Marya Bolkonskaya in the 2016 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Lorna Bow in Taboo (2017) and Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White (2018).
Wild Decembers is an Irish feature-length television drama series which broadcast on RTÉ One on 29 December 2010. Described as a "dark tale of love and land" by the Irish Independent, it is set in contemporary County Clare and is based on the novel of the same name by the Irish writer Edna O'Brien.
The 2006–07 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 13 August 2006 and 14 May 2007.