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In this autobiography Tom O'Connor recounts the path he took - from humble beginnings in war-torn Liverpool where he met many of the ordinary people whom he describes as his comic heroes, to hard times in early marriage, his career in teaching and on to the company of stars and world leaders.
Poetic Acts & New Media advances the fields of literary and new media studies by clarifying boundaries between competing genres and media through the creation of a new artistic genre, "media poetry." This aesthetic mode of expression/becoming seeks to transform mass culture (our codes of communication) by self-consciously acknowledging how textual, audio, and/or visual signs are constructed according to their simulation and not their representation. This study draws heavily upon literary media theories that intersect with Gilles Deleuze's philosophy of 'Sense' as a simulated power of sensory transformations. Media poetry becomes a complex power of 'Sense' by blending conventional mass-media codes with poetic simulations that provide alternative forms of creating meaning. Poetic Acts & New Media specifically examines the works of several poets that exemplify this multi-sensory approach to printed-text poetry, especially: -Langston Hughes -Tony Medina -David Wojahn -John Kinsella -David Trinidad. It also analyzes several contemporary films that embody the multi-modal logic of media poetry: -David Lynch's Mullholland Drive -Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky -Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich. In addition, this study interprets two influential primetime TV shows as exemplars of media poetry: Twin Peaks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All media poetry, regardless of genre or medium, allows readers/viewers to envision "reality production" as a rewriteable and poetic enterprise that can productively remediate any transparent abstraction or common-sense realism.
This work stretches from deep prehistoric times up to the 12th century AD and beyond. After a short preamble from the Megalithic to the Bronze Age, scanning Tara’s Golden Age, it deals with Celtic Europe’s decline due to Roman and Germanic conquest. It follows Celtic tribes fleeing to Britain and Ireland, where they set up settlements. Ptolemy of Alexandria’s 2nd-century record debunks early Irish pseudo-history and ratifies the archaic Ulidian Tales. This work exposes the monumental hoax projecting Tara of Meath as the capital of Ireland and the seat of the High Kingship. The work draws on a compelling compilation of acclaimed authors and specialist studies that list the aforesaid as a medieval forgery. Prehistoric Tara had a much older status, an archaic Golden Age. This work tracks extensive research and archaeological analysis into British oppida, from which Celtic Belgic tribes migrated and set up similar oppida in Ireland. A concentration on the early history of these neglected areas was at the core of the early Irish historical records.
The story of the Irish Convict tells the tales of many true stories pulled together into one character; Maurice O'Brien. It follows his adventures from Ireland to New Zealand via Australia and then his many years spent in New Zealand finishing with his decision to return home to Ireland or stay in New Zealand. During his time in New Zealand he marries a local Maori woman in Hokianga, joins a whaling crew on the Kapiti Coast, builds a rammed earth cottage in Nelson and became involved in the first armed conflict over land between Te Rauparaha's tribe and European colonists in Marlborough.
An avid golfer of some skill, comedian Tom O'Connor has played with the best of them and the worst of them. With his sense of humour very much to the fore, he takes readers around the greens as he recalls some of the funny experiences that have befallen him - whether in such exalted company as Lee Trevino, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Jimmy Tarbuck or Russ Abbott, or in the 19th hole in club-houses far and wide. The reminiscences incorporate the courses, the disasters, the caddies and the characters the author has encountered, as well as personal golfing tips.
This gem of a book contains popular Irish comedian Tom O'Connor's favorite Iris stories, all of them funny, some of them almost believable, and all recounted and laced with his inimitable flair and wit. Collected together over many years - starting on his grandma's knee, continuing through his schooldays (both as student and teacher) and on through countless travels and stage appearances throughout the Emerald Isle - the stories and jokes cover all aspects of Irish life, from the pub to the church, from the home to workplace. From pearls of Irish logic to witty retorts in the face of adversity, this enterprising book proves once and for all that there's no finer wit than that of the Irish, and no greater nor more observant story teller than Tom O'Connor.
Roman legions rang Celtic Europe's death-knell and orchestrated Celtic Britain's swansong, provoking Queen Boudicea's massive anti-Roman revolt which resulted in "the worst disaster to befall the Roman Empire" — all of which had a huge bearing on the rise of Celtic Ireland. This book presents Turoe's Celtic Royal complex, unprecedented for its size and layout, but akin to Belgic oppida (as named by Caesar) in SE England and NW Europe. It hosts the Turoe Stone, Europe's most celebrated La Tene-decorated stone. No one knew why this classic masterpiece of Celtic stone art was set on Turoe's summit in the West of Ireland. Here its hitherto unrecognized Royal Sanctuary trappings at the centre of a vast Belgic oppidum defensive system of linear embankments uniquely connected to the Celtic invasion of Ireland and its archaic history are unfolded. It is recorded in early dindshenchas (history of the famous places) and associated with the names of archaic kings and queens. The first record of it is by the renowned 1st/2nd century Greek geographer, Ptolemy of Alexandria, who listed 2 capitals in Ireland, the only 2 in his day. One is Emain Macha near Armagh. The other was never definitively identified. He located it roughly in central Co. Galway where Turoe is. He named it REGIA E TERA (Te[mh]ra), the genuine early Celtic name for 'Capital at Turoe' (Cnoc Temhro). It had an acropolis and several necropoli, including those around Athenry cited in archaic texts in the Book of Leinster as ‘Releg na Rí lamh le Cruachain' where members of Turoe's Royal Household (Rígrád Temhróit) were interred, such as Queen Medb and her father, Eochaid Ferach Mhor whose palace, Rath Ferach Mhor, stood beside the Turoe Stone. Part of its sprawling urban-like complex flanking Turoe and Knocknadala (Assembly/Parliament Hill) is placed under preservation order by The National Monuments Department. Ptolemy renders Knocknadala (early Cnoc na nDál) as NAG-NA-TA[L], "the most illustrious 'city' (polis) in all Britannia, and most considerable in size, located in the west of Ireland." The sole reference to a dense population in early Irish literature points to this area. Ancient roadways, Slí Mhór and Slí Dála, converged on Turoe/Knocknadala. Rót na Ri, Royal Road of the Kings, ran from Turoe to the great seaport of Ath Cliath Magh Rí in Galway Bay. Dindshenchas texts state that "Ath Cliath Magh Rí was the chief seaport of Ireland through which Ireland has most often been invaded." A large segment of the Celtic invasion force landed there and advanced on Turoe, the core of its primary settlement area, as recorded in the Dindshenchas of Cnoc na Dála. Continental and British Belgic tribes are remembered in townland names within this vast Turoe oppidum complex. It was suppressed by pseudo-historians who set the Irish race on the cutting edge of woeful ignorance about its Celtic roots as Armagh's monastic conmen concocted scheming stews of sheer political propaganda to win the patronage of powerful warlords. The enforced Irish exile of King Dagobert II shows the depth of involvement of Armagh-linked Abbots in Frankish politics through whom Pepin's new national Over Kingship of the Franks profoundly impacted the genesis of Ireland's High King-ship/Tara/Patrick myth. As E. Breathnach noted "The culmination of the creation of the medieval myth surrounding Tara ensured Tara would be regarded from the late 10th/11th century as the monument of the Kingship of Ireland. Tara's potency as a political symbol was evoked to the extent that by the 17th century it was depicted as one of the institutions on which the Kingship of Ireland had rested from time immemorial" (Edel Breathnach, 'Cultural Identity of Tara' in Discovery Programme Reports').
Medieval and modern myths accrued to Ireland's Iron Age Queen Maeve (Medb), notably in Rosalind Clark's 'The Great Queens', led to this redemption of Medb's true identity. Clark alone showcased the divine elements and tragic qualities on which the greatness of the medieval 'Tain Bo Cuailnge' rested, enabling us to fully appreciate Ireland's greatest national epic. Nevertheless, a seismic shift had taken place in the retelling of Medb's story which elevated the 'Tain Bo Cuailnge' to the level of a Greek-style Odyssey. Medb's archaic history was deliberately suppressed as she underwent gross character assassination. Her true pristine identity is finally recovered here. "O Connor's research and photographs are unprecedented in any account of Irish history. This scholarly work is real Irish History - not the romantic myth of Gaelic High Kings of Ireland based at Tara. It should be compulsory reading for any student of Irish history" (Amazon.com Kindle book review). "This book is not only of Irish significance, for its revelations should result in a reinterpretation of prehistoric and early historic Europe. Academics and experts in archaeological, nomenclature and allied fields must study what can only be a very important discovery. I await their interpretations of its findings with excited anticipation" (Hugh W.L. Weir, historian and publisher, Ballinakella Press, Whitegate, Co. Clare, Ireland). "What can I say! This has to be the most informative work on early Ireland. I have a burning desire to learn about the people I descend from. All has been explained and expanded on to such a degree with accuracy that many other history books seem to be guesswork and fairy tales. What a great book!" (Michael Geraghty, Victoria, Australia). "Extremely interesting! This book's Flickr and Web sites (www.handofhistory.com ) are awesome and explain a lot" (Steve Cavanagh, Death Valley, California, USA).
One of Britain's best-loved and funniest entertainers, Tom O'Connor, takes a hilarious look at the funnier side of food. In his own unique style he explores the stranger side of our eating and drinking habits, casting a wry look along the way at dieting, exercising, gaining weight, cooking and shopping. Most of us are obsessed in one way or another with what we eat, don't eat and won't eat. Here, Tom O'Connor celebrates our food foibles in this highly entertaining look at what we love most in life.
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