Loved the new Three Castles Burning on James Clarence Mangan whose spirit still haunts the Liberties in Dublin. He’s buried close to the Gravediggers (my favourite Dublin pub), and Donal talks about ‘the magnetic pull’ of that pub that always draws him in.

The hielant piper in his braws Pluffs oot his rosie cheeks an blaws He gies his oxtered bag a squeeze And oot the bonnie music flees! A Blythe Yule! wolfework

Happy Christmas Wake readers, but steer clear of Miss Hooligan’s Christmas cake…. peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2014/12/miss-h…

In 1904, James Joyce wrote his third short story, ‘Christmas Eve’ - his first writing after leaving Ireland. He later abandoned it, but the manuscript survives. Here it is, as published in the Garland Press Archive. Merry Christmas! peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2022/12/james-…

“I’ve read a lot of Joyce, but it’s just that Finnegans Wake is more than a book. It’s like it contains the world. . . . So owning it is like having the essence of everything. I feel like it might just as well be a Sumerian text.” - Patti Smith, born OTD in 1946

RIP the great Bob Grover. Until I saw the Piranhas at the Alhambra in the summer of 1978, I mistakenly thought live music was about big name bands in big venues. But the Piranhas in a tiny seafront pub were more exciting than Led Zeppelin at Earl's Court.

The coin of Harthacanute from the Sizewell C hoard on last night’s Digging for Britain reminded me of this coin of Constantius ii - almost 700 years earlier! Prof Alice Roberts💙

My fourth article for the West Hill Whistler is a celebration of Brighton’s astonishing jazz scene. viewer.joomag.com/the-whistler-j…

A new post on the Guidebook narrator in Finnegans Wake peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2025/01/guideb…

The fascinating High and Low John Galliano documentary reminded me that we did a Galliano/Gaultier Christmas card photo in 1998 'Supermodel waif Lisa Lichen glides down the catwalk in Chrispalliano's bias-cut ‘Fried eggs and bacon', inspired by the full English breakfast.'

James Joyce’s correspondence finally published online! 2,000 previously unpublished items! Although there are four published volumes of letters, the Joyce estate previously blocked publication of all these ones. I’m guessing that a lot of the new stuff looks like this though….

My latest article for the Whistler is about the wonderful Brighton Toy and Model Museum. The whole mag is online here viewer.joomag.com/the-whistler-m…

Today is International Dance Day, a time to celebrate one of the top dancers of the 20th century- James Joyce! peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2021/02/james-…

Lisa O’Neill’s version of Rainy Night in Soho last night had me and the missus in tears.

My friend Roy Bayfield has found the original Sylvia Silence stories. Unlike the languid consulting detective imagined by Joyce, she was an action heroine! peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2021/07/sylvia…

In Paris, leading my first ever James Joyce guided tour. We started at the Hotel Corneille, where he almost starved in 1902-3, and ended at his last luxurious residence, the Lutetia joyceinparis.com

On Bloomsday, I made a pilgrimage to the Victoria Palace Hotel in Paris, which James Joyce described as a 'caravanserai peopled by American loudspeakers' yet he wrote the best parts of Finnegans Wake here peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2025/07/james-…

Does anyone remember Aaargh! the great comics exhibition at the ICA in 1970-71. We had a family trip there when I was 12, and I wandered on my own into a dark room where they had a slide show of Robert Crumb’s Despair comic. A life changing experience! Have loved Crumb ever since