Ego corrective

I Googled myself this morning. Not, you understand, to see what people are saying about me, if anything. I just wanted to find the reference to a paper I published a couple of years ago.

The results were fascinating. I have a fairly rare name, other than in Ireland. But it seems that all the other people with my name are high achievers in their chosen fields.

They are:
A recently murdered gangster in Dublin who had 'people queuing up to kill him'.
2 doctors
1 Professor of Nuclear Physics.
1 professional soccer coach (albeit in the US).
1 Special Effects designer.

There's also an eponymous verse novel about an Irish pornographer, by Anthony Burgess. Not his best, to be honest.

Note to self: must do some work.

What are your namesakes up to?

Into the corridors of power

I have a hotline to government - state government that is. Of Nebraska… Welcome, Nebraskan reader. I hope you've got Dick Cheney safely in an undisclosed location again!

To another reader using a Mac at Swansea University's English Department:did you Google yourself and find yourself on my page? I hope your ears (eyes?) are burning! Actually, I loved Twenty Thousand Saints: profound, funny, beautifully structured and written. How I wish I was as fluent in my first language as you are in your second.