We’re kicking up our heels and celebrating Ireland on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day when an astonishing 13m pints of Guinness will be poured worldwide. We’ve rounded up a special collection of St. Patrick’s Day Secrets, movies, and intriguing Irish spy podcasts to entertain you. Whether you’re toasting the day with parades, music, or dancing, may the luck of the Irish be with you.
St. Patrick’s Day secrets
St. Patrick’s legendary miracles include a prayer to banish snakes from Ireland even though the real St. Paddy never saw a snake and (sorry folks) wasn’t even Irish! We’ve put together 17 devilish details about the life of Ireland’s best-known saint from the curious to the ironic, and even a few tales bordering on the outrageous.
If you’d rather cuddle up and stream a thriller or crime movie on St. Patrick's Day, we’ve got you covered from Colin Farrell’s unmissable In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin to Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game - a love story about IRA assassins. Or just sit back and sing along with The Commitments. In any event, your Irish eyes will be smiling.
Willie Carlin was MI5’s top spy in the ‘70s, a man who risked his life to infiltrate the political wing of the Irish Republican movement and provide the UK with intel that could help end decades of violence. But was he risking too much? Carlin wanted to get close to Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness but he needed to be careful about what he wished for. Otherwise, Carlin could be a dead man walking.
It was John le Carré’s final plot twist, a surprise ending that revealed the novelist died an Irish citizen - a fitting farewell for an ex-MI6 spy used to juggling identities and passports. Le Carré rests in riveting company. Gunrunner Erskine Childers helped shape the espionage genre with Riddle of the Sands (1903) and influenced Irish spycraft. Here are 10 secrets and stories of the island’s top espionage writers.
Get a FREE copy of a hot new thriller, spy story, or crime novel every Monday with a special Story Mondays ticket to SPYSCAPE HQ. Next Monday it's The Syndicate Spy - as NetGalley puts it: “If you’re looking for the female version of Jack Reacher, then look no further than The Syndicate Spy!” Don't miss your FREE copy when you experience SPYSCAPE HQ next Monday.
Sean Hartnett grew up in Cork, Ireland during a violent 30-year conflict known as the 'Troubles'. His family, staunch Republicans, were shocked when Hartnett joined the British Armed Forces. In fact, Hartnett went one step further. He joined the British Army’s most secretive covert counterterrorist unit in Northern Ireland known as ‘The Det’. It was 2001, a peace treaty was in place, but it was an uneasy, anxious calm.
Many a glass has been raised on March 17 in honor of St. Patrick, the 5th-century missionary and Patron Saint of Ireland, but what about the lesser-known saints? Of course, there’s St. Joshua - Patron Saint of Spies - but what do you know about St. Adrian, Patron Saint of Arms Dealers, or St. Julian, the Patron Saint of … Murderers?
