Declan Lynch: Liveline is on the case of the woman and the Prague tickets that never were | Irish Independent
Flor Lynch
(Couldn't find this last week. - Ed.)
Radio reviews
Jessie Buckley with her Oscar. Photo: AP
Troy Parrott after scoring the winner against Hungary last November. Photo: Getty
Donald Trump speaking at the White House. Photo: Reuters
Everyone hates a scammer. So there was much sympathy for the Liveline (RTÉ1, weekdays, 1.45pm) caller telling Kieran Cuddihy about the two tickets she “bought” online for Czechia v Ireland in Prague – tickets that she’s been chasing for six weeks, which have never materialised.
She was given a reference number, but ominously, there had been no email or receipt confirming the purchase. And no phone number, of course.
She had asked her mother to come back from Spain to mind the children, so she was going to Prague anyway to make the best of it and enjoy the atmosphere – she was not going to let it break her.
And though she had triggered that contempt which lies in all our hearts for the scammer, it must be borne in mind that this Liveline followed directly after RTÉ1’s News at One which had kicked off with something like this: the US president had declared a five-day postponement of hostilities against Iran, to allow for talks. But Iran had responded by saying there had been no talks, direct or indirect.
And we could add a few footnotes about stories of massive insider trading just before Donald Trump’s announcement, or the fact the whole thing is arguably concocted to stop people talking about the Epstein Files – but in terms of what we know for sure, we could draw at least two conclusions.
First, the RTÉ report by Fergal Gallagher of their foreign staff was an improvement on the station’s traditional practice of reporting the statements of the US president without mentioning that they are in all likelihood not true in any way, shape or form.
Since I have been critical of this RTÉ practice, I should note that Gallagher referred to Iran’s denial that any talks had taken place, and added that in this light, “Mr Trump’s supposed conversations have a lot of heavy lifting to do, during the five day pause”. The word “supposed” is correct here. And essential. And really quite simple. Like, how hard was that?
The other conclusion we must draw, with a heavy heart, is that there are big scams, and there are scams that are not quite so big.
Troy Parrott after scoring the winner against Hungary last November. Photo: Getty
If you are running a racket selling fake match tickets on the internet and you’re keeping a resentful eye on what some of the Great Powers are running in the Middle East, you’d probably feel a bit better about yourself – in the unlikely event that you felt bad about yourself in the first place.
You’d probably be able to look at yourself in the mirror and call yourself no more than an ordinary decent scammer.
In a world bamboozled by con-artists, we turn to the artists. John Bowman on his Sunday morning radio show (RTÉ1, 8.30am) clearly felt that another blast of Jessie Buckley wouldn’t be overdoing it, and he was right.
He played a clip from a TV interview with Miriam O’Callaghan after Jessie, then aged 18, had finished second in a huge contest for the role of Nancy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End production of Oliver!. Miriam’s next guest that night was Louis Walsh, who said that Jessie would have a great career in musicals.
Jessie Buckley with her Oscar. Photo: AP
Which brings us to the reason why Buckley’s recent success was, if anything, under-appreciated. Louis specifically said “in musicals” and indeed there are many stars of musical theatre who have tremendous careers in that genre, but who do not become stars of anything else. Many legends of Broadway have had relatively modest movie careers.
Therefore not only is it unusual for an Irish woman to win an Oscar, it is unusual for anyone who can play the lead role in a musical to win the prize for straight acting in a major motion picture.
It is even more unusual to find an item from The Pat Kenny Show becoming a successful musical event and yet Paul Harrington has upcoming shows in the Cork Opera House and the National Concert Hall, based on The Lyric’s The Thing, his regular slot which has moved with Pat to Newstalk Sunday (10am).
It is deeply simple and perfectly executed. Harrington selects some classic recording, and tells the story behind the making of it.
Last Sunday it was Dance Away by Roxy Music. Then he sings it while playing the piano – it helps that he is very good at singing and playing the piano. And that’s it, folks.
You can still make an honest living in this world.