“I wanted to get records of the Edwards-MacLiammoir productions, but I was told all the company”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.theguardian.com
- #corroborated
Figure timeline
Brian O'Nolan
Brian O'Nolan, whose pen names included Flann O'Brien, was an Irish Civil Service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is regarded as a key figure in modernist and postmodern literature. His four English-language novels, At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), The Hard Life (1961), The Dalkey…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · Irish writer (1911–1966) · writer · novelist · journalist · playwright · also Brian O'Nolan, Flann O'Brien, Myles na gCopaleen, Brother Barnabas, George Knowall, Myles na Gopaleen
Born 5 October 1911 · Died 1 April 1966 · Q469093
29 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
3 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 9 entries
“You mean that because I have no name I cannot die and that you cannot be held answerable for death even if you kill me?”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“Strange enlightenments are vouchsafed to those who seek the higher places.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“The gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“When things go wrong and will not come right, Though you do the best you can, When life looks black as the hour of night, A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
“Moderation, we find, is an extremely difficult thing to get in this country.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“Hell goes round and round. In shape it is circular, and by nature it is interminable, repetitive, and nearly unbearable.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“My father...was a man who understood all dogs thoroughly and treated them like human beings.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
“for there is queer small utility in it. You cannot eat it or drink it or smoke it in your pipe, it does not keep the rain out and it is a poor armful in the dark if you strip it and take it to bed with you after a night of porter when you are shivering with the red passion. It is a great mistake and a thing better done without, like bed-jars and foreign bacon.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
2013· 1 entry
A bronze sculpture of O'Brien named "Myles after Myles", by the artist Holger Christian Lönze, was unveiled on Railway Street in Strabane
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2012· 1 entry
On the 101st anniversary of his birth, O'Brien was honoured with a commemorative Google Doodle
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2011· 1 entry
The '100 Myles: The International Flann O'Brien Centenary Conference' (24–27 July) was held at The Department of English Studies at the University of Vienna, the success of which led to the establishment of 'The Internat
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1994· 1 entry
In the archives of Northwestern University
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
- #corroborated
- #www.theguardian.com
1989· 1 entry
Awarded Tähtivaeltaja Award (1989).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1973· 1 entry
And The Short Fiction of Flann O'Brien, Dalkey Archive Press 2013, edited by Neil Murphy & Keith Hopper
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1966· 1 entry
Died 1966-04-01.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
1965· 1 entry
That he "spent many months in the Rhineland and at Bonn drifting away from the strict pursuit of study
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 1 entry
“Descartes spent far too much time in bed subject to the persistent hallucination that he was thinking. You are not free from a similar disorder.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
1956· 1 entry
O'Brien was co-producer of a production for RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, of 3 Radio Ballets, which was just what it said it was—a dance performance in three parts designed for and performed on radio
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1953· 1 entry
After enraging a minister who realised he was the unnamed target whose intellect was ridiculed in several columns
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1943· 1 entry
But quickly folded, possibly because of the offence it gave to various interests including Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the Fianna Fail party
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1939· 1 entry
“I saw that my witticism was unperceived and quietly replaced it in the treasury of my mind.”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #corroborated
1937· 1 entry
Helped support his brothers and sisters, eleven in total, on his income
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 1 entry
Working in the Department of Local Government
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1934· 1 entry
O'Brien and his university friends founded a short-lived literary magazine called Blather
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1932· 1 entry
While there is also speculation about author names such as John Hackett, Peter the Painter (an obvious pun on a Mauser pistol favoured by the war of independence and civil war IRA and an eponymous anarchist), Winnie Wedg
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1921· 1 entry
O'Nolan senior joined the Irish Revenue Commissioners
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1911· 2 entries
Born 1911-10-05.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
“There are five in all. Always ask any questions that are to be asked and never answer any. Turn everything you hear to your own advantage. Always carry a repair outfit. Take left turns as much as possible. Never apply your front brake first...If you follow them,”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote