S8 E7 Nudity: Health and Efficiency magazine (1933)

For the first time on the podcast, it’s a publication that’s still banned in Ireland! According to Register of Prohibited Publications, Health and Efficiency is ‘unwholesome literature’. Naturally, we want to know precisely how this magazine is corrupting and degrading its readers. With Prof Annebella Pollen.

S8 E2 Thrilling: ‘True Detective Mysteries’

Hundreds of magazine titles were banned by the Irish censor. This true-crime periodical, full of murder and gangsterism, couldn’t avoid being banned for discussing crime. But advertising ‘daring’ and ‘frank’ books didn’t help either.

S7 Summer Bonus episode

The Bishop and the Nightie: censure in television

The most memorable scandals in Irish life feature a fulminating bishop and this is no exception. This brief controversy is infamous but why do we find it so compelling? Dr Morgan Wait joins me to talk about television and titillation in 1960s Ireland.

Mastodon
Sternly worded telegram from a bishop – quelle horreur!

S7 E11 Playing politics: censure in theatres

Theatre riots might capture the imagination but audiences, critics and authority figures shape theatre in other less dramatic ways. Guest Dr Barry Houlihan talks about his new book Theatre and archival memory: Irish drama and marginalised histories 1951-77 (2022)

S7 E10 Morally healthy: censure in libraries

A tour of the maze of committees that controlled who read what in Irish public libraries. Public libraries were one of the most important sources of reading material for ordinary people.

Cork city library, opened in 1930. Picture Darragh Kane