12. Elliott Mills: Brian, Myles and the Civil Service Toby talks to Elliott about the fascinating ways in which Brian O’Nolan the bureaucrat manifests in the writing of Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen.

New Year, new ideas about #FlannOBrien!

This episode of Radio Myles features Elliott Mills who has plunged into the depths of Brian O'Nolan's work in the Irish civil service.

Listen and read on Substack or anywhere else:

radiomyles.substack.com/p/12-elliott...

#nowreading #flannobrien #thepoormouth #saturdayvibes #saturdayfeeling #inspirationalquotes #motivationalquotes #inspiration #motivation

Flann O’Brien (Brian Ó Nualláin), on his birthday October 5 2025 revision At his best a visionary maestro and literary prankster of irrepressible humor and wit, Flann O’Brien could not sustain the heights of his unselfconscious debut, crush…

#FlannOBrien #books #literature dollhouseparkconservatory.home.blog/2022/10/06/f...

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.”

✒️ Brian O'Nolan ( #FlannOBrien), Irish novelist (At Swim-Two-Birds), was #BOTD 5 October 1911. #Literature

Shelf-help for non-readers from Myles na gCopaleen | Letters Letters: Karin Barry remembers Flann O’Brien’s idea for a book-handling service to make untouched volumes look well-thumbed, while Susanna Hoe offers some of her own books to those with threadbare col...

And if you don’t have the time to engage with books like this @wendypratt.bsky.social you can always #FlannOBrien www.theguardian.com/books/2022/a...

Flann O’Brien: „Auf Schwimmen-zwei-Vögel“ In der Nacht vom zweiten auf dritten Oktober wird im Ballsaal der Schaubühne Lindenfels der Roman „Auf Schwimmen-zwei-Vögel“ des irischen Schriftstellers Brian O’Nolan alias Flann O’Brien (1911-1966) ...

An alle #Leipziger - morgen Nacht. Die GANZE Nacht! #FlannOBrien. Mit vielen tollen, großartigen Leuten! Und mir. Aber irgendwas ist ja immer. Der bestmögliche Start in den #TagDerEinheit. Mit #FlannOBrien. Und Porter. In der #Schaubühne. Was braucht man mehr?

www.schaubuehne.com/spielplan/a-...

The statue of Flann O'Brien (Myles na gCopaleen) in Strabane

But still: always a good spot to visit. #FlannOBrien #MylesnagCopaleen

A Substack in Search of a Smile Finding Laughter on the Page

I write about the intoxicating power of laughter, the genius of Michael McIntyre, and Flann O'Brien.
#writerslife #Laughter #Comedy #Comedian #Toastmasters #PublicSpeaking #MichaelMcIntyre #FlannOBrien #AtSwimTwoBirds #Seminary #Funny #Humour #Humor #MichaelMcIntyre
open.substack.com/pub/joearmst...

Cover of "Third Policman", depicting the odd two-dimensional quality of the police station

Tried to just do a drive-by here but --
the ultimate mind-bending comic novel, has its own Wikipedia pg.
I wonder at O'Brien despairing of it [published posthumously] and yet publishing "Dalkey Archive" which doesn't scale the same heights of madness at all, at all] […]

[Original post on mas.to]

IN PICTURES: Major international conference celebrating Strabane literary genius Flann O’Brien A major international conference dedicated to the Strabane genius Flann O’Brien is underway in the Co. Tyrone town.

'Would it surprise you to be told the Atomic Theory is at work in this parish?...Michael Gilhaney is a man nearly banjaxed from the principle of the Atomic Theory. Would it astonish you to hear he is nearly half a bicycle?'
#FlannOBrien #MylesnagCopaleen

Thank-you to the @flannobriensoc.bsky.social for sharing this podcast - it's certainly unmissable if you want to learn new and surprising things about #flannobrien

Finished #TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘You have no idea where you are going…’
‘No, none.’
‘Nor have I…Sometimes I think that perhaps I might become part of…the world…if you understand me?’
‘I know.’
‘I mean- the wind…Or perhaps something to do with the sea…Or the smell of a flower…’

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘I think,' he said, 'we will go out and have a look at it, it is a great thing to do what is necessary before it becomes essential and unavoidable.'

Thank you to my dear readers who took part and to those of you who enjoyed our tweets! #OBrien25 #TheThirdPoliceman #flannobrien #beedoubleokayess📚🐦
#ReadingAnActOfSharedSolitude #paperpills🇵🇸❤️ #ReemReel
www.instagram.com/reel/DIWMqJG...

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘To spend it and spin it out and not have all of it forever unused inside him.'
'All what?'
' His lifetime. He wants to get rid of as much as possible, undertime and overtime, as quickly as he can….’

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

When I awoke again two thoughts came into my head so closely together that they seemed to be stuck to one another; I could not be sure which came first and it was hard to separate them and examine them singly.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

I was awakened the following morning by sounds of loud hammering outside the window and found myself immediately recalling- the recollection was an absurd paradox- that I had been in the next world yesterday.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

…I was handed a magnifying glass…I looked at my hand through it and saw nothing that was recognizable…MacCruiskeen took it back with a smile at my puzzled eye.
'It magnifies to invisibility,' he explained.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘It does a man no harm,' the Sergeant remarked pleasantly, 'to move around a bit and see things. It is a great thing for widening out the mind. A wide mind is a grand thing….’

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

Certainly. I will be there to the end. In the meantime let us make up our minds that eternity is not up a lane that is found by looking at cracks in the ceiling of a country policeman's bedroom.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘But there is a road there,' the Sergeant said triumphantly, 'if you know how to look knowledgeably for it. And a very old road. Come with me till we see the size of it.'
‘Is this the road to eternity?'
‘It is indeed but there is no signpost.'

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

I felt sure I was not going against the road. It was, so to speak, accompanying me.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25
‘The funny thing is…that MacCruiskeen lay for two years staring at that ceiling before he saw it was a map of superb ingenuity?'
'Now that was stupid,' I said thickly.
'And he lay…for five years more before he saw that it showed the way to eternity?’

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

The box is full of noise. Myself and the Sergeant spend our spare time in the summer collecting noises so that we can have light and heat for our official life in the dark winter.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

He attributes the idea that the earth is spherical to the fact that human beings are continually moving in only one known direction (though convinced that they are free to move in any direction)….

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘If you let it go too far it would be the end of everything. You would have bicycles wanting votes and they would get seats on the County Council and make the roads far worse…on the other hand, a good bicycle is a great companion…a great charm about it.'

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘Did you never study atomics when you were a lad?' asked the Sergeant…
‘No,' I answered.
'That is a very serious defalcation…but…I will tell you the size of it. Everything is composed of small particles of itself…flying around in concentric circles…

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘In the end I found…only one thing to do to put myself right with my…conscience.'
'It is a great thing that you found the right answer at all,' I countered.
‘I decided…the…correct thing to contain in the chest was another chest…littler in cubic dimension.’

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

‘First I thought of them letters from Bridie,the ones on the blue paper with the strong smell but…it would be anything but a sacrilege in the end because there was hot bits in them letters.Do you comprehend the trend of my observations?'
'I do,' I answered.

#TheThirdPoliceman
#FlannOBrien
#OBrien25

'I know what you mean,' he said. ‘But the law is an extremely intricate phenomenon. If you have no name you cannot own a watch and the watch that has been stolen does not exist…’