He was in the habit of buying The Irish Times daily and reading every word, over several hours, with a ruler in hand
Gillies Macbain: found a late vocation in the twilight era of the Irish big house, as detailed in a superbly written memoir
The compulsion may have arisen from a related condition – a need to write letters to the editor – something he did a lot in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, always using postcards to maximise his chances of catching the editorial eye. But it became too time-consuming in the end, so he had to kick the habit somehow.
To save readers Googling “nipple greasing”, with perhaps unfortunate results, I should explain that, in his case, it was something done in garages and engineering workshops, with grease guns. As summarised by Orna Mulcahy in her review of The Last Footman, Macbain’s relationship with the Monaghan house ended as follows:
Whatever about garda interviews, he was distrustful of mere facts as a way of expressing biographical truth. Writing in this newspaper about the way he approached his memoir, he struck an almost mystical note:
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