From Manchán Magan to Claudia Cardinale and Brian Wilson, the world is a duller place now that so many great cultural lights have left us
Some of those we have lost in 2025, clockwise from main photograph, Manchán Magan, Hugh Wallace, Linda Nolan, David Hanly, Jennifer Johnston and Seán Rocks. Photos: Paul McCarthy, Gareth Chaney, Ulf Andersen and Andres Poveda
We need more dancing at funerals. That was the big takeaway from one I attended in early October. After being handed acorns from the deceased’s own self-planted woodland, mourners from across the world of arts, culture, ecology and language filed into the chapel at his alma mater, Gonzaga College.
When Michael Keegan-Dolan of Teac Damsa took to the altar and cheerily insisted we all rise and follow him through elemental dance choreography, who were we to refuse? After all, there was nothing ordinary about the person being eulogised that day.