SO, WHY DID MICHAEL COLLINS HAVE A WOLF ON HIS SLIPPERS?

How did 10,000 steps become the magic number? And are dogs really good for us? The answers to these and a range of other conundrums feature in a fascinating new TV show

EVER wondered why we count magpies or whether or not postcodes have an impact on house prices? Or why hayfever is only going to get worse? If these are the kind of questions that keep you awake at night, firstly, you’re not alone. Secondly, you have to tune into Brainstorm, a five-part family show that’s jam-packed with both fun and factual information.

The series complements the online RTÉ initiative of the same name which, since Autumn 2017, has been tickling the curiosity of readers and listeners and delving into the evidence behind news, events and current affairs topics.

Who better to host it than a man who knows a thing or two about, well, a thing or two — with a particular interest in Dublin’s fair city. Social historian Donal Fallon, co-founder of the Dublin website Come Here To Me and host of podcast Three Castles Burning, has been discovering plenty of fascinating facts and figures while chatting to the many academics involved in the programme.

‘I’m really into the history of ideas and my great passion is for Dublin city, but at the core of any city there’s science and there’s ideas, so this show really got me interested in different disciples and fields,’ says Donal, who discovered a love of social history and a thirst for knowledge through his dad, who was a fireman with the Dublin Fire Brigade.

‘What’s really nice about this particular show is at the heart of every one of these segments or facts is a

‘A lot of character comes through all this research’

person,’ he reasons. ‘A lot of character comes through all this research.

‘There’s a lovely piece where we are talking about the development of the sliotar and we meet the guy, Kieran Moran, who designed the new yellow one. He’s at a GAA club and he’s just there slamming sliotars off the wall while he’s explaining the technology of it,’ he laughs.

For Fallon, who has made a name for himself as an expert on our capital city, the programme required that he get out of his comfort zone (ie Dublin) — not that he minded one bit. ‘My area of research has always been Dublin so it was great to get out into the rest of Ireland,’ he says.

‘Some of the issues that really resonated were the parallels between the 1920s housing crisis and today. I was also really touched by a project we did on accent bias and how it still exists in a strong way. You begin to wonder how do we overcome them — I love the sociological element of that.’

Brainstorm viewers can be prepared to learn some new conversation starters along the way too, says Donal. ‘I’d come home after a day of filming to my better half and ask her, “did you know this and that?” and it would spark entirely new conversations.

‘I got the feeling all the way through that we are definitely more familiar with our own island and it captures a moment in time and the reemergence of our country too,’ he says. ‘The academics involved do a wonderful job of communicating some very complex subjects in the length of time of a music video. That’s pretty special,’ he says.

O THE first episode of Brainstorm airs tomorrow on RTÉ One at 8.30pm