Gavin James: On My Culture Radar

Current favourite book
I've only started reading the Harry Potter books, by JK Rowling, for the first time, and I'm on The Prisoner of Azkaban right now. I'm such a big fan of the movies, but because I've seen them I can't use my imagination as much; I already have a clear visualisation of what the characters look like. So it's kind of like watching a week-long extended cut of the movie, in my brain.

Restaurant
Recently I got into Greek food, and I always love chicken wings, but my current favourite is FX Buckley in Dublin. They do savage steaks. I love the rib-eye there, and I go for onion rings and potatoes as a side.

Comedian
Tommy Tiernan is gas. I went on his RTÉ show a year ago. I saw him recently when he did The Late Late Show too. He's a witty man.

City
My favourite place to go, especially this time of year, is Oslo in Norway. When you fly over it, it looks like a Christmas postcard. I'd recommended somewhere like that for a winter break – it's nicer than New York at that time. I went in winter last year, to perform at an outdoor gig in central Oslo to about 30,000 people. It was super cold, and it was snowing so heavily you could barely see past five rows. The city was gorgeous, though, especially with all the Christmas lights.

Nick Cave says cultural boycott of Israel is ‘cowardly and shameful’

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Hidden history of Trinity’s Victorian marble wonder revealed

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Reconsidering Thomas Merton, who died 50 years ago today

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Album
I really like Glory Sound Prep, by Jon Bellion – I'd definitely recommend that. It's in the same vein as Twenty One Pilots, but the production on it is absolutely insane. I haven't stopped listening to it. Other than that, I'm looking forward to Coldplay's Live in Buenos Aires. It's a 20-song live album. I've just downloaded it, so I'll listen to it when I next get a chance.

Actor
I really like Keir Gilchrist, the main character in Atypical. It's a light-hearted comedy on Netflix about a kid who has autism. It's really funny, and he plays the part so well. For people who don't know about autism, his character sheds a light on what it's like to go through school on the spectrum.

Gadget
I have a phone case that sticks to anything. If you're on a plane and watching a movie, you can stick it to the seat in front. Or if you're in a van, you can stick the phone to the window. As I travel a lot, it comes in useful all the time.

Social media profile
John Mayer on Instagram is my favourite. His Instagram stories are hilarious; he's like a comedian. I'm also always impressed by James Blunt on Twitter – he comes back to insults so well. Most of them can't be printed because they're so raunchy, but just scrolling through his feed, there's one where someone says "Why don't you ever reply to positive comments about you?" and he says "Because I can't find any."

TV show
I really enjoy The Good Place, and I just finished Narcos: Mexico. It's like watching Scarface; it's so interesting. It's about the DEA in Mexico trying to catch out drug gangs.

Film
I'm mad into films: any time I have free time I'll try to find the closest cinema. I went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald twice; other than that I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody. People have said that it didn't reflect real life, but I loved it.

[ New Year’s Festival Dublin ]