{"id":197311,"date":"2025-11-24T08:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T08:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/197311\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T08:33:08","slug":"growing-up-in-london-my-sons-feel-a-lot-less-innocent-than-their-irish-cousins-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/197311\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Growing up in London, my sons feel a lot less innocent than their Irish cousins\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annie Mac<\/a> looks momentarily perplexed. \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting question,\u201d she says, furrowing her brow as she nods. I have just asked the Dublin<\/a> native whether she still considers herself a broadcaster first and foremost, considering the numerous other hats that she has worn throughout her career. \u201cI think it\u2019s funny, because there\u2019s \u2018broadcaster\u2019 and then there\u2019s \u2018podcaster\u2019 \u2013 but I wouldn\u2019t call myself a broadcaster as quickly now.\u201d She mulls over the question a little more, shrugging. \u201cIf someone asked me what I do, I\u2019d say that I write books, and I DJ, and I podcast.\u201d <\/p>\n

It has been four years since the 47-year-old multi-hyphenate left her position at BBC<\/a> Radio 1, where she presented a variety of shows including Future Sounds, which positioned her as one of the UK\u2019s leading tastemakers for new music. She has not ruled out a return to radio at some point but, as things stand, she has \u201cno pangs at all\u201d about her decision. \u201cWhat I find is that I still meet people a lot who are genuinely cross with me for leaving, which is funny,\u201d she laughs. \u201cAnd then the first question is always like, \u2018Well, when are you coming back?\u2019 And I don\u2019t really have an answer for that.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the reasons for her departure was to spend more time with her young sons, who are now 12 and eight, and her husband Thomas Bell, aka DJ and producer Toddla T<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was on radio I\u2019d miss bedtime and dinner time every night, and then a lot of the time I\u2019d be away at the weekends DJing, as well,\u201d she explains. \u201cSometimes you were around at the weekends, and sometimes you weren\u2019t. Now, it\u2019s completely different. I still DJ, but much less than I used to. And I\u2019m around in the evenings, and I\u2019m really, really loving that.\u201d She grimaces. \u201cI haven\u2019t become a better cook, though.\u201d <\/p>\n

In any case, the woman born Annie Macmanus has plenty else to be getting on with. She has also written two novels (2021\u2019s Mother Mother and 2023\u2019s This Mess We\u2019re In), and recently handed in the manuscript for her third, which is tentatively set for publication in early 2027. She still DJs, mostly at her Before Midnight club nights, which are going from strength to strength (she promises to \u201cget another Irish date in the diary\u201d after its successful Dublin debut earlier this year.) <\/p>\n

Macmanus and her fellow DJ Lucy Monki floated the idea of running a club night that finished before 12am, catering for an older crowd \u2013 many of them with busy jobs, young kids or other commitments \u2013 that still wanted to go clubbing, but didn\u2019t want to pull an all-nighter in order to do so. The reaction was \u201cunanimously positive\u201d from the beginning, she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had written off my DJ career in a way; I was kind of in a state of pre-grieving it. I went from \u2018I don\u2019t think this is going to be able to continue\u2019 [after Covid and leaving Radio 1] to then having this path in front of me that is now very clear. I can see myself growing older as a DJ and also being able to challenge myself as a DJ, by playing these extended sets for three or four hours. It\u2019s just a lovely feeling. I\u2019ve never enjoyed DJing as much.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0A \u2018middle-aged rave\u2019 that ends before midnight? I\u2019ll get my dancing shoesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Macmanus has also been able to keep her toe in the music world with the weekly Sidetracked music podcast for BBC Sounds which she co-hosts with Nick Grimshaw, and of course, as the long-running co-host of Other Voices for RT\u00c9 television. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so much more for me than just the presenting aspect,\u201d she says of her annual pre-Christmas pilgrimage to Dingle. \u201cAnd it comes at a time when you\u2019re really frazzled, and there\u2019s always so much going on. But then you go to Dingle, and it just fills you up in so many ways, on a soulful level; just being witness to so many amazing different bands and artists playing within such a concentrated time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd also getting to hang out in nice pubs and speak with nice people, and work in Ireland with the really talented Irish crew and the other presenters. I just love going home. I don\u2019t do a lot of work in Ireland \u2013 I never have \u2013 so it means a lot to me to go back and work there every year. I never come back not feeling really nourished \u2013 and about half a stone heavier.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"AnnieAnnie Mac: ‘With my sons growing up in London, they feel a lot less innocent than their Irish cousins, in a lot of ways’ <\/p>\n

Macmanus\u2019s priorities have certainly changed, and she admits that the emergence of the latent novelist within her \u201cfeels like coming home\u201d. Her writing has also extended to her excellent Substack newsletter, Changes. (She previously hosted a podcast of the same name, which is currently on hiatus.) One of the topics she has written about was the agonising decision whether to relocate her family from London to Dublin, which they ultimately decided against. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Covid-induced,\u201d she says of the dilemma. \u201cThe luxury of being able to [easily] fly back being taken away really sobers you. I thought about it for a good while, because my [eldest] son was starting secondary school. If I had an Irish husband, I would have been back a long time ago \u2013 but I have an English husband, and it\u2019s not so easy as his career is here.\u201d She shrugs. \u201cFor now, I feel at peace with the fact that we\u2019re here, on the condition that I go back a lot. And I do go back regularly on my own to see my mum and dad, even just for a night, sometimes. And that kind of scratches the itch.\u201d <\/p>\n

We speak about Christmas, and her sons\u2019 inevitable tilt towards the grown-up version of the season, which she is understandably saddened by. \u201cWith them growing up in London, they feel a lot less innocent than their Irish cousins, in a lot of ways,\u201d she nods. \u201cThey feel more kind of worldly, somehow. That could just be me projecting it, I don\u2019t know \u2013 but the Santa thing is pretty sad.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, there is plenty to be happy about. As always, the family will split their Christmas between London with her in-laws, and then on St Stephen\u2019s Day, they will fly to Dublin where the extended family converges on her parents\u2019 home in Dundrum. \u201cThe house is packed,\u201d she chuckles, \u201cbut it\u2019s lovely chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n

Is she where she thought she\u2019d be at this point in her life? She smiles, pausing to think about her multiple reinventions over the years. \u201cWhen I was in my 20s, I would have said there was no way I\u2019d be DJing when I was over 40,\u201d she laughs. \u201cOne of the biggest things that happened to me this year was I started playing football competitively with a team, in a league. I\u2019m one of the oldest women in the club, and I surprise myself constantly by the fact that my body can work and get through a game. So that\u2019s been so cool. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018The concept of monarchy is absurd\u2019: Annie Mac on London-Irish life, rejecting an MBE, and the pull of homeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I have realised that I\u2019ve had a sense of kind of internalised ageism, where I thought \u2018There\u2019s no way I could do something like this.\u2019 But I\u2019ve had to just shut up the inner voices and crack on. So that\u2019s been a big learning curve for me: don\u2019t age yourself more than what you are. Don\u2019t limit yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n

She smiles again, her trademark curls bouncing as she nods. \u201cAnd I feel really happy to be still DJing, but in a way that feels like it\u2019s on my terms, in a way that feels really good and purposeful. I don\u2019t know what the next 10 years will bring, and I\u2019m quite excited by that. I like the idea of not really knowing what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d <\/p>\n

Follow Annie Mac on Substack at anniemacmanus.substack.com<\/a>. Other Voices returns to Dingle November 28th-30th. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Annie Mac looks momentarily perplexed. \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting question,\u201d she says, furrowing her brow as she nods.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[109554,3412,43386,18,117,2215,19,17,105619,130,101861,109555],"class_list":{"0":"post-197311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-annie-mac","9":"tag-bbc","10":"tag-dingle","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-for-you","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-it-s-christmas-magazine","17":"tag-london","18":"tag-other-voices","19":"tag-toddla-t"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115603754452743518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}