About me

Rod O’Donoghue was born in England and is an accountant by profession. He worked over the years as a Finance Director with Kimberly-Clark, Rank Xerox, Pritchard Services Group and latterly Inchcape. He is married to Kay and they have three children, Mark, Kerry and Richard. Now retired from his business life, he is a full-time historian, genealogist and writer. He is also a lower handicap golfer, naturalist and bad guitarist.

Rod says ‘ My father never visited Ireland, but he used to say that we were descended from ancient kings. This thought captured my imagination. Irish history has been a continuing interest and, when my father died I set out to see what part our name had played over the centuries. O’Donoghue – People and Places and The O’Donoghue Society were the result’. 

In 2001 I became intrigued by Irish myth, legend and folklore and set out to understand it better.  Heroic Landscapes: Irish Myth and Legend was the outcome in 2011, and at the same time I set up the first version of The Irish Folklore Centre.  To do the research for the book I learnt Irish.  I have a good grasp of the structure of the language but read rather slowly these days.