Desmond MacHale
Des MacHale was born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, in 1946. He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at University College Cork, where he taught for forty years. He is the author of over a hundred published books, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His topics include humour, jokes, word puzzles, lateral-thinking puzzles, wit, George Boole, John Ford’s film The Quiet Man, The Humour of Mathematics and many mathematical puzzle books. This is his first venture into the fascinating world of Cork slang. He lives in Blackrock, Cork, with his wife Anne. They have five wonderful grown-up children and four, even more wonderful, grandchildren.