ON my way to the Westmeath Foxhounds meet at Breda Cuffe’s Cunningham’s Bar at Ballymore, Co Westmeath, the passing of Lisa Marie Presley was being discussed on the car radio. As someone who grew up on Elvis Presley music, I was all ears recalling his music by the showbands at the dances we attended weekly all over the West of Ireland.

As I passed the Hill of Uisneach, the dead centre of Ireland on Slieve Assail, one of the five ancient roads from the Hill of Tara, I recalled the locals telling me some years ago that Michael Jackson, who was married to Lisa Marie at one time, spent a number of months recording at the nearby Grouse Lodge Studios.