For St Patrick's Day, the story of a journey around Ireland by one of its foremost writers. James Plunkett sets out from Dublin, where he was born, in search of his Ireland - its rich legends and tragic history, its humour and poetry and green landscapes. On the way the Bird's-Eye View helicopter catches the Blarney Stone being kissed for eloquence, and the racehorses of Vincent O'Brien galloping in Co Tipperary; currachs setting out in the stormy seas of the Aran Islands, and the beehive huts carved by monks more than 1,000 years ago on the jagged island rock of Skellig Michael ; the mountains and lakes of Sligo, which inspired Yeats's poetry, and the Irish Army exercising today where King William crossed the Boyne to victory in 1690. The quotations are read by T. P. MCKENNA , RICHARD PASCO and SIR JOHN BETJEMAN Music by JOHN BECKETT played by the RTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Tenor soloist FRANK PATTERSON