Episode With Richie Sadlier: John Clarke

Today’s Episode is an extraordinary conversation with John Clarke, the husband and partner of forty years of the late Marian Finucane. It’s an intimate, raw and quite beautiful look at love and loss. In late 2019, Marian and John agreed that the time was right for her to call an end to her iconic decades-long broadcasting career with RTE. They set to planning their ‘sunset walk’ together: the trips around the world they hadn’t yet got around to making. Then, in January 2020, Marian died suddenly.

This week, Richie and Killian travelled to John Clarke’s home in Kilteel, Co. Kildare to speak about he and Marian’s relationship together – one that was described by a friend as being like ‘two fifteen year olds who were addicted to each other and forgot to grow up’ – and what life has been like without her.

At 87 years old, John describes the emptiness he felt without Marian’s constant presence as lockdowns set in, his decades-long sobriety and the turning inwards that becoming a member of AA sparks, and how he and Marian dealt with the death of their daughter Sinead from cancer.

Episode is brought to you by NOW and is a Second Captains production.

Click the player at the top of the page to play the show. To support the development of series like Episode and longer-form work like our recent international series, ‘Where Is George Gibney?, you can join the Second Captains World Service. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, The “I’ll Tell You Who Wrote It” Book Club and lots of added extras.

This is a genuinely incredible listen https://t.co/Iodsoiqami

— Phil Greene (@iampgreene) November 10, 2023