Containing over two decades of research, Near Dublin tells the story of the visits to Irish shores in the early 1950s of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Drawing on newspaper interviews, personal recollections and archive material, it follows their every move as they became a bit Irish for a small time. Find out what Oliver Hardy thought of the selection of Whiskey on offer and what he made of the price of eating out in the capital. Discover if Stan Laurel was able to get to go on a fishing trip to Poulaphouca Lake and if he managed to outsmart the doctors in Belfast. With rare photographs and anecdotes, this is the real story of what they thought of Ireland and what Ireland thought of them.