From late 1940 to early 1966, O'Brien wrote short columns for "The Irish Times" under the title "Cruiskeen Lawn", using the moniker Myles na gCopaleen (changing that to Myles na Gopaleen in late 1952, having put the column on hold for most of that year). For the first year, the columns were in Irish. Then, he alternated columns in Irish with columns in English, but by late 1953 he had settled on English only. These columns showed a manic imagination that still astonishes.