Nick Maxwell

1977 Minister for Health and Social Welfare Charles J. Haughey announced a new social welfare system, based on a simple pay-related contribution—Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI). 1971 Former Fianna Fáil government minister Kevin Boland launched the Aontacht Éireann (Unity of Ireland) party. In the general election of 1973 its thirteen candidates received less than 1% … Read more

1937 Ten male seasonal workers aged between 13 and 21 years from Achill Island, Co. Mayo, perished in a fire in Kirkintillock, Scotland. 1918 Chaim Herzog, sixth president of Israel (1983–93), born in Belfast, the son of Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Ireland’s Chief Rabbi (1919–37). 1862 The battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg, western Maryland, the bloodiest single day … Read more

1982 The New Ireland Group was founded by Senator John Robb. 1977 Maria Callas (53), internationally acclaimed Greek-American soprano, whom shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis left in favour of Jacqueline Kennedy, died of a heart attack in Paris. 1941 Sixteen Irish soldiers were killed in an explosion whilst conducting tests with anti-tank mines in the Glen … Read more

2008 Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US investment bank, filed for bankruptcy, bringing the global financial system close to collapse. 1866 John Blake Dillon (50), lawyer, Young Irelander and co-founder of The Nation (1842), died from cholera. 1859 Isambard Kingdom Brunel (53), Victorian engineer, died. Brunel’s SS Great Britain—the world’s first liner to be made entirely … Read more

1982 Above: Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). Princess Grace of Monaco (52) died, a day after suffering a stroke and crashing her car. Princess Grace, of course, was the former actress Grace Kelly, daughter of John B. Kelly Jr of Philadelphia, the affluent owner of a brickwork contracting company, and granddaughter of … Read more