Nick Maxwell

1969 Cathal O’Shannon, journalist, politician and trade unionist who served as one of the workers’ representatives in the Labour Court for 23 years, died. 1936 The Battle of Cable Street, East London. A march led by Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), standing in an open-topped Rolls Royce and with … Read more

1981 After the deaths of ten republicans on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of the Maze Prison, and further intervention by relatives, the IRA called off the hunger strike. Sixty-one lives, including those of 30 members of the security forces, were lost during the campaign. 1971 Seán Ó Riada (40), musician and composer, notably of … Read more

1971 Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act (1960) was invoked to prevent RTÉ from reporting on the activities of illegal organisations. 1925 Denis Henry, first lord chief justice of Northern Ireland and the last Catholic to hold a unionist parliamentary seat, died. 1911 The Parnell monument by Dublin-born sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, featuring an 8ft statue … Read more

1944 Eoin O’Duffy (52), first commissioner of the Garda Síochána (1922–33) and Blueshirt leader, died. 1938 The Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. In return for a guarantee that it would be his last territorial demand in Europe, it allowed Hitler to annex Sudetenland, the mainly German-speaking portions of … Read more

1979 ‘On my knees, I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace … Further violence in Ireland will only drag down to ruin the land you claim to love and the values you claim to cherish’—Pope John Paul II in an address at Killineer, … Read more