Nick Maxwell

1922 The third Dáil Éireann assembled (until 9 August 1923). W.T. Cosgrave was elected president. Anti-Treaty deputies implemented a policy of abstentionism. 1916 Tom Kettle (36), poet and nationalist, was mortally wounded whilst leading his men in an attack at Ginchy during the Battle of the Somme. 1664 The Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was seized … Read more

1806 Patrick Cotter (46), giant, died. Born in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Cotter was just eighteen when he began exhibiting himself in England as Patrick Cotter O’Brien, ‘a lineal descendant of the old puissant King Brien Boreau’. It was recorded that Cotter ‘had less imbecility of mind than the generality of overgrown persons’ but also had … Read more

1940 The London Blitz began when the German Luftwaffe bombed the East End docklands, killing over 400 people. 1966 Hendrik Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa and the architect of apartheid, was fatally stabbed by Dimitri Tsafendas during a parliamentary meeting. 1948 At a press conference in Ottawa, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that he … Read more

1987 Stephen Roche, who became the first Irish rider to win the Tour de France in July that year, became the first Irish rider to win the World Professional Road Race Championship, in Villich, Austria. 1914 The Battle of the Marne began, in which the French, under General Joffre, halted the German advance. It concluded six … Read more

1820 Pope Pius VII approved the Irish Christian Brothers, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice. 1926 Forty-eight lives were lost when fire broke out in a cinema in Drumcollagher, Co. Limerick, during a showing of The Ten Commandments. 1972 Eleven Israeli athletes were killed when the Arab terrorist group Black September struck at the Olympic Games … Read more