Nick Maxwell

1931 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who held an hour of talks with Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey and government ministers during a stopover in Shannon on his way to Cuba in the spring of 1989, born to a poor peasant family in Privolnoye, southern Russia. 1989 The first Soviet–Irish summit. During … Read more

2012 Mike Nesbitt (54) was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. 1976 The Cork–Dublin mail train was robbed of c. £150,000 near Sallins, Co. Kildare. 1711 Eight women from nearby Island Magee were charged in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, with witchcraft. All were found guilty and sentenced to twelve months in prison and ordered to … Read more

1922 The second Craig–Collins agreement was signed. Craig agreed to recruit Catholics into the Ulster Special Constabulary, whilst Collins agreed to quell IRA activity in Northern Ireland. Neither side delivered on their undertakings. 1931 Garda Superintendent Seán Curtin was shot dead near his home in Tipperary by the IRA after he had taken action to … Read more

1869 Birth of Sir Edwin Lutyens, acclaimed British architect, whose works in Ireland include the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, Dublin. 1912 Captain Robert Falcon Scott (43) died in Antarctica whilst returning from his expedition to the South Pole. 1859 The first edition of The Irish Times, Ireland’s first daily penny newspaper, appeared. … Read more

1820 Sir William Howard Russell, one of the first modern war correspondents, whose coverage included the Crimean War and the American Civil War, born in Tallaght, Dublin. 1969 Death of Dwight D. ‘Ike’ Eisenhower (78), American army general, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the Second World War and 34th (Republican) president … Read more