Nick Maxwell

1971 Internment was introduced by the Stormont government with the arrest of 342 men, of whom 226 were detained. Thirteen lives were lost that day during widespread violence, particularly in West and North Belfast. 1920 The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act extended the terms of the Defence of the Realm Act (1914) to allow … Read more

1980 Five adults and five children died in a fire at the Central Hotel, Bundoran, Co. Donegal. 1969 Bulmer Hobson, leading member of the Irish Volunteers and IRB prior to the Easter Rising, died. 1966 The Chinese Communist Party central committee endorsed Chairman Mao Zedong’s ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’, which was to claim the lives … Read more

1962 Marilyn Monroe (36), film actress, died in Los Angeles.

1961 Barack Hussein Obama, 44th and current president of the United States and great-great-great-grandson of Fulmouth Kearney of Moneygall, Co. Offaly, born in Honolulu, Hawaii. 1927 John Dillon (75), land agitator and Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) MP (1880–1918) who made a famous speech in the House of Commons in defence of the leaders of the … Read more

1969 The RUC dispersed a loyalist crowd massing at Unity Flats. Clashes began as they pushed them back to the Shankill, barricades went up, shops were looted and police cars set on fire. Fighting went on over night until B-Specials were sent in and the situation calmed down. 1916 Sir Roger Casement (51), humanitarian and … Read more