Nick Maxwell

2011 ‘The Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism—the narcissism—that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day. The rape and torture of children were downplayed or “managed” to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and “reputation”’—Taoiseach Enda Kenny, speaking at the opening of a debate on the Cloyne Report … Read more

1969 Senator Edward Kennedy, returning from a party, drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, causing the death of his companion, Mary Jo Kopechne. His conviction for leaving the scene of an accident was to dog his subsequent political career. 1969 US Senator Edward Kennedy’s car careered off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, … Read more

1935 George William Russell, poet, editor, artist and mystic, known as ‘AE’, died. 1936 The Spanish Civil War began with an attemptedcoup d’état by General Franco’s colonial army of Africa. 1918 The Russian imperial family—Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children—were assassinated by their Bolshevik guards in a cellar in the city … Read more

1969 Dr James McCann resigned as archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland. He was succeeded by Dr G. O. Simms. Fr Eamonn Casey, director of the Catholic Housing Aid Society in London, was appointed RC bishop of Kerry. 1968 An archaeological team discovered a passage and burial chamber at Knowth, Co. Meath. 1967 … Read more

1927 Countess Markievicz, née Constance Gore-Booth (59), republican socialist, the first woman to be elected to the British House of Commons, minister for labour in the first Dáil Éireann (1919–21) and Fianna Fáil TD, died. 1984 Glenveagh National Park in north-west Donegal, covering 40,000 acres, was formally opened by President Patrick Hillery. The estate was … Read more