Nick Maxwell Sir,—Tony Tracy’s article on Hollywood’s view of Parnell (HI 27.5, Sept./Oct. 2019) brings to mind an anecdote by León Ó Broin. A senior civil servant by day, in his leisure time he wrote books, including a biography of Parnell in Irish. His next-door neighbour was Jimmy Montgomery, the state’s film censor and a noted wit. … Read more
Sir,—There were many myths and legends that became attached to the story of the defence of her besieged castle by Lettice Digby, Baroness Offaly (HI 27.5, Sept./Oct. 2019). These myths themselves have been theorised as suggesting a certain discomfort among male historians with the heroic actions of a woman at a time when heroic action was … Read more
Sir,—In an otherwise interesting article about the Radical Club, Brian Trench feels the need to exploit Liam O’Flaherty in making an anti-Soviet political point—citing O’Flaherty’s 1931 text I went to Russia to prove that the author was ‘disillusioned’ with the Soviet Union. This assertion misses the point of O’Flaherty’s satire completely, taking a text that … Read more
BY TONY CANAVAN Immigrants boost native population New research from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment has found that Ireland’s population was in serious decline for almost two centuries before the Vikings invaded. The QUB experts have released an estimate of past population numbers. They argue that the data show the … Read more
By Felix M. Larkin Ireland is often referred to as ‘the Land of Saints and Scholars’, and a number of saints have featured on Irish stamps, most recently Our Lady of Fatima and St Kevin of Glendalough. There have been few scholars, however. This deficiency was addressed in August 2019 when An Post launched … Read more