Nick Maxwell My ‘first’ Olympic Games were in 1972—no, not as a competitor, but as a schoolboy spectator on summer holidays with plenty of time on my hands. Who can forget the USA’s Mark Spitz winning seven gold medals in the pool, Belarusian gymnast Olga Korbut charming the world (but not the judges), the USSR beating the … Read more
Thanks to UCC’s Irish Civil War Fatalities project we now have a definite figure—1,485. But in this discussion, chaired by History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, with John Dorney, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Michael Kennedy and Caitlin White, we find out a lot more—not only who was killed but also when, where, in what circumstances, and how they were commemorated. (Recorded live on Sat 17 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic)
History Ireland editor Tommy Graham chats to former international footballer, administrator, businessman and TV pundit Niall Quinn about his recently completed MA thesis, ‘Oscar Traynor—a re-evaluation of a footballer, rebel, politician and football administrator’. Not only was Traynor an IRA commander in the War of Independence who took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War and served as minister in several Fianna Fáil administrations but he was also an advocateof the ‘garrison game’, a vocal opponent of the GAA’s ban on ‘foreign games’ and the FAI’s longest-serving president (1948–63). (Recorded live on Fri 16 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic)
By Matt Wheeler and Duncan Laurence Situated in the old Anglo-Norman Pale of south County Wexford, Johnstown Castle dates from the 1200s. After the Cromwellian confiscations, the castle was acquired by the Grogan family, whose direct descendants lived there until 1942. The estate peaked in the mid-1800s, with Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan possessing the largest … Read more
By Gerry O’Sullivan When Ireland takes its place at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris this month, it will mark the centenary of this country’s participation in the summer games. In a nice bit of historical symmetry, the 1924 event also took place in the French capital. Few of those present, however, … Read more