Nick Maxwell Wed 6pm Old Dublin Society, Dublin City Library & Archive, 138–144 Pearse St. On the banks of the Dodder, Ged Walsh. Wed 8pm Malahide Historical Society, Presbyterian Church Hall, Dublin Road. The Southern Cross flight from Portmarnock, 1930, and its global navigation, Garry Ahern. Adm. €5.
When Brian Boru was killed at the Battle of Clontarf he left two sons chall-enging each other for the succession, half-brothers of whom the older was Donnchad, son of the famous Gormlaith (d. 1030). There followed a type of civil war within Dál Cais, culminating in 1023 in the treacherous killing of the younger brother, … Read more
Following on from the article we recently dug out of the back-catalogue on ‘Wrong Way Corrigan’ (Sept/Oct 2008), we’re sticking with the aviation theme. Viewers of the recent RTÉ documentary ‘Pioneers and aviators’ may have felt that it left a few things out; Corrigan didn’t make the cut. But neither did an unusual example of … Read more
Sir,—David Fitzpatrick believes there was republican sectarian intent during the War of Independence (HI Jan./Feb. 2014, letters). My summary of Fitzpatrick’s position is: ‘[V]iolence and threats against West Cork Protestants during the War of Independence have been “exaggerated”. However “certain [unnamed] republican activists, at certain [unidentified] times, made a concerted attempt to drive Protestants and … Read more
1981 Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey announced the establishment of Aosdána (‘poet of the tribe’) to publicly honour distinguished achievement in the arts and to provide members with an annuity to free them from non-creative employment. 1940 The Katyn massacre of c. 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia was initiated by the NKVD—the Soviet secret police—with the approval … Read more