Lord Killanin was named president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) in 1950, and in 1952 was asked to join the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 1965 he was named the IOC chef de protocol and chairman of the press commission, a natural role for the former journalist. In 1967 he was named to the … Read more
During the Emergency (1939–45) the Irish Army lacked much of the essential equipment needed to defend Ireland, and naturally it was not possible to import armoured vehicles from abroad. To overcome this, Major J.V. Lawless of the Cavalry Corps designed a number of armoured cars based on various truck chassis that were then built in … Read more
The 31st International Eucharistic Congress, held in Dublin in 1932, is one of the most remarkable public events to have taken place in Ireland in the twentieth century. It generated a level of enthusiasm among Irish people that has few real parallels. With extremely favourable weather conditions prevailing in the run-up to and during the … Read more
The Congo—later known as Zaire, but now officially the Democratic Republic of the Congo—was colonised from 1878 at the personal behest of King Leopold of Belgium. By the early twentieth century, reports—including one by Roger Casement, then a British diplomat and later a key figure in the 1916 Rising—exposed the savage exploitation of its people … Read more
Michael Morris was born in London on 30 July 1914, the son of the Honourable George Morris and Dora Wesley Hall. His father was one of the fourteen families making up the Tribes of Galway, but he was killed in action very shortly after Michael’s birth, on 1 September 1914 near Villers-Cotterêts, France, while commanding … Read more