1920 RIC District Inspector Percival Lea-Wilson was shot dead by the IRA in Gorey, Co. Wexford. 1919 Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Brown completed the first transatlantic flight when their Vickers Vimy biplane landed near Clifden, Co. Galway, after a 2,500km flight from St John’s, Newfoundland. 1920 Percival Lee-Wilson (33), RIC district inspector for … Read more
1982 Argentinian troops surrendered to the British commander of land forces on the Falkland Islands. The surrender marked the end of a six-week conflict that cost the lives of 254 British and 750 Argentinians. 1811 Harriet Beecher Stowe, American abolitionist and author of the highly influential Uncle Tom’s cabin (1852), born in Litchfield, Connecticut. 1690 … Read more
1941 The Rosslare–Fishguard ferry Patrick was sunk by the Luftwaffe a few miles off Fishguard. Twenty-three lives were lost. 1990 Captain Terence O’Neill, latterly Lord O’Neill of the Maine, prime minister of Northern Ireland (1963–9), died. 1959 Seán Lester, Antrim-born civil servant who was the last secretary-general of the League of Nations (1940–5), died. 1817 … Read more
1916 The Ulster Unionist Council agreed to accept Lloyd George’s offer of the permanent exclusion of six north-eastern counties from Home Rule. 1964 The Rivonia Trial in South Africa, which had begun the previous October, concluded. Nelson Mandela and two of his co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. 1972 Twelve prominent Irish businessmen were amongst the … Read more
1979 John Wayne, Hollywood actor (72), died. The son of Clyde Robert Morrison (1884–1937), a drunken drugstore proprietor, he weighed in at an amazing 13lbs at birth. Born Marion Mitchell Morrison, Wayne made over 160 films, notably in collaboration with Irish-American director Seán Aloysius O’Feeney, a.k.a. John Ford, and Dublin-born Maureen O’Hara. Wayne himself could … Read more