For far too long our definitions of ‘history’ were limited to the political, military and diplomatic, and it is wonderful to see historians now embracing sporting and cultural history with open arms and inquisitive eyes. On previous occasions when sports-history themes have raised their heads in Ireland interest has tended to be mainly in the … Read more
July 5 1812 Frederick Edward Maning, adventurer and naturalised Maori, born in Johnville, Co. Dublin. 6 1939 Mary Peters, Olympic gold medal-winner in the pentathlon (Munich, 1972), born in Halewood, Lancashire. 5 1922 Cathal Brugha (47) was mortally wounded fighting on the republican side against Free State forces in Dublin’s O’Connell Street … Read more
Across 1 Spanish galleon that ran aground off Lacada Point, Co. Antrim, in 1588 (6). 5 Fanny ———, Russian political revolutionary and an attempted assassin of Vladimir Lenin (6). 10 He was the last Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury (7). 11 Operation Rolling ———-, name given to sustained United States aerial bombardment campaign during the Vietnam … Read more
The empty seats in the RDS at the opening of the recent (50th) Eucharist Congress, and the c. 50,000 hardy souls who attended the closing ceremony at Croke Park, stood in marked contrast to the million-plus who participated in the 31st in glorious sunshine in 1932. Looking back, we can now see that this marked … Read more
Sir—In articles published in History Ireland and History, I recently drew attention to the late Peter Hart’s presentation of an unambiguous sectarian explanation for the so-called ‘Bandon Valley massacre’ of late April 1922. In a public lecture given in Cork, and coinciding with the massacre’s 90th anniversary, Dr Andy Bielenberg argued for the impossibility of … Read more