TC: Could you tell us something about your background? MH: I did my degree in history at the University of Bristol and got my first job as a research assistant in the Imperial War Museum. Military history had been a speciality of mine. From the Imperial War Museum I moved to the Horniman and eventually … Read more
PF: In the preface to The Land and the People of Nineteenth-Century Cork (1975), you refer to your father’s historical career. To what extent was he an influence? JSD: My father was a medievalist specialising in monastic history, with a particular interest in the Cistercian order, which was of great importance in the renewal of … Read more
The Dublin Broadcasting Station (2RN) began operating in January 1926. The Cork Broadcasting Station 2CK started up the following year. Both were operated by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Studios and transmitters were based in urban centres and were low-powered. The director of 2RN, Seamus Clandillon, a countryman himself, was keenly aware of the … Read more
One might be forgiven for believing that Dupont is the most common name in France, just as Smith is in England or Murphy is in Ireland. About twenty years ago, however, a learned article appeared in France with the title, Monsieur Dupont s’appelle Martin, et son prenom est Jean (Mr Dupont’s surname is Martin, and … Read more
The ‘island of dreams’ notion hardly applies to the small islands off the north and west coasts of Ireland. These have always been what Americans would call ‘hardscrabble’ places. Island life was especially hard in the past. The unusual survival of census documents from 1821 for the Aran Islands demonstrates this clearly. They show a … Read more