January 9

  • 1980 Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey gave his infamous ‘as a community, we are living beyond our means’ television address. Unknown to the public at the time, he owed the AIB £1.143m owing to persistent personal overspending.
  • 1929 Brian Friel, Ireland’s leading playwright, was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone.
  • 1916
  • 1913 The disastrous Allied Gallipoli campaign ended after eight months with joint Allied/Ottoman Empire casualties of c. 500,000, including c. 4,000 Irish.
  • 1913 Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the United States (1969–74), who resigned in disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal, born in California. His ancestor, James Nixon, was born in Ireland c. 1705, probably in Timahoe, Co. Laois, and emigrated to America c. 1730. Nixon visited Timahoe in October 1970.
  • 1984 Seán MacEntee (95), founding member of Fianna Fáil and minister in all Fianna Fáil governments between 1932 and 1965, died.