#OTD in 1769 – Just ten years after Guinness is first brewed in St. James Gate, Dublin, the beautiful magic brew is first exported from Ireland. Six and a half barrels left for England.

Guinness is an Irish dry stout that originates in the brewery of Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) at St. James’s Gate brewery in the capital city of Dublin. Guinness, produced by the Diageo beverages company, is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. It is brewed in almost 50 countries and is available in over 120. Annual sales total of Guinness in […]

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#OTD in 1947 – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer, Paul Brady, is born in Belfast.

Paul Brady, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is one of Ireland’s most enduringly popular artists. Born in Belfast and raised in Strabane, Co Tyrone, he was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. A Fifties child, his first sounds the Swing, Jazz, Show tunes of his parents generation. Then 50’s Rock ‘n […]

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#OTD in 1939 – Birth of musician and composer, John Sheahan, who was a member of The Dubliners.

John Sheahan was the quiet one in The Dubliners. In that cast of beardy and hairy rogues and rascals, Sheahan stood out by not standing out. Brought in to stand shoulder to shoulder with founder members Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna and Ciarán Bourke, Sheahan’s playing brought a touch of elegant class to that […]

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#OTD in 1920 – Birth of Joe Cahill, a prominent Irish Republican and former Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA.

Joe was known for his comment. “I was born in a united Ireland, I want to die in a united Ireland”. In May 1920, Cahill was born in Divis Street in west Belfast where his parents had been neighbours with Irish revolutionary James Connolly. Cahill was the first child in a family of thirteen siblings […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 19 May:

1660 – An Act by the British Parliament forbids the export of Irish wool. 1710 – John Forster is unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Commons, replacing Alan Brodrick. 1769 – Just ten years after Guinness is first brewed in St. James Gate, Dublin, the beautiful magic brew is first exported from Ireland. Six […]

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#OTD in 1896 – The City and Suburban Ground, now known as Croke Park, hosts a football match for the first time. The teams are a combination of Irish and Scots women versus England. The combines team beats England 3–2.

One of the very first blows for women’s sport in Ireland was struck in 1896, when international women’s football came to the City and Suburban Grounds at Jones’s Road, Dublin: Croke Park occupies the site these days. The main impetus for the game came from Britain. Women’s football was particularly strong in Scotland and in […]

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#OTD in 1897 – Oscar Wilde is released from prison and goes to live in France, where he writes his famous poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Bernevas-Le-Grand or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years’ hard labour in prison. During his imprisonment, on Saturday […]

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#OTD in 1918 – Sinn Féin leaders arrested over alleged ‘German plot’.

In a dramatic midnight swoop, police and military authorities arrested leading members of the Sinn Féin movement. Among them were a number of MPs and the party’s president, Éamon de Valera, who was seized at his home in Greystones, Co Wicklow and taken to Kingstown Police Station. Constance Markievicz was apprehended in Rathmines. Party Secretary, […]

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