#OTD in 1981 – The Fureys reach no. 14 in the UK charts with When You Were Sweet Sixteen.

10/10/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen’ (James Thornton) When first I saw the love light in your eye I dreamt the world held naught but joy for me And even though we drifted far apart I never dream, but what I dream of thee I love you as I never loved before Since first I met […]

#OTD in 1959 – Birth of musician, Gavin Friday, in Dublin.

08/10/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Birth of Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey) in Dublin. He is a singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter and founder of post-punk band The Virgin Prunes. Friday was born in Dublin and grew up in Ballygall a neighbourhood located on Dublin’s Northside located between Finglas and Glasnevin where he went to school. When […]

‘The Silver Tassie’ by Sean O’Casey

23/09/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Silver Tassie is a four-act Expressionist play about the First World War, written between 1927 and 1928 by playwright, Seán O’Casey. It was O’Casey’s fourth play and attacks imperialist wars and the suffering that they cause. O’Casey described the play as “A generous handful of stones, aimed indiscriminately, with the aim of breaking a […]

The Invaders of Ireland

22/09/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

‘The Invaders of Ireland’ (Anonymous) Should any enquire about Eirinn, It is I who can tell him the truth, Concerning the deeds of each daring Invader, since Time was a youth. First Cassir, Bith’s venturesome daughter, Came here o’er the Eastern Sea; And fifty fair damsels she brought her— To solace her warriors three. Bith […]

#OTD in 1902 – Death of Thomas William Croke D.D., the second Catholic Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand (1870-1874) and later Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Co Tipperary.

22/07/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Thomas Croke was born in Castlecor (parish of Kilbrin), Co Cork, in 1824. He became the second Catholic Bishop of Auckland New Zealand before returning to Ireland as Archbishop of Cashel and Emly. He was a strong and public supporter of Irish nationalism aligning himself with the Irish National Land League during the Land War, […]

#OTD in 1928 – Birth of playwright, novelist and poet, John B. Keane, in Listowel, Co Kerry.

21/07/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

“I was writing about people I knew, people who lived about two miles from Listowel, and that I’d grown up with. They’re all gone now, but they made me their spokesperson and I felt a responsibility to tell their story, to preserve a wonderful tradition in written form.” –John B. Keane John B. Keane was […]

‘A Field Of Irish Daisies’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved.

10/07/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

‘A Field Of Irish Daisies’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. In a field of Irish daisies, On a calm Atlantic day, I held my love in soft embrace, And words of love did say. I heard her sigh and ask me why, Our day of love should pass, And in a whispered tender […]

10/06/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

‘An Exoneration of Innocents’ © Joe Canning 2018. All Rights Reserved. It was a moment that rewarded patience. A small man of poetry, a President; Respectful to his country’s victims. Scathing he, of the wrongs of zealots. When from a lectern, almost as tall, Addressed a room of baited hearts. Once hard hands now softened […]

#OTD in 1940 – Birth of Maeve Binchy, an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker best known for her humorous take on small-town life in Ireland, her descriptive characters, her interest in human nature and her often clever surprise endings.

28/05/2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and her death, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the passing of Ireland’s best-loved and most recognisable writer. In September 2012, a new garden behind the Dalkey Library in Dublin was […]

#OTD in 1897 – First publication of Dracula, written by Dublin man Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker.

26/05/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

The well-known theatre manager and part-time writer Bram Stoker released Dracula, a Gothic adventure novel about the exploits of a Transylvanian vampire in England and the attempts by a crew of respectable professional men (and one woman) to destroy the ancient evil. After suffering a number of strokes, Stoker died at No. 26 St George’s […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Category: Irish Arts