Category: Irish Arts

#OTD in 1971 – RTÉ bans several patriotic ballads including Dublin In The Green and The Patriot Game.

.Reading time 2 minutes.

‘Merry Ploughboy’ / ’Off to Dublin in the Green’ (Dominic Behan) Performed by The Dubliners Oh, I am a merry ploughboy and I plough the fields all day Till a sudden thought came to my head, that I should roam away For I’m sick and tired of slavery since the day that I was born […]

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#OTD in 1998 – Paddy Clancy, Irish folk musician dies.

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Paddy Clancy, was an Irish folk singer best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. In addition to singing and storytelling, Clancy played the harmonica with the group, which is widely credited with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland. He also started and ran […]

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#OTD in 1946 – Birth of film and stage actor, Stephen Rea (born Graham Rea) in Belfast.

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Stephen Rea has appeared in films such as V for Vendetta, The Butcher Boy, This Is My Father, Evelyn, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto. Rea was nominated for an Academy Award for his lead performance as Fergus in the 1992 film The Crying Game. He has had important roles in […]

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#OTD in 2015 – Death of actress and singer, Maureen O’Hara, born Maureen FitzSimons in Ranelagh, Co Dublin.

.Reading time 1 minute.

Ar deis Dé go raibh a hanam. The famously red-headed O’Hara was known for playing fiercely passionate but sensible heroines, and often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In her memoir ‘Tis Herself: An Autobiography, she writes, […]

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

.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 […]

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#OTD in 1979 – Birth of actress and model, Caitriona Balfe, in Dublin.

.Reading time 1 minute.

She is best known for her role as Claire Fraser in the Starz drama series Outlander, for which she has won two People’s Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and an Irish Film and Television Award, and received four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Balfe was born in Dublin, and […]

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‘The Silver Tassie’ by Sean O’Casey

.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 […]

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#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.

.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, […]

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