#OTD in Irish History – 22 November:

22/11/2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

1773 – Lord John Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, is born in Dublin. 1830 – Justin McCarthy, politician, novelist and historian, is born in Cork. 1869 – Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Fenian, contests and wins a Tipperary by-election in abstentia, but is declared ineligible as a convicted felon. 1912 – Birth in […]

#OTD in 1983 – Long Kesh Prison Escape: Thirty-eight members of the IRA escaped from the maximum security Long Kesh prison near Lisburn.

25/09/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Two years after the epic 1981 H-Block Hunger Strike in which ten young republicans died, there was another epic event at Long Kesh that dealt a huge blow to the Thatcher regime in Ireland. This was the escape of thirty-eight IRA prisoners from H-Block 7 on Sunday 25 September 1983. At 2:15pm that day, three […]

#OTD in 1986 – Belfast-born Patrick Joseph Magee, is found guilty of planting the Brighton bomb which killed five people and nearly wiped out most of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet.

10/06/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Belfast born, Patrick Joseph Magee is found guilty of planting the bomb at the Grand Hotel Brighton which killed five people, but missed its primary target, Margaret Thatcher. The bombing was testament to the ingenuity of the IRA and its bomb makers. The 30 lb bomb had been planted behind a bath in a room […]

#OTD in 1981 – At 2:11 am, Raymond McCreesh dies on hunger strike in the H Blocks of Long Kesh Prison. Later, the same day at 11:29 pm, he is joined in death by his friend and fellow hunger-striker, Patsy O’Hara.

21/05/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

The third of the resolutely determined IRA Volunteers to join the H-Block hunger strike for political status was twenty-four-year-old Raymond McCreesh, from Camlough in South Armagh: a quiet, shy and good-humoured republican, who although captured at the early age of nineteen, along with two other Volunteers in a British army ambush, had already almost three […]

#OTD in 1981 – Bobby Sands dies at Long Kesh prison on the 66th day of his hunger strike.

05/05/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Bobby Sands dies in prison following a 66 day hunger strike. Sands would be the first of ten men to die in an effort to gain political status in a very public battle with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the House of Commons Thatcher commented on […]

#OTD in 1981 – Final Entry, Day 17: Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.

17/03/2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

Lá Pádraig inniú ‘s mar is gnách níor thárla aon rud suntasach, bhí mé ar aifreann agus mo chuid gruaige gearrtha agam níos gaire, agus é i bhfad níos fearr freisin. Sagart nach raibh ar mo aithne abhí ag rá ran aifreann. Bhí na giollaí ag tabhairt an bhia amach do chách abhí ag teacht […]

#OTD in 1981 – Day 13: Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.

13/03/2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

I’m not superstitious, and it was an uneventful day today. I feel all right, and my weight is 58.5 kgs. I was not so tired today, but my back gets sore now and again sitting in the bed. I didn’t get the Irish News, which makes me think there is probably something in it that […]

#OTD in 1981 – Day 10: Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.

10/03/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

It has been a fairly normal day in my present circumstances. My weight is 59. 3 kgs. and I have no medical problems. I have seen some birthday greetings from relatives and friends in yesterday’s paper which I got today. Also I received a bag of toiletries today. There is no priest in tonight, but […]

#OTD in 1954 – Birth of Bobby Sands in Abbots Cross, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim.

09/03/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Bobby Sands was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected to the British Parliament as an Anti H-Block candidate. His death and those of nine other hunger strikers, in their efforts to achieve political prisoner status […]

#OTD in 1981 – Day 9: Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.