Hidden Histories

Rabindranath Tagore is perhaps the most famous poet you’ve never heard of, but his bust sits in St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, not far from one honouring W.B Yeats. With this weekend marking the centenary of the Amritsar Massacre - an event which had a profound impact on the Indian poet - it seems only right to honour “the Bard of Bengali”. For another edition of Hidden Histories; Sean Defoe is joined by Donal Fallon to discuss.

In April 1919, members of the global media gathered in Limerick to report on a transatlantic Air race beginning in the county. It didn’t go ahead. Instead, visiting journalists from England, Europe and America found themselves covering the story of the so-called ‘Limerick Soviet’, one of the most dramatic episodes of revolutionary Ireland. Donal Fallon has been looking into the life of Jimmy Hasty and joins Gavan for another episode of Hidden Histories.

It’s probably fair to say that only the League of Ireland die-hards among you might have ever heard of Jimmy Hasty. But there was a time when Jimmy was known all across the country, not only for his outstanding footballing skills, but for the fact that he also only had one arm. Known as the 'One Armed Wonder' Jimmy was tragically killed on the streets of Belfast in 1974, shot dead in an unprovoked sectarian attack. Donal Fallon has been looking into the life of Jimmy Hasty and joins Gavan for another episode of Hidden Histories.

‘Garradrimma’, in Co Westmeath has, like many places in Ireland, its own troubles - family breakdown, crisis pregnancy, and the likes - but there are two things that are slightly less usual about Garradrimma. The first is that it doesn’t exist, it’s a fictional place that exists only in writing… and the second is that all of those very 21st-century problems, were described in 1918. All of these themes were in a book, The Valley of the Squinting Windows… which, as you might expect for a book dealing with such “non-traditional” family values, was burned at the bonfires when it was published… All of which sounds like a perfect topic for Hidden Histories with Donal Fallon.

The story of Saint Patrick is truly international – he was, afterall, a Welsh missionary, bringing the word of Rome to the people of Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day will be celebrated globally today, but it is a little known  fact that Saint Patrick is also the patron saint of another nation – Nigeria. Bound to Ireland today by migration, and historically by colonial pasts, just how did Patrick become the Patron Saint of that nation? Donal Fallon has been looking into it for another episode of Hidden Histories

Architects, on occasion, become household names – Engineers generally don’t. Yet without engineers, a building can not become a reality, making the leap from a design on paper to a standing structure. It is remarkable how few of us have heard the name Peter Rice – the Irish engineer behind many of the twentieth centuries most stunning global buildings, including the Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Dying at only 57 in 1992, he is undoubtedly one of the most important Irish figures of architectural history. Donal Fallon has more with another episode of Hidden Histories.

Donal Fallon author of the "Come Here To Me Blog" joins Gavan to discuss the Phoenix Park Murders in another episode of Hidden Histories.  

Hidden Histories Jack Lynch