Chess at the Olympics - RTÉ Brainstorm article

Chess is an ancient game but it was never part of the Olympics. However, 100 years ago as the Olympic Games were taking place in Paris, a chess tournament was being played with competitors from around the world (including Ireland). It was termed the 'Chess Olympics' by some, given that the tournament was taking place on the fringes of the Olympics. I have just written about this historical event for the RTÉ Brainstorm website. Read it here.

 

Chess board. Image source.

Chess also featured at the Tailteann Games in Dublin in 1924. The Games were used by the new Irish government to promote the country and attract international media attention.

Royal Bounty for multiple birth - an Irish Diary

Known as the Royal Bounty (King's / Queen's Bounty), a discretionary payment was made to new mothers of triplets in the 19th and 20th century. I have just written an Irish Diary about some Irish people who received the payment. Read it here. 

 

Photograph of triplets. Image source.

It is believed that the Royal Bounty for triplets was started by Queen Victoria when she heard about a poor Irish woman who gave birth to triplets in 1849. The term 'Royal Bounty' was used in other cases as well - such as when a soldier lost a limb in the line of duty, they could receive a payment as compensation. There are also references to the term 'Royal Bounty' when pension payments to army officers were mentioned, so it would seem that it was used to describe a variety of payments made by the monarch to individuals. As this book Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy suggests, Victoria and other royals instigated a number of payments that would today be made by the state.

Everyman Theatre Cork - an Irish Diary

The Everyman Theatre in Cork is one of the city's most important cultural hotspots. It has a long history and I have just written an Irish Diary in the Irish Times newspaper looking at that rich history. Read it here.

 

Interior of the Everyman Theatre, Cork. Image source.

The theatre was opened in 1897 and operated as a variety theatre initially. These were very popular at the time and touring artists would go from theatre to theatre around Britain and Ireland. Film has played an important role in the building's history. A short film was shown on the opening night and the building served as a cinema for decades after the theatre closed. It became a theatre again when the Everyman Playhouse took it over at the start of the 1990s. There's a video here on the RTÉ Archives website of the Playhouse in 1974.

The Everyman Playhouse had been based in the CYMS Hall and the Father Mathew Hall. It was a big undertaking to be moving to such a big 900-seat venue but as Dan Donovan says in his biography Ward Anderson, the owners of the Palace Cinema, sold the building for £120,000, payable at £10,000 per annum. There's a video here from March 1990 on the re-opening of the theatre. 

 Some of the Everyman directors were worried that it was too big and too dilapidated but a lot work has been put into the building over the years and it is now in the best shape it has been since it opened almost 130 years ago. Long may it continue.

Limerick's Olympian - an Irish Diary on John O'Grady

John O'Grady (1892-1934) was selected to carry the Irish flag at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. The Limerick-born weight thrower had won some national and international titles by the time he was asked to bear the flag at Ireland's first ever Olympics. I have just written an Irish Diary in today's Irish Times about O'Grady's life and times. Read it here.

 

John O'Grady (1892-1934). Image source.

John O'Grady was one of a team of 48 Irish athletes (including swimmers, tennis players, soccer players and others) to represent their country in Paris in 1924. Sadly, the athletes did not manage to bring any medals back with them but some of our artists did. For more information on Ireland's first foray into the Olympics, read my RTÉ Brainstorm article. 

O'Grady is remembered in his native city by a monument that sits on Mulgrave Street (photo below). Unveiled in 1937, it is in the shape of a weight and is made of limestone. It is a landmark in the city and has been taken to their hearts by Limerick's citizens.

 

John O'Grady monument. Image source.

An Irish Diary on William Lombard Murphy (1876-1943)

William Lombard Murphy (1876-1943) was the son of the businessman and newspaper proprietor William Martin Murphy (1844-1919). That is sometimes how he is referred to but William Lombard Murphy had an interesting story in his own right. I have just written an Irish Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about him. Read it here.

 

Photograph of William Lombard Murphy (1876-1943).

Educated at Jesuit-run schools in Ireland (Belvedere College, Dublin and Clongowes Wood College, Kildare) and Austria (Feldkirk) and university in England (Cambridge), he was fluent in French and German. He studied medicine and practiced abroad and in Ireland for a good number of years before taking over his father's affairs when his father died in 1919. He was in charge of Independent Newspapers when the new offices were built on Middle Abbey Street in 1924. 

 

Independent House, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. Image source.

Very involved with various different aspects of Dublin business life (Chamber of Commerce, Irish Tourist Association, Publicity Club of Ireland) and social life (Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, Herald Boot Fund, Belvedere Newsboys' Club), he seems to have been slightly forgotten by the general public. However, some links still remain such as the Lombard Murphy Cup awarded at the Feis Ceoil every year.

RTÉ Brainstorm article on 5 Irish-born athletes at the Olympics

Ireland did not compete as an independent delegation at the Olympic Games until 1924. Prior to that, Irish-born athletes competed for other nations such as the United Kingdom (of which Ireland was a part until 1922) or the USA or Canada. I have just written an article for the RTÉ Brainstorm website on five of the Irish-born athletes who competed for other countries. Read it here.

 

Programme cover from the 1908 Games. Image source.

Given that she was the first Irish-born woman to win an Olympic medal, Beatrice Hill-Lowe (1868-1951) is one of the more unusual athletes that I wrote about. Born in Ardee in Co. Louth, she lived in England for a large part of her lifetime but she also spent time in Celbridge, Co. Kildare in the 1920s. If you would like to know more about her, you will find is a good bit of information in her entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography here. There is a short YouTube video here showing women taking shots with their bows and arrows at the 1908 Olympic Games in London and she is among them.  

Kennedy 'Ken' McArthur is another interesting Irish-born athlete who competed for another country. He represented South Africa in the Marathon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. It was a grueling race that was run in extremely hot temperatures that caused around half of the competitors to drop out before the finish. This page on the Olympics website lists all of those who entered and those who did not finish the race. There is a short video of McArthur at the Olympic Games in Stockholm here.

RTÉ Brainstorm article on 100 years of Ireland at the Olympics

It is 100 years since Ireland first competed at the Olympic Games as an independent delegation. Prior to that, Irish people went to the Olympics as part of the Great Britain delegation, so Ireland's participation at the 1924 Games in Paris is important as it marks a step on Ireland's path to freedom. I have just written an article for the RTÉ Brainstorm website on the Irish team that went to Paris in 1924. Read it here.

 

Screenshot of the article.

I have written a few more pieces like this about Ireland and the Olympics and will share them when they are published. If you would like to find out more about the story of Ireland's first time at the Olympics, there is more information here on the website of the Centre Culturel Irlandais. The book Gold, Silver and Green: The Irish Olympic Journey 1896-1924 by Kevin McCarthy provides a good basis to understand the history of Ireland's Olympic journey.

Regarding early Irish entries into the Olympics, there are a couple of good articles on the History Ireland website. There is this one on boxing and this one on football.