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.