France’s last duel – on YouTube!
France’s last official dueltook place in 1967 between two French parliamentarians; Gaston Defferre, Mayor of Marseilles and newspaper owner, who shouted “Taissez-vous, abruti!” (Shut it, moron!) at Gaullist deputy…
Category: adventure
Happy 91st Birthday Jim Lovell Apollo 13 Mission Commander
Today Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 and, along with his fellow astronauts Jack Swigart and Fred Haise the human who has been furthest from Earth, is 91. Like…
Geoffrey Langlands RIP: major, Dieppe Raid survivor, educationalist, 97 year old coup leader
I had never heard of Geoffrey Langlands, who has died in Lahore aged 101, until coming across his death on Wikipedia’s Recent Deaths page. His Wikipedia page has been subjected to a…
Ricky Jay RIP
Ricky Jay, scholar of magic and mountebanks, “the greatest sleight of hand artist of his generation”, has died Here is a 1993 New Yorker profile of this extraordinary man. It…
Long Way Round Fundraising 15 k Night Walk/Run for South East Mountain Rescue, 24th November
Head torches at the ready, this sounds like a blast .. and for a worthy cause: Long Way Round Our fundraising 15 Km night walk /run for SEMRA takes place…
August in the first Antarctic Night
Through the First Antarctic Night”, or to give it’s full title, “Through the First Antarctic Night 1898-1899: A Narrative of the Voyage of the Belgica Among Newly Discovered Lands and…
“The Driver”, winner of Molly Keane Memorial Creative Writing Award 2010
It was a privilege to receive this award in 2010 in Lismore, via the auspices of Waterford County Council, and to hear the kind words from Molly Keane’s daughter at…
Peter Reason on pilgrimage, ecology and in-between space.
From “In Search of Grace”: “In modern times, the idea of pilgrimage falls within so many cultural and spiritual traditions that it holds no single meaning. However, it usually entails…
Séamus Sweeney 