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DELARGY: THE 1954 CONGRESS RECORDINGS

Researching links between Professor J H (Séamus) Delargy of the Irish Folklore Commission and the Isle of Man I came across references to recordings made at the Celtic Congress in 1954 by Radio Eireann of Manx speakers and also Manx songs.

Irish poitician Clare Daly is an Irish politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency. She did not hold back when she blasted US President Joe Biden and EU President Gertrud von der Leyen over their support for Israel. In the European Parliament she said:

Kuno Meyer is one of the important figures in the Celtic revival in the late 19th century. He was one of a group of people who established the Irish Text Society to focus on the language in 1898 after the formation of the Gaelic League 1893. Meyer then at Liverpool University was often fulsome in his praise of the Manx in efforts to retain their language and folklore. In a paper for the 1901 Pan-Congress in Dublin he wrote:

The Norwegian Royal Family sought exile in Britain after the German invasion in World War Two. During that period the Norwegian Crown Prince Olav paid two visits to Mann. Prince Olav had a ceremonial role in the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile and the first visit was in connection with fundraising for wartime efforts and that took place in 1941.

The mystery surrounding the death of SNP member and environmental campaigner Willie McRae almost forty years after his death has an enduring focus. It even inspired a crime fiction novel some years ago by award winning Scottish writer Ian Rankin.

McRae was a prominent nationalist figure in the 1980s and a vocal critic of the UK nuclear lobby declaring on one occasion "nuclear waste should be stored where Guy Fawkes put his gunpowder." .

The great icon of Manx folklore Sophia Morrison is of course synonymous with the collection of folklore and dance and together with Mona Douglas ranks amongst the most immediately recognisable persons who were prominent in the movement in the early and (in Monas case the late 20th century.

The great Scottish nationalist Wendy Wood once famously remarked that ‘Nothing in the world has ever been gained without fanaticism’ certainly she was no stranger to controversy.

The annual Illiam Dhone commemoration is being held today at the site of his execution. Illiam Dhone (14 April 1608 - 02 January 1663) also known as William Christian was a Manx politician and patriot. For his part in the Manx rising of 1651 he was executed by firing squad at Hango Hill in the Isle of Man on 2nd January 1663. This poem by A. P. Graves was written 111 years ago in his honour and published in "A Book of Manx Poetry" by the Manx Language Society and the World Manx Society, 1913.

“ILLIAM DHONE

THE Scot to mighty Wallace

The Greek government is right to seek the return of the Parthenon Marbles, which were illegally removed by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin over 200 years ago. The Elgin Marbles are the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures that were originally part of the temple of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. They were removed and shipped to England, in what the poet, peer and politician Lord Byron described as an act of vandalism or looting. 

British Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer has continued to adopt the ideas and policies of discredited ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is now mostly remembered for the way he deceived the cabinet (the collective decision-making body of  the UK government), parliament and the people, in his enthusiastic pursuit of the war on Iraq. A war that a post-war study estimated to have resulted in the death of about half a million people. This is why many continue to describe him as a war criminal who must answer for his actions.