Dublin’s weird and wonderful history

HAVE you ever heard about the Dublin woman who shot Benito Mussolini?

Well how about the Jewish gunslinger from Dublin, the murder on Ireland’s Eye or the Dublin man who was eaten by his own pig. Well now, thanks to renowned Dublin writer and historian Frank Hopkins and his new book, you can read all about these and more long lost and forgotten tales from Dublin’s darker, and funnier, side.

Ireland 366: A Story a Day from Ireland’s Hidden History features pieces from as early as the 13th and as late as the mid-20th centuries. Each story is sourced from newspapers and publications of their day and Hopkins’s book is a must for Irish history lovers, and a great read for just about everyone else.

Hopkins delivers an episode from Ireland’s history for every single day of the year, including February 29 for those of a pedantic nature. Some are surprising, some sensational (or downright unpleasant) and others sad, but they are always fascinating.

With a journalistic eye for a good story and an ability to retell a story in a clear and uncomplicated fashion, Hopkins’s book will no doubt find its way into many Christmas stockings later this month.

Dubliners will love reading about Jack Lanagan (March 17); a bare-knuckle fighter from Ballybough who died on St Patrick’s Day 1846. Starting his career at the tender age of 13 when he fought and won a bout on the banks of the Royal Canal, Lanagan went on to fight Tom Spring

‘Champion of England and the Civilised World’ in a fight that lasted an incredible 77 rounds. He was defeated after failing to emerge for the 78th.

Hopkins’s book doesn’t just deal with our recent history in the press. It occasionally steps into the court records of bygone times, as on May 10, 1310 when he writes that a certain Richard le Noble stood trial for chasing Robert Markartan through the streets of Palerstown with an axe.

Nobody recorded for the court why Le Noble had taken offence but the court found him not guilty by jury and he was duly acquitted.

Ireland 366: A Story a Day from Ireland’s Hidden History also tells the stories of the Whiteboys, the Ribbonmen, the Invincibles, the cat o’nine tails, execution by burning barrel of pitch and

‘pleading the belly’.

The author’s previous book

‘Hidden Dublin: Deadbeats, Dossers and Decent Skins’ remains a modern classic and this new work – dedicated to legendary journalist Sean McConnell who passed away on September 4 – is set to follow suit.

The book was launched by Glasnevin Cemetery Historian, Shane MacThomais, at Hodges Figgis in Dawson Street.

“The Hopkins’s family motto is

‘amongst the first’ and I salute Frank Hopkins as being amongst the first of Dublin’s historians,

? he said.

?¢ Ireland 366: A Story a Day from Ireland’s Hidden History is available from all good bookstores priced at e19.99 (hardback).