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The year ends in eight — it’s time to celebrate!  Commemorating
the Man Who Made Celtic, a celebration of potatoes and an Irish woman’s
historic TV appearance — 2008 promises a series of important anniversaries
for all things Gaelic. Here’s your guide to what to celebrate and
when.
WHAT a year! 2008 has officially been declared the International Year of the
Potato by the UN — and if that weren’t excitement enough from
February 7, according to the Chinese, it will be the Year of the Rat.
Until then we’re still in the Year of the Pig, so watch out when
you’re writing cheques.
Exactly 100 years ago 1908 had no official designation — it wasn’t
the year of anything. The world teetered on the edge of catastrophe —
so no change there — with Carlos I and the Crown Prince of Portugal
both murdered and the Ottoman Empire beginning its steep decline.
King Leopold II claimed the Congo for Belgium (or perhaps more accurately
for himself), Sinn Féin made its first real impact on the political
scene winning 15 seats in the Dublin municipal elections and second-generation
Irishman Henry Ford put his Model T car on the market for $825 —
one of the most significant anniversaries for the planet.
As momentous for the people of Ireland was the bestowing of a licence
to distil whiskey in the little Antrim town of Bushmills. In 1608 Sir
Thomas Phillips was granted a licence by James 1 of England and we’ve
been laughing all the way to the bottle bank ever since.
Today, although you get your drinks licence from the local council, the
people of Bushmills will be celebrating this 400th anniversary with some
gusto. Mind you distilling traditions in the surrounding environs date
back to 1276 so 2076 will be the really big one to look out for.
The same year that Bushmills started officially manufacturing the cratur,
a German spectacle maker called Hans Lippershey invented the very first
telescope — 1608 can thus be remembered for both blurred vision
and enhanced vision.
In a related topic, 2008 marks the 170th anniversary of Fr Theobald Matthew
from Cashel founding his total temperance society. With the famous words:
“Here goes in the name of the Lord” he set about ridding Ireland
of the scourge of drink. It was an enterprise in which he wasn’t
wholly successful.
 On
the political front come June 11 celebrations can be expected to mark
the 360th anniversary of Owen Roe O’Neill declaring war against
the invaders.
And while on the subject of nationalism, in April the bunting will be
out to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the first ever public presentation
of the Irish national flag, in 1848.
The Young Ireland movement originally designed the green, white and orange
Tricolour (based on the French flag) representing peace between the two
traditions occupying Ireland.
The flags will be at half-mast in Glasgow in 2008 when the 50th anniversary
of Willie Patrick Maley’s death is commemorated. Willie from Newry
in Co. Down was one of the most successful managers in Scottish football
history — guiding Celtic to 30 major trophies in 43 years. He is
simply known as the Man Who Made Celtic.
It will also be a melancholy time in Manchester where the Munich air disaster
of 1958 will be commemorated for the 50th time.
But for our earliest anniversary we have to go to Dublin.
It will be the 600th anniversary of the city’s oldest surviving
street named Fishamble Street which first appeared in 1408.
Meanwhile in Kerry they’ll be celebrating the 150th anniversary
of the Listowel Races.
Less wholesome than the racing scene, it’s the 50th anniversary
of the painting A Family by Louis le Brocquy.
At its first showing it was accused of being an unwholesome and satanic
distortion of natural beauty. It is now acknowledged as a highly significant
work in the history of 20th-century art. How times change.
At the other end of the artistic scale, 40 years ago in 1968 the Spanish
song La La La won the Eurovision Song Contest. However Cliff Richard came
second with the Phil Coulter composition Congratulations which subsequently
outsold the winner throughout Europe.
Music has an important 200th anniversary in 2008. Thomas Moore’s
Moore’s Melodies was published for the first time — and the
likes of Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Minstrel
Boy and the Last Rose Of Summer entered the national consciousness for
the first time.
Then 1978 — 30 years ago — was the Year of the Three Popes.
Pope John Paul I succeeded Paul VI but died after just 33 days in office
aged 65 — the shortest reign in the entire history of the Papacy.
He was succeeded by Pope John Paul II.
 Still
on Vatican matters it’s 50 years since Pope Pius XII died and his
funeral in 1958 wasn’t all it might have been. A Vatican doctor
named Galeazzi-Lisi assumed the role of Pius’ embalmer.
The doctor-mortician’s self-made technique caused the Holy Father’s
corpse to disintegrate rapidly, turning purple. At one point, the Pope’s
nose fell off.
Pressure due to gases given off by decay caused the body and coffin to
explode. The subsequent stench was such that guards had to be rotated
every 15 minutes. One of the first acts of Pius’ successor Pope
John XXIII was to ban the embalmer from Vatican City for life.
And 90 years ago Catholics were still coming under threat in Britain.
In 1918 the Education Act enshrined the Irish right to State-funded education.
In Scotland and the North of Ireland this was condemned as Rome-on-the-rates.
A century ago in 1908 journalist and GAA member Frank Dineen borrowed
most of the £3,250 required to buy the City and Suburban Racecourse
& Jones Road Sportsground from businessman Maurice Butterly. However
it wasn’t until 1913 that the GAA come into exclusive ownership
of the plot when they purchased it from Dineen for £3,500.
Once bought the ground became known as Croke Park in honour of Archbishop
Thomas Croke — one of the GAA’s first patrons.
From Gaelic sports to garrison sports — in 1908 the course at Newcastle
County Down Golf Club was modified by Harry Vardon and King Edward VII
bestowed royal patronage on the club.
The year 1948 saw Celsius officially added to the temperature scale. Although
the Swedish scientist Anders Celsius had invented the scale way back in
the 18th century Centigrade was the official name until 60 years ago and
indeed was still common usage into the 1970s.
Eighty years ago in 1928 the first professional artist ever to appear
on British television was Irishwoman Miss Peg O’Neil. She gave what
was described as: “A charming entertainment, chatting and smiling
and telling Irish stories.”
The broadcast took place on the first day of the Radio Exhibition in Olympia.
And 50 years ago in 1958 Pope Pius XII declared Saint Clare of Assisi
(1193-1253) the patron saint of television — shortly before his
death and subsequent explosion.
A hundred years ago in 1908 Mother’s Day was observed for the first
time — in Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton in West Virginia.
The fridge was also invented 150 years ago. The French inventor Ferdinand
Carre came up with the world’s first mechanical refrigerator —
something which undoubtedly came in handy for Pizza Hut when they opened
their first operation 50 years ago in Kansas City.
In 1708 an alchemist trying to make gold in the Dresden area accidentally
discovered a formula for making white porcelain.
This was definitely more serendipitous than the previous time an alchemist
blundered. Several centuries earlier a Chinese alchemist looking for the
elixir of life stumbled on the formula for gunpowder.
Now that’s what we in journalism call irony. |
