Sticky Postings
Gaming Theory Books
Impala Publications
Impala Publications are a fascinating blend of the Classic and the New from Terrorism to Conan Doyle.
Click on the links below to buy them direct
Or
Visit our website at http://www.impalapublications.com
IMPALA ANNOUNCEMENTS
Visit us at http://www.impalapublications.com/
Visit our webshop at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/IMPALA-PRESS
To access Blogsite Index please click on http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archive
Thursday, July 29. 2010
PERSEIDS PARTY, by Terry Moseley
Ed: Terry Moseley of the Irish Astronomical Association writes -
PERSEIDS PARTY
This year's Perseid Meteors are blessed with very favourable conditions: Maximum is predicted for 21h on 12 August, and the Moon will be only 2 days old, so won't interfere. The radiant is circumpolar from Ireland, and so plenty of meteors should be seen any time after the sky gets dark that evening. In fact some Perseids can be seen any night from early August until about the 19th, but they are most frequent on the days around maximum.
The radiant lies roughly between Perseus and Cassiopeia, and so is rising in the NE each evening as twilight ends, but the meteors can be seen in any part of the sky. Many are bright, and some leave persistent 'trains' lasting a few seconds or so. In good conditions you can see an average of about one Perseid per minute.
The Irish Astronomical Association will be holding a 'Perseid Party' at Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh, Co Down, just off the A22 between Killyleagh and Downpatrick, on the evening of Thursday 12th, or if the weather is bad that evening, on the following night, Friday 13th, assuming it's not a washout too! This will be a 'Fry-up', rather than a BBQ, so bring any sort of a gas or spirit cooker you may have, plus frying pan, and whatever grub & drinks you want. Also your own plates, cups/mugs, cutlery etc.
For more details and updates re the weather decision for Thursday or Friday night, see http://www.irishastro.org .
Ed: Once in my youth, I had a wonderful evening viewing the Perseid show from the coast of France. Here's hoping the weather is kind to the IAA on this occasion!
PERSEIDS PARTY
Terry Moseley at an event in 2006
The radiant lies roughly between Perseus and Cassiopeia, and so is rising in the NE each evening as twilight ends, but the meteors can be seen in any part of the sky. Many are bright, and some leave persistent 'trains' lasting a few seconds or so. In good conditions you can see an average of about one Perseid per minute.
The Irish Astronomical Association will be holding a 'Perseid Party' at Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh, Co Down, just off the A22 between Killyleagh and Downpatrick, on the evening of Thursday 12th, or if the weather is bad that evening, on the following night, Friday 13th, assuming it's not a washout too! This will be a 'Fry-up', rather than a BBQ, so bring any sort of a gas or spirit cooker you may have, plus frying pan, and whatever grub & drinks you want. Also your own plates, cups/mugs, cutlery etc.
For more details and updates re the weather decision for Thursday or Friday night, see http://www.irishastro.org .
Ed: Once in my youth, I had a wonderful evening viewing the Perseid show from the coast of France. Here's hoping the weather is kind to the IAA on this occasion!
The Middle Way: Part 2, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
Continued from Part 1:
In 1894 Horace Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IOAS), with himself as president and the young land-agent, Robert Andrew Anderson as secretary. Two prominent allies were Lord Monteagle in Limerick and Rev. Thomas Finlay, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Catholic University, who had studied agricultural Co-operation in Europe. The following year he published The Irish Homestead as his means of public communication. Then in 1897 Plunkett appointed the Lurgan-born poet George William Russell (AE) as one of his organisers. Protestant in religion but nationalist in sentiment, Russell’s ideal was to “create the conditions in which the spirit of the community grows strong”. The IOAS quickly became the driving force of Co-operation in Ireland, with 33 affiliated Dairy co-operatives and co-operative banks. By the end of 1910 the Co-operative movement had become an essential part of the whole Irish Agricultural scene.
As early as 1892 Plunkett had abandoned his original non-political attitude and in the general election in July he was elected as Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament for South County Dublin. His growing influence and his membership of the Irish Privy Council in 1897 led to the passing of an Act in 1899 which established the Department of Agriculture in Technical Instruction (DATI). His book Ireland in the New Century in 1904 however, criticising the politicians, the educational system, the Gaelic Revival and the power of the Catholic priesthood resulted in a fall-out with John Redmond, the Irish Nationalist leader, who felt that nothing but Home Rule could be the answer to Ireland’s problems . A failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1908 however, persuaded him that Self-Government for Ireland was of crucial importance and by 1912 he had become a convinced Home Ruler himself. During the years 1914-1921 he worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal the Irish Statesman to advance that cause. In the end, however, he was denounced by Unionists and Republicans alike, Edward Carson even calling him a traitor.
After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he accepted membership in 1922 of the new Irish Free State Senate, Seanad Éireann. His work in Co-operation continued to take him abroad frequently. He had had a profound influence on Theodore Roosevelt and others, including Colonel House and Charles McCarthy in the United States. But when he was in that country during the Irish Civil War in 1923, his house Kilteragh, County Dublin was burned down by the I.R.A. This was a cruel blow as it had been the meeting place for what was considered the intelligentsia of Ireland and he had hoped to make it into a hospital for children suffering from tuberculosis. Such was the treatment of a man who had been the prime mover in the development of a new economy for Ireland, firmly rooted in prosperous peasant ownership and a modernised agricultural industry. This was also the man whose fundamental belief was in character and in moral courage, which was to find expression in efficient work combined with proper technology and equipment in farms, houses, schools, hospitals, roads, harbours, communication and transport. This was the real maker of Modern Ireland.
Disillusioned, Plunkett moved to Weybridge, Surrey, England and died there on 26th March, 1932. Life had always been difficult for Plunkett, an Irish boy adapting to Eton and Oxford; then a conservative aristocrat adapting first to the Wild West in America and then to the recidivism of Irish Nationalism. Friendship with Protestant Nationalists such as Mrs Hugh R. Green had finally convinced him to throw in his lot with the new Celtic cultur-kampf. In 1893 the Anglican Douglas Hyde had founded the Gaelic League, which had its aim “the de-anglicisation of Ireland”. From this, sprang Gaelic Nationalism, “Ireland not free only but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic only but free as well”.
Strangely enough through the Anglo-Irish poets Yeats and Lady Gregory, a pseudo-Celtic twilight culture was created, which not only bowdlerised but anglicised the old Gaelic literature out of all recognition. The political manifestation of this Gaelic revival was the foundation of Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone) in 1905.Yet Plunkett viewed it all with a critical eye and politics was only a means to an end. W.B. Yeats he described as ”a young poet, a rebel, a mystic and an ass but really a genius in a queer way”. Horace was to especially criticise the military executions following the 1916 rebellion, hoping they might have solely been of men against whom a charge of murder could have been made. Instead it was the young poets and dreamers like his cousin’s son, Joseph.
Mary Plunkett or Labour leaders of high motives and real sincerity like James Connolly who were executed, producing the inevitable reaction. Yet of Casement he thought,” The fool was guilty of High Treason without a doubt…He is, I think, mad”
So what, in the final analysis, do we make of Horace Plunkett, indeed of all the Plunketts, that old British-Norman family who have provided us with such talent. There is a mystery perchance in heredity. Horace’s final adaptation was to an England which had lost its ruling class, of which he was still essentially one, following the Great War.
The Romans conquered the known world not by the military merits of their soldiers, even though they were considerable, but by the tactics and strategy of their aristocrats and the use of modern technology. So, like them, Horace Plunkett had that most curious of all inherent gifts, the supreme gift that can make a man a Chess Master. José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera, one of the greatest Chess players of all time, came to stay with him twice and a certain native quality of Horace’s play impressed him so much that he felt ”The man could have been of championship rank if he had devoted his life to the game”. And remember too, as James O’Fee has pointed out, that his nephew Lord Edward played Capablanca to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition. In the end they were aristocrats. The virtue, as Horace himself said, lay with the struggle, not the prize. The character of the man will be remembered long after the immense work he inspired.
Ed: Horace Plunkett remains an inspiration for many. Not only for his attempts to find a "middle way" between capitalism and socialism, a "middle way" which perceptibly improved the lot of many in rural Ireland; but also for his attempts to find a "middle way" between Nationalism and Unionism. If all the actors had been men of his temper, the search might have proved successful.
Concluded
Horace Plunkett
As early as 1892 Plunkett had abandoned his original non-political attitude and in the general election in July he was elected as Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament for South County Dublin. His growing influence and his membership of the Irish Privy Council in 1897 led to the passing of an Act in 1899 which established the Department of Agriculture in Technical Instruction (DATI). His book Ireland in the New Century in 1904 however, criticising the politicians, the educational system, the Gaelic Revival and the power of the Catholic priesthood resulted in a fall-out with John Redmond, the Irish Nationalist leader, who felt that nothing but Home Rule could be the answer to Ireland’s problems . A failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1908 however, persuaded him that Self-Government for Ireland was of crucial importance and by 1912 he had become a convinced Home Ruler himself. During the years 1914-1921 he worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal the Irish Statesman to advance that cause. In the end, however, he was denounced by Unionists and Republicans alike, Edward Carson even calling him a traitor.
After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he accepted membership in 1922 of the new Irish Free State Senate, Seanad Éireann. His work in Co-operation continued to take him abroad frequently. He had had a profound influence on Theodore Roosevelt and others, including Colonel House and Charles McCarthy in the United States. But when he was in that country during the Irish Civil War in 1923, his house Kilteragh, County Dublin was burned down by the I.R.A. This was a cruel blow as it had been the meeting place for what was considered the intelligentsia of Ireland and he had hoped to make it into a hospital for children suffering from tuberculosis. Such was the treatment of a man who had been the prime mover in the development of a new economy for Ireland, firmly rooted in prosperous peasant ownership and a modernised agricultural industry. This was also the man whose fundamental belief was in character and in moral courage, which was to find expression in efficient work combined with proper technology and equipment in farms, houses, schools, hospitals, roads, harbours, communication and transport. This was the real maker of Modern Ireland.
Disillusioned, Plunkett moved to Weybridge, Surrey, England and died there on 26th March, 1932. Life had always been difficult for Plunkett, an Irish boy adapting to Eton and Oxford; then a conservative aristocrat adapting first to the Wild West in America and then to the recidivism of Irish Nationalism. Friendship with Protestant Nationalists such as Mrs Hugh R. Green had finally convinced him to throw in his lot with the new Celtic cultur-kampf. In 1893 the Anglican Douglas Hyde had founded the Gaelic League, which had its aim “the de-anglicisation of Ireland”. From this, sprang Gaelic Nationalism, “Ireland not free only but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic only but free as well”.
Strangely enough through the Anglo-Irish poets Yeats and Lady Gregory, a pseudo-Celtic twilight culture was created, which not only bowdlerised but anglicised the old Gaelic literature out of all recognition. The political manifestation of this Gaelic revival was the foundation of Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone) in 1905.Yet Plunkett viewed it all with a critical eye and politics was only a means to an end. W.B. Yeats he described as ”a young poet, a rebel, a mystic and an ass but really a genius in a queer way”. Horace was to especially criticise the military executions following the 1916 rebellion, hoping they might have solely been of men against whom a charge of murder could have been made. Instead it was the young poets and dreamers like his cousin’s son, Joseph.
Mary Plunkett or Labour leaders of high motives and real sincerity like James Connolly who were executed, producing the inevitable reaction. Yet of Casement he thought,” The fool was guilty of High Treason without a doubt…He is, I think, mad”
So what, in the final analysis, do we make of Horace Plunkett, indeed of all the Plunketts, that old British-Norman family who have provided us with such talent. There is a mystery perchance in heredity. Horace’s final adaptation was to an England which had lost its ruling class, of which he was still essentially one, following the Great War.
The Romans conquered the known world not by the military merits of their soldiers, even though they were considerable, but by the tactics and strategy of their aristocrats and the use of modern technology. So, like them, Horace Plunkett had that most curious of all inherent gifts, the supreme gift that can make a man a Chess Master. José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera, one of the greatest Chess players of all time, came to stay with him twice and a certain native quality of Horace’s play impressed him so much that he felt ”The man could have been of championship rank if he had devoted his life to the game”. And remember too, as James O’Fee has pointed out, that his nephew Lord Edward played Capablanca to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition. In the end they were aristocrats. The virtue, as Horace himself said, lay with the struggle, not the prize. The character of the man will be remembered long after the immense work he inspired.
Ed: Horace Plunkett remains an inspiration for many. Not only for his attempts to find a "middle way" between capitalism and socialism, a "middle way" which perceptibly improved the lot of many in rural Ireland; but also for his attempts to find a "middle way" between Nationalism and Unionism. If all the actors had been men of his temper, the search might have proved successful.
Concluded
Wednesday, July 28. 2010
More cannabis factories, by James O'Fee
"The Rectory"
"The Rectory" Gatepost
Last month another cannabis factory was discovered in the Old Fort area of the nearby village of Helen's Bay (the fort was built as a gun emplacement in the First World War). And this month, in another development, another Chinese-run cannabis factory has been discovered in the Newtownards Road of this town. Plainly a lucrative and expanding business, even though illegal.
The Middle Way: Part 1, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
Ed: Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
Adamson's dissertation concerns "The impact of Horace Plunkett on Irish Society and Co-operation in Ireland" and he has titled it "The Middle Way".
The Middle Way
Part 1
In Northern Ireland during the early 1980’s there remained a lower standard of living, a higher proportion of unfit houses, larger families and more unemployment than anywhere in the United Kingdom. Several groups based on community Self-Help were finding that co-operative democracy still offered the best chance of making full use of Ulster’s resources and creating a classless society.
Co-operative democracy is centred on “Co-operation” between bodies of persons for the mutual assistance of both producers and consumers. It thus provides a middle way between capitalism and socialism. The system of Common Ownership is applied, whereby people who own and control that enterprise collectively. Among the first and most successful experiments in co-operation were those of devout Protestants sects who settled in early America e.g. the Dutch Labadists, the German Amish, Mennonites and Dunkers (Church of the Brethren), the Swedish Janssonists and the British Shakers.
The people called Shakers formed a monastic community not unlike those of early Christian times, with complete equality of race and sex. They knew one another as Believers and used mystic dances and songs as recreations to refresh the spirit following physical labour. Edward Deming Andrews in his classical study writes that “Comparison of the religious behaviour of the Believers with that of other spiritual or primitive sects shows little essential difference in the physical phenomena of worship. The mystical experiences of all spiritual fellowships – the cases of clairvoyance and clairaudience, the speaking in unknown tongues, telepathies, prophecies, automatisms, all the charismatic gifts associated with the primitive church – were but the signs, as Rufus Jones has suggested, of more important traits ‘a unique degree of moral earnestness and passion... a rare acuteness of conscience... a unique purity of life’.” Furthermore, “The Methodists under Wesley and Whitefield and the subjects of the famous Ulster Revival in Ireland exhibited in comparable forms the peculiar psychology attendant on excessive rapture.”
For the Shakers manual labour was a sacred commitment, being good for both the individual soul and the collective welfare. As Edward Andrews has written, “The shaker idea was that in consecration, not compulsion; lay the secret of a successful economy. Age, sex and ability were all considered in assignment to work. But one assigned, the individual became part of a co-operative in which TEMPERATE labor – what one writer called ‘the middle way” – was a marked characteristic.” Community of goods was most specifically discussed by the prominent Believer of Ulster descent, John Dunlavy, chief minister at Pleasant Hill in Kentucky, who, in the Manifesto (1818), treated it under the term “united inheritance”. For Dunlavy religious socialism with unity of spirit and possessions was the only logical manifestation of equality and universal love. Only by sharing prosperity with others would such love be genuinely expressed. The fact that individuals widely different in race, age, disposition, education and wealth could form a successful community proved, Dunlavy insisted, that the union was “according to the mind and purpose of Christ himself.
As well as playing an unobtrusive but important part in America’s development, the people called Shakers have been justly described as “really the pioneers of modern socialism, whose experiments deserve a great deal more study than all the speculations of the French Schools.” Certainly they had a deep influence on socialist theorists such as Robert Owen in England. Historically, the development of capitalism, control of an enterprise was vested totally in the hands of the “owner”. Until just over a century ago the provider of capital was responsible for the success or failure of the venture, taking all the profits or incurring all the losses as the case might be. It was not unreasonable, therefore, that the capitalist would require a measure of control proportionate to the degree of risk involved. The introduction of limited liability in 1855 meant that thenceforth the liability of the investor was limited to the amount of capital that he or she agreed to subscribe to the company. The investor’s return, however, remained unlimited, as did the extent of the investor’s control.
The fundamental injustice of this system led to the formation of the Co-operative movement, the basic principles of which were laid down in 1844 by the Rochdale Pioneers under the influence of Robert Owen (a). The early co-operators identified a limited return on capital and one person one vote (rather than one share one vote). The Labour movement also embraced the ideal of “common ownership of the means of production”. However, socialist theoreticians in the Labour movement (particularly Sidney and Beatrice Webb) were opposed to worker’s co-operatives in principle, maintaining that “common” ownership would be better achieved by national ownership of the means of production. Hence nationalisation became the Labour Party platform.
Farmers have naturally been in the forefront of the producer Co-operative movement because of feelings that they were at a disadvantage in trading. As early as the 1850’s in America Mormon farmers were pooling their labour to irrigate their fields. Founded by Joseph Smith (1805-44) the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” was constituted at Fayette, Seneca County, New York on the 6th of April, 1830. Persecution soon followed and the Mormons established eventually the fine city of Nauvoo in Illinois. Joseph Smith’s maxim for his followers was that, “We teach them the correct principles and they learn to govern themselves”. Co-operation and self-help led to a flourishing community. With the murder of Joseph on the 27th June, 1844, Brigham Young was elected his successor. Fierce persecution continued and the Mormons were asked to leave Nauvoo and its sacred Temple, which was considered to be the most beautiful Church in North America.
Following “the track of Israel towards the west” the first column of immigrants, including people of Ulster descent, arrived on the banks of the Missouri at the end of June 1846. They passed the winter in the prairies – some in huts, others in tents, and in caves which they dug in the earth. They underwent dreadful sufferings from cold, want, and disease, many of them perished. Between 1847 and 1868 about 80,000 Mormons emigrated from Missouri to Utah (Deseret as they had wished it to be known), 6000 died on route. Some travelled with ox teams and some rode on horseback, but hundreds walked – for 4 months – pushing and pulling handcarts and carrying babies in their arms. My Grannies’ Uncle Ned, the Rhyming Weaver known as the Bard of Conlig, joined them in Salt Lake City in 1863. And when Brigham Young died on 29th August 1877 he knew that his people had reached their “Promised Land”.
Horace Plunkett
Two years after coming down from Oxford, Plunkett was threatened with the old family affliction of tuberculosis, a disease caused by a Mycobacterium which seems to have a hereditary bias, as is shown also by the Brontës. Perhaps brain involvement leads to creativity. It is, of course, a contagious disease, first recognised as such by the Persian and Moslem physician and polymath Ibn-Sīnā (Avicenna), c980-1037, the greatest medical thinker of all time. We visited his birthplace near Bukhara, Uzbekistan some years ago when we travelled on President Yeltsin’s Presidential train. He is buried in Hamedan, Iran. Tuberculosis had carried off Horace’s mother, younger brother and sister, and was soon to take his eldest brother. He therefore left for Wyoming, U.S.A. for health reasons from 1879-89. Returning to Ireland in 1889, he retained a love of America all of his life and his sojourn there imbued him with that detached view of Unionism and Nationalism, Protestantism and Catholicism which at times made him one of the least-loved men in Ireland.
Code: Picts
Editor's notes
(a) The local landlord, Sharman Crawford, was MP for Rochdale in this period -
Sharman Crawford (1781-1861), was an improving landord and Radical MP (Dundalk, 1835-1837, Rochdale, 1841-1852). In 1847 Crawford founded the Ulster Tenant Right Association which sought to have the Tenant Right customary in Ulster given the force of law. So he was a leader of the Tenant Farmers’ movement throughout Ulster and, indeed, further afield. In 1852 Sharman Crawford gave up his seat in Rochdale to contest County Down, but was not elected.
See LAST LONG PRE-MARATHON RUN (Wednesday, April 26. 2006)
(b) The 18th Baron Lord Dunsany (1878-1959) is remembered best for his witty short stories, which influenced many. Yet Dunsany was a skilled chess player as well and in 1929 achieved a draw with former World Champion José Raúl Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibition. The story is recorded in Lord Dunsany 1 (Friday, December 28. 2007) and Lord Dunsany 2: his most famous game of chess (Friday, January 18. 2008).
To be continued
British Chess Championships 2010, by James O'Fee
Adams (right) accepts a King's Gambit in the first round
Taking part is Michael Adams, who has been ranked as England's strongest player for many years. It will be a surprise if Adams fails to win the event.
Links
British Chess Championships 2010
Live games
Tuesday, July 27. 2010
Higgins coverage, by James O'Fee
Naturally the death and life of Alex "Hurricane" Higgins has received considerable coverage in the local media. I'm taking these extracts from yesterday's issue of the Newsletter (Belfast) since they throw light on aspects of Higgins's life.
The newspaper quotes Barry Hearn, described as " World Snooker Chairman". Hearn must be a power in snooker since the report mentions Hearn as manager of multiple World Champion, Steve Davis. Steve Davis, by the way, was generous in his tribute to Higgins calling him "snooker's only true genius". But then, Steve Davis could afford to be generous. Hearn is quoted thus -
Alex was a fabulous player and played shots which had even been thought of at the time - people gasped. He helped to take the game from the working-class background of misspent youths into more global entertainment during this period.
But Alex rewrote the book on misspent adulthood.
He was a dreadful gambler and I cannot remember him winning one bet - he would go through his pockets and bet every penny, and the evening would always finish wih him asking 'could you not lend me £50 for my train fare home?' - and you would obviously never see that again.
Alex asked me to manage him several times, but I said 'You would be a nightmare, mate. We would end up rolling around in a backstreet killing each other."
And Newsletter journalist Billy Kennedy writes -
Back in 1968, when I occupied the role of secretary of Bessbrook town hall management committee in south Armagh, my committee decided upon a snooker exhibition at the hall as a fundraiser. Through the help of Linfield Football Club captain, the late Tommy Dickson, I lined up a number of top snooker players from Belfast who included Jackie Bates, Maurice Gill and a relatively unknown cocky young guy called Alex Higgins, who Dickson knew from the Donegall Road/Sandy Row area.
The two snooker tables in Bessbrook town hall were, and still are, among the best in the country. Indeed, British champion the great Joe Davis played an exhibition there in the 1950s while on tour in Northern Ireland.
The 1968 exhibition attracted a full house of the sport's enthusiasts in the area and from across the community divide - and while Jackie Bates and Maurice Gill played their best shots, it was the uncanny skills of the 19-year-old Higgins which really caught the eye.
Alex, even as a youth, was in a very special class as a snooker player and he knew it. Indeed, when it came to his agreed payment for the night, he was also somewhat mercenary. For Higgins quibbled with me that the £10 (good money in 1968, especially in a mill village like Bessbrook) was not enough. And when he said that he wanted a staggering £15, I decided that I needed the approval of the committee chairman and honorary treasurer.
The treasurer, a canny school principal, was frugal with the committee's money and he bluntly refused to pay Higgy the extra fiver.
The other guest players were very happy with what they were getting but, when he played most of the time allotted, Alex made an earlier exit than planned, much to the disappointment of the many crammed into our large snooker room who could have watched him all night.
I learned the next day that he had travelled to nearby Newry to show off his skills at the local Catholic working men's club - the leading snooker club in the area at the time - and, in unfamiliar surroundings for a lad from Sandy Row, had made enough money from the captivated punters to pay for a taxi back to Belfast in the early hours, and more to spare.
On a point of clarification, Alex Higgins grew up in Abingdon Drive off the Donegall (two 'L's) Road, Belfast. The Donegall Road meets the thoroughfare Sandy Row a short distance away and the district is often called by the latter's name.
Higgins's last days were spent in a block of flats on the Donegall Road, a short distance away from the Royal Bar whose barman grew up, like Alex, in Abingdon Drive. So the "Hurricane's" life had turned full circle.
The newspaper quotes Barry Hearn, described as " World Snooker Chairman". Hearn must be a power in snooker since the report mentions Hearn as manager of multiple World Champion, Steve Davis. Steve Davis, by the way, was generous in his tribute to Higgins calling him "snooker's only true genius". But then, Steve Davis could afford to be generous. Hearn is quoted thus -
Higgins at a competition
But Alex rewrote the book on misspent adulthood.
He was a dreadful gambler and I cannot remember him winning one bet - he would go through his pockets and bet every penny, and the evening would always finish wih him asking 'could you not lend me £50 for my train fare home?' - and you would obviously never see that again.
Alex asked me to manage him several times, but I said 'You would be a nightmare, mate. We would end up rolling around in a backstreet killing each other."
And Newsletter journalist Billy Kennedy writes -
Back in 1968, when I occupied the role of secretary of Bessbrook town hall management committee in south Armagh, my committee decided upon a snooker exhibition at the hall as a fundraiser. Through the help of Linfield Football Club captain, the late Tommy Dickson, I lined up a number of top snooker players from Belfast who included Jackie Bates, Maurice Gill and a relatively unknown cocky young guy called Alex Higgins, who Dickson knew from the Donegall Road/Sandy Row area.
The two snooker tables in Bessbrook town hall were, and still are, among the best in the country. Indeed, British champion the great Joe Davis played an exhibition there in the 1950s while on tour in Northern Ireland.
The 1968 exhibition attracted a full house of the sport's enthusiasts in the area and from across the community divide - and while Jackie Bates and Maurice Gill played their best shots, it was the uncanny skills of the 19-year-old Higgins which really caught the eye.
Higgins in later life
The treasurer, a canny school principal, was frugal with the committee's money and he bluntly refused to pay Higgy the extra fiver.
The other guest players were very happy with what they were getting but, when he played most of the time allotted, Alex made an earlier exit than planned, much to the disappointment of the many crammed into our large snooker room who could have watched him all night.
I learned the next day that he had travelled to nearby Newry to show off his skills at the local Catholic working men's club - the leading snooker club in the area at the time - and, in unfamiliar surroundings for a lad from Sandy Row, had made enough money from the captivated punters to pay for a taxi back to Belfast in the early hours, and more to spare.
On a point of clarification, Alex Higgins grew up in Abingdon Drive off the Donegall (two 'L's) Road, Belfast. The Donegall Road meets the thoroughfare Sandy Row a short distance away and the district is often called by the latter's name.
Higgins's last days were spent in a block of flats on the Donegall Road, a short distance away from the Royal Bar whose barman grew up, like Alex, in Abingdon Drive. So the "Hurricane's" life had turned full circle.
Persecution, by Voice of the Martyrs Canada
(All material is taken from the Persecution & Prayer Alert of Voice of the Martyrs Canada, 22 July 2010)
More deadly attacks on Christians in Nigeria
Muslims attacked the predominately Christian village of Mazzah, near the city of Jos, on July 17, killing eight people and burning seven houses and a church building. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Muslims entered the village and began shooting sporadically in the air to lure sleeping residents outside their homes. They then attacked people with machetes, including children. Seven were killed instantly, while another died on the way to the hospital. Three others were seriously injured.
During the attack, Reverend Nuhu Dawat of the Church of Christ in Nigeria escaped with one of his children, but his wife and two other children were killed. His grandson, Nanfa, was shot in the foot, thrown in a bathroom and left to die. Fortunately, he was found by the police and taken to hospital, where he is recuperating well.
Villagers claim that although the security forces were called and arrived in time to quell the violence, they waited until the attack had ended before entering Mazah. The area is currently reported to be "quiet but tense." Some residents have fled the area in fear of further violence.
The attack followed recent clashes in eastern Nigeria in which eight people were also killed and several buildings torched (click here for more). Some observers say the violent attacks are the result of religion being exploited in the struggle for local power. There is also fear that such conflict could increase in the run up to elections expected early next year. (Source: AFP, Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
Please pray that those who have lost loved ones will know God's comfort. Pray for Nigerian authorities as they seek to restore law and order in the region. Pray that those responsible will be brought to justice. Ask God to enable Nigerian Christians to respond to their persecutors in a Christ-like manner, with forgiveness and without retaliation.
For more information on persecution in Nigeria, please visit the Nigeria Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Christians murdered after accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan
Rev. Rashid Emmanuel (32) and his younger brother, Sajid Emmanuel (30), were shot and killed on July 19 after they were accused of blaspheming the prophet Muhammad. The two men, leaders of United Ministries Pakistan, were being returned to jail under police custody when they were attacked and shot by several masked men. Sajid was instantly killed, while Rashid later died from his injuries. The bodies of the two reportedly bore cuts and other signs of being tortured while in police custody.
Rashid was arrested for blasphemy on July 1 at a train station, where he went to meet with a stranger who had requested to see him. When Rashid arrived he was surrounded by police, who showed him copies of a three-page document that insulted Muhammad and was supposedly signed by Rashid and Sajid. Police arrested Sajid three days later. On July 14, handwriting experts notified police that the signatures on the blasphemous document did not match the brothers' writing. Sources believe the brothers were likely to be exonerated of the charges.
When news of the murder reached the brothers' neighbourhood of Dawood Nagar, Faisalabad, Christians gathered to protest. Police fired teargas cannons at the protestors, who in turn threw stones. The situation quickly became volatile, with indiscriminate shooting occurring between Christians and Muslims. At last report, a curfew had been initiated in the area.
In the days before the murder, Muslims organized large demonstrations calling for the death penalty for the brothers. Islamic extremists reportedly led the protests, which were attended by hundreds of Muslims. A church building was damaged and believers hid in their homes or fled the area. Announcements were also broadcasted from mosque loudspeakers, calling on Muslims to "burn the houses of Christians." (Source: Compass Direct)
Pray for all those mourning the loss of Rashid and Sajid. Pray that those who perpetrated this attack will repent and come to know the Lord. Pray that, even in the midst of such injustice, Christians will respond with grace and love. Pray for lasting peace between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan. Post a prayer for those who are grieving for Rashid and Sajid; visit our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.
To learn more about persecution in Pakistan, please visit the Pakistan Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pastor murdered in Dagestan, Russia
On July 15, Pastor Artur Suleimanov (49) was murdered by a gunman who shot him in the head as he was getting into his car to leave the Hosanna House of Prayer in Makhachkala, Dagestan -- a federal republic of Russia in the North Caucasus region. He passed away approximately an hour later in hospital. Pastor Suleimanov was well known as a dynamic leader of one of the largest Protestant churches in the republic. "Pastor Suleimanov was a wonderful Christian brother and his shocking death is a devastating loss for the Dagestan church," a coordinator with Barnabas Fund has said. "He and the Hosanna House of Prayer church were very active in ministry and outreach in particular. We see his murder as an attempt to put further pressure on Christian converts in Dagestan." Pastor Suleimanov leaves to mourn a wife and five children. (Source: Barnabas Fund)
Pray for Pastor Suleimanov's wife and children as they grieve his loss. Pray that the comfort of Christ will be more than enough for them (2 Corinthians 1:5). Ask God to change the heart and mind of the man behind this murder. Pray that God will embolden Christians in Russia to continue spreading the gospel in their nation amid opposition.
For more on the trials facing Christians in Russia, go to the Russia Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorities crackdown on Christians in Uzbekistan
Authorities in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, have renewed a crackdown on Protestant activity in recent weeks. On July 8, two Christians were handed 10-day prison terms to punish them for their religious activities. One of the imprisoned believers, Lepes Omarov, has previously endured opposition. In 2003, he was dismissed from his job as a teacher after he rejected pressure from a local ideology official to renounce his beliefs. In 2006, a criminal case was launched against him for violating the law on religion, but the case never came to trial.
Only state-registered Muslim communities and one Russian Orthodox parish are allowed to operate in Karakalpakstan. All other religious activity in the area is illegal. Police raided many homes belonging to Protestants between May and early July, confiscating Christian books, DVDs and computers. One believer was summoned to the Prosecutor's Office in mid-June and pressured to sign a pledge to no longer keep Christian books in his home upon threat of criminal prosecution. The believer refused to the sign and was eventually allowed to go. (Source: Forum18)
Pray for boldness and enduring faith for Christians in Karakalpakstan. Pray that they will confidently entrust themselves to Christ so that they can preach the gospel without hesitation (2 Timothy 1:7-12). Pray that the charges against the two believers will be dropped. Pray that religious freedom will be respected in Uzbekistan.
Click here for more information about the persecuted Church in Uzbekistan.
More deadly attacks on Christians in Nigeria
Muslims attacked the predominately Christian village of Mazzah, near the city of Jos, on July 17, killing eight people and burning seven houses and a church building. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Muslims entered the village and began shooting sporadically in the air to lure sleeping residents outside their homes. They then attacked people with machetes, including children. Seven were killed instantly, while another died on the way to the hospital. Three others were seriously injured.
During the attack, Reverend Nuhu Dawat of the Church of Christ in Nigeria escaped with one of his children, but his wife and two other children were killed. His grandson, Nanfa, was shot in the foot, thrown in a bathroom and left to die. Fortunately, he was found by the police and taken to hospital, where he is recuperating well.
Villagers claim that although the security forces were called and arrived in time to quell the violence, they waited until the attack had ended before entering Mazah. The area is currently reported to be "quiet but tense." Some residents have fled the area in fear of further violence.
The attack followed recent clashes in eastern Nigeria in which eight people were also killed and several buildings torched (click here for more). Some observers say the violent attacks are the result of religion being exploited in the struggle for local power. There is also fear that such conflict could increase in the run up to elections expected early next year. (Source: AFP, Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
Please pray that those who have lost loved ones will know God's comfort. Pray for Nigerian authorities as they seek to restore law and order in the region. Pray that those responsible will be brought to justice. Ask God to enable Nigerian Christians to respond to their persecutors in a Christ-like manner, with forgiveness and without retaliation.
For more information on persecution in Nigeria, please visit the Nigeria Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Christians murdered after accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan
Rev. Rashid Emmanuel following the murder
Rashid was arrested for blasphemy on July 1 at a train station, where he went to meet with a stranger who had requested to see him. When Rashid arrived he was surrounded by police, who showed him copies of a three-page document that insulted Muhammad and was supposedly signed by Rashid and Sajid. Police arrested Sajid three days later. On July 14, handwriting experts notified police that the signatures on the blasphemous document did not match the brothers' writing. Sources believe the brothers were likely to be exonerated of the charges.
When news of the murder reached the brothers' neighbourhood of Dawood Nagar, Faisalabad, Christians gathered to protest. Police fired teargas cannons at the protestors, who in turn threw stones. The situation quickly became volatile, with indiscriminate shooting occurring between Christians and Muslims. At last report, a curfew had been initiated in the area.
In the days before the murder, Muslims organized large demonstrations calling for the death penalty for the brothers. Islamic extremists reportedly led the protests, which were attended by hundreds of Muslims. A church building was damaged and believers hid in their homes or fled the area. Announcements were also broadcasted from mosque loudspeakers, calling on Muslims to "burn the houses of Christians." (Source: Compass Direct)
Pray for all those mourning the loss of Rashid and Sajid. Pray that those who perpetrated this attack will repent and come to know the Lord. Pray that, even in the midst of such injustice, Christians will respond with grace and love. Pray for lasting peace between Muslims and Christians in Pakistan. Post a prayer for those who are grieving for Rashid and Sajid; visit our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.
To learn more about persecution in Pakistan, please visit the Pakistan Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pastor murdered in Dagestan, Russia
Pastor Artur Suleimanov
Pray for Pastor Suleimanov's wife and children as they grieve his loss. Pray that the comfort of Christ will be more than enough for them (2 Corinthians 1:5). Ask God to change the heart and mind of the man behind this murder. Pray that God will embolden Christians in Russia to continue spreading the gospel in their nation amid opposition.
For more on the trials facing Christians in Russia, go to the Russia Country Report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorities crackdown on Christians in Uzbekistan
Authorities in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, have renewed a crackdown on Protestant activity in recent weeks. On July 8, two Christians were handed 10-day prison terms to punish them for their religious activities. One of the imprisoned believers, Lepes Omarov, has previously endured opposition. In 2003, he was dismissed from his job as a teacher after he rejected pressure from a local ideology official to renounce his beliefs. In 2006, a criminal case was launched against him for violating the law on religion, but the case never came to trial.
Only state-registered Muslim communities and one Russian Orthodox parish are allowed to operate in Karakalpakstan. All other religious activity in the area is illegal. Police raided many homes belonging to Protestants between May and early July, confiscating Christian books, DVDs and computers. One believer was summoned to the Prosecutor's Office in mid-June and pressured to sign a pledge to no longer keep Christian books in his home upon threat of criminal prosecution. The believer refused to the sign and was eventually allowed to go. (Source: Forum18)
Pray for boldness and enduring faith for Christians in Karakalpakstan. Pray that they will confidently entrust themselves to Christ so that they can preach the gospel without hesitation (2 Timothy 1:7-12). Pray that the charges against the two believers will be dropped. Pray that religious freedom will be respected in Uzbekistan.
Click here for more information about the persecuted Church in Uzbekistan.
Monday, July 26. 2010
The Inklings – Mythological Voyagers: Part 5, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
Continued from
Part 4:
Part 5
The Voyage of Bran was one of the earliest of the Immrama or ‘Voyage Tales’, one of which Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, (the Voyage of Saint Brendan) was to become one of the most influential texts of the Middle Ages. As Alfred Nutt commented
“Of all classes of ancient Irish mythic depiction this is the most famous and the one which has most directly affected the remainder of Western European literature. For the Voyage of Saint Brendan, which touched so profoundly the imagination of medieval man, which was translated into every European tongue, which drove forth adventurers into the Western Sea, and was one of the contributory causes of the discovery of the New World – The Voyage of Saint Brendan is but the latest and definitely Christian example of the genre of storytelling which had already flourished for centuries in Ireland, and it seemed good to an unknown writer to dress the old half-pagan marvels in orthodox monkish garb, and thus start them afresh on their triumphal march through the literature of the world.”
Tolkien was to take the Immram and create a great poem of one hundred and thirty two lines. Both the poem and the prose tale begin at Brendan’s monastery of Clonfert, Galway – his ‘Meadow of Miracles’, whose Celtic name is Cluain-ferta. In both Tolkien’s “Immram” and the Latin prose tale, Brendan’s journey is to a place of ultimate holiness in which Tolkien summons up one of the master images of all of his work, The Tree of Tales, which is a symbol of another world between our own and heaven.
Tolkien significantly removes the Land of Promise from the Atlantic, which we now know is not infinite, to leave us free of the need to think of it as an island at all and even to think of it in any particular terms whatsoever. He transforms it from a future haven from persecution for the Saints into a region outside time and mysteriously evocative of the less literal heaven. Tolkien’s rewriting of the three episodes of the Navagatio makes his poem a successful and therefore, essentially happy, pilgrim’s progress towards salvation, surviving the demonic volcano under the cloud. Brendan toils into a difficult anchorage on the holy island of The Tree and he hears the song of the third fair kindred who are neither men nor angels but seemingly somewhere between these two. He is then ready for admission briefly to some paradise-like place beyond this world where he see things out of mind, and death becomes the only fitting climax to the poem. Lewis achieved the same effect in the Chronicles of Narnia. And the mythical planetary voyages of Dr Ransom in his Perelandra and Out of the Silent Planet continue to have resonances for us in Star Trek.
For both Tolkien and Lewis it was only by myth-making, only by becoming a sub-creator in inventing stories that man could ascribe to the perfect state of perfection that he knew before the Fall.
“Our myths may be misguided” Tolkien said, “but they steer, however shakily, towards the true harbour, while materialistic progress leads only to a yawning abyss in the iron crown of the power of evil.”
He composed a long poem recording his long night talk with Lewis which was instrumental in his [CSL's: Ed] conversion. He called it Mythopoeia – The Making of Myths, and he wrote in his diary,
“friendship with Lewis compensates for much, and besides giving constant pleasure and comfort it has done me much good from the contact with a man at once honest, brave, intellectual – a scholar, poet and a philosopher – and a lover, at least after a long pilgrimage, of our Lord".
In 1954 Lewis accepted the Chair of the Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University. He died at his home in Oxford on November 22nd, 1963, the day on which John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. You will find Lewis’s tomb in the churchyard of his own Parish, Headington Quarry. A plain slab marks the grave which is shared with his brother Warnie, Major W.H. Lewis. It is adorned with a simple cross and with the words “Men must endure their going hence”.
Of other Inklings, Charles Williams lies beneath the shadows of the St Cross Church in the centre of Oxford and his fellow Inkling, Hugo Dyson, is buried not far away. But if you are searching for another grave you will have to travel far out of the centre of the city, where, in a plain grave in a public cemetery, you will find a grey slab of Cornish granite on which is inscribed the name of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892 – 1973.
His requiem mass was held in Oxford four days after his death in the plain modern church in Headington which he has attended so often. Prayers and readings were especially chosen by his son John who said the mass with the assistance of Tolkien’s old friend Father Robert Murray and his Parish Priest Monsignor Doran. There was no sermon or quotation from his writings. However, a few weeks later when a memorial service was held in California, a short story Leaf by Niggle was read to the congregation:
“Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished. If you could say that of a Tree that was alive, its leaves opening and its branches groaning and bending in the wind that Niggle had so often felt and guessed and had so often failed to catch. He gazed at the tree and slowly he lifted his arms and opened them wide. “It’s a gift!” he said.
For J.R.R.Tolkien, the Master of Middle-earth, it was an epitaph well read.
As an Irish peasant I must return to Bangor where I was born and to those monastic literati of the sixth and seventh centuries, the nualitrides, who so vigorously exploited the new skill of writing in the vernacular to make of this region of South-east Ulster the cradle of written Irish literature. In doing so they allowed me to keep company with kings, to walk with Cuchulainn in Cooley and the Misty Isle of Skye, to weep with Deirdre for the sons of Usnach, to face down Maeve and fight the Morrigan, but most of all to talk with Comgall in his prime and hear the poems of the great Oisin.
Code: Picts
Blog Links
Part 1 Adamson's background
Part 2 The Inklings, Lewis and Tolkien
Part 3 Arthurian Legend
Part 4 Voyage of Bran
Concluded
Part 4:
Part 5
Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
“Of all classes of ancient Irish mythic depiction this is the most famous and the one which has most directly affected the remainder of Western European literature. For the Voyage of Saint Brendan, which touched so profoundly the imagination of medieval man, which was translated into every European tongue, which drove forth adventurers into the Western Sea, and was one of the contributory causes of the discovery of the New World – The Voyage of Saint Brendan is but the latest and definitely Christian example of the genre of storytelling which had already flourished for centuries in Ireland, and it seemed good to an unknown writer to dress the old half-pagan marvels in orthodox monkish garb, and thus start them afresh on their triumphal march through the literature of the world.”
Tolkien was to take the Immram and create a great poem of one hundred and thirty two lines. Both the poem and the prose tale begin at Brendan’s monastery of Clonfert, Galway – his ‘Meadow of Miracles’, whose Celtic name is Cluain-ferta. In both Tolkien’s “Immram” and the Latin prose tale, Brendan’s journey is to a place of ultimate holiness in which Tolkien summons up one of the master images of all of his work, The Tree of Tales, which is a symbol of another world between our own and heaven.
Tolkien significantly removes the Land of Promise from the Atlantic, which we now know is not infinite, to leave us free of the need to think of it as an island at all and even to think of it in any particular terms whatsoever. He transforms it from a future haven from persecution for the Saints into a region outside time and mysteriously evocative of the less literal heaven. Tolkien’s rewriting of the three episodes of the Navagatio makes his poem a successful and therefore, essentially happy, pilgrim’s progress towards salvation, surviving the demonic volcano under the cloud. Brendan toils into a difficult anchorage on the holy island of The Tree and he hears the song of the third fair kindred who are neither men nor angels but seemingly somewhere between these two. He is then ready for admission briefly to some paradise-like place beyond this world where he see things out of mind, and death becomes the only fitting climax to the poem. Lewis achieved the same effect in the Chronicles of Narnia. And the mythical planetary voyages of Dr Ransom in his Perelandra and Out of the Silent Planet continue to have resonances for us in Star Trek.
For both Tolkien and Lewis it was only by myth-making, only by becoming a sub-creator in inventing stories that man could ascribe to the perfect state of perfection that he knew before the Fall.
“Our myths may be misguided” Tolkien said, “but they steer, however shakily, towards the true harbour, while materialistic progress leads only to a yawning abyss in the iron crown of the power of evil.”
He composed a long poem recording his long night talk with Lewis which was instrumental in his [CSL's: Ed] conversion. He called it Mythopoeia – The Making of Myths, and he wrote in his diary,
“friendship with Lewis compensates for much, and besides giving constant pleasure and comfort it has done me much good from the contact with a man at once honest, brave, intellectual – a scholar, poet and a philosopher – and a lover, at least after a long pilgrimage, of our Lord".
In 1954 Lewis accepted the Chair of the Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University. He died at his home in Oxford on November 22nd, 1963, the day on which John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. You will find Lewis’s tomb in the churchyard of his own Parish, Headington Quarry. A plain slab marks the grave which is shared with his brother Warnie, Major W.H. Lewis. It is adorned with a simple cross and with the words “Men must endure their going hence”.
Of other Inklings, Charles Williams lies beneath the shadows of the St Cross Church in the centre of Oxford and his fellow Inkling, Hugo Dyson, is buried not far away. But if you are searching for another grave you will have to travel far out of the centre of the city, where, in a plain grave in a public cemetery, you will find a grey slab of Cornish granite on which is inscribed the name of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892 – 1973.
His requiem mass was held in Oxford four days after his death in the plain modern church in Headington which he has attended so often. Prayers and readings were especially chosen by his son John who said the mass with the assistance of Tolkien’s old friend Father Robert Murray and his Parish Priest Monsignor Doran. There was no sermon or quotation from his writings. However, a few weeks later when a memorial service was held in California, a short story Leaf by Niggle was read to the congregation:
“Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished. If you could say that of a Tree that was alive, its leaves opening and its branches groaning and bending in the wind that Niggle had so often felt and guessed and had so often failed to catch. He gazed at the tree and slowly he lifted his arms and opened them wide. “It’s a gift!” he said.
For J.R.R.Tolkien, the Master of Middle-earth, it was an epitaph well read.
As an Irish peasant I must return to Bangor where I was born and to those monastic literati of the sixth and seventh centuries, the nualitrides, who so vigorously exploited the new skill of writing in the vernacular to make of this region of South-east Ulster the cradle of written Irish literature. In doing so they allowed me to keep company with kings, to walk with Cuchulainn in Cooley and the Misty Isle of Skye, to weep with Deirdre for the sons of Usnach, to face down Maeve and fight the Morrigan, but most of all to talk with Comgall in his prime and hear the poems of the great Oisin.
Code: Picts
Blog Links
Part 1 Adamson's background
Part 2 The Inklings, Lewis and Tolkien
Part 3 Arthurian Legend
Part 4 Voyage of Bran
Concluded
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins RIP (1949 – 24 July 2010), by James O'Fee
Alex Higgins was born in the Sandy Row area of Belfast in 1949. Aged 14, he left for England to train as a jockey, but he never rode professionally. In 1965, aged 16, he returned to Belfast to pursue his great love, snooker. In 1968 he won both the Northern Ireland and All-Ireland amateur championships. Turning professional, Higgins won the World Championship in 1972 at his first attempt, defeating John Spenser in the final. Aged only 22, he was the youngest-ever winner of the World Title.
Alex Higgins had, clearly, an immense amount of talent for the sport. His nickname "the Hurricane" came from his style of play. Where others were patient, even ponderous is assessing shots, "the Hurricane" relied on his instincts and seemed, often, to be preparing for the next shot while the balls were still rolling across the table. His unique style made Higgins naturally enormously with audiences and he became a huge draw whereever he played.
Yet to achieve the ultimate pinnacles, a sportsman needs self-control, dedication and discipline. This is where Higgins fell down. From a young age he drank and smoked heavily, as well as gambling. He got himself into needless fights, disputes and controversy, often fuelled by drink which damaged his physical capacities as well. The 70s were the period of the height of our "Troubles" when nightlife in Belfast virtually disappeared. Yet there were stories of the Hurricane turning up after pub hours at late-night drinking clubs to demand admittance.
Shortly after Higgins won his first World Championship, snooker was catapulted into becoming a national obsession. Colour television had recently been introduced, and the BBC sought new sports to fill its second channel. It tested snooker. With its green baize and balls of vivid colours, snooker was ideally suited to the medium and it became an instant success. I don't know whether my father ever played snooker, yet he and many others spent long hours watching the sport on television, where ITV vied with the BBC to cover the main events. This exposure attracted major sponsors into snooker, often the manufactuers of cigarette and alcohol. The main snooker stars began to earn a great deal of money.
With his unique, whirlwind style, the "Hurricane " was certainly one of these. But he possessed the talent to dominate the sport in the 70s and early 80s, and this he failed to achieve. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1976 and 1980, losing on both occasions, to Ray Reardon and Cliff Thorburn respectively.
Meanwhile his private life (as well as his relationship with the snooker authorities) was tempestuous. His career's peak came in 1982 when he once again won the World Championship, defeating Reardon in the final. This was the year Helen and I married. As we toured various houses that we were considering buying, we would follow the news of Alex's progress. His success in the final thrilled us all.
Many hoped that this victory over, not only his fellow snooker professionals, but over his personal demons, would mark an upward shift in Alex's life. Yet this was not to be. Further shameful incidents, fuelled by drink, would follow. How much did Alex earn in his career, £2, £3 or £4 million? Different sources give different figures. Certainly he had nothing to show for it all in his last years when he returned to the Donegall Road area of Belfast where he had grown up, to succumb last Saturday to cancer of the throat.
Links
Alex Higgins -Wikipedia
Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins "Telegraph" obituary
Video feature on Alex Higgins's victory in the 1982 World Championship
Alex Higgins had, clearly, an immense amount of talent for the sport. His nickname "the Hurricane" came from his style of play. Where others were patient, even ponderous is assessing shots, "the Hurricane" relied on his instincts and seemed, often, to be preparing for the next shot while the balls were still rolling across the table. His unique style made Higgins naturally enormously with audiences and he became a huge draw whereever he played.
Higgins at a snooker competition
Shortly after Higgins won his first World Championship, snooker was catapulted into becoming a national obsession. Colour television had recently been introduced, and the BBC sought new sports to fill its second channel. It tested snooker. With its green baize and balls of vivid colours, snooker was ideally suited to the medium and it became an instant success. I don't know whether my father ever played snooker, yet he and many others spent long hours watching the sport on television, where ITV vied with the BBC to cover the main events. This exposure attracted major sponsors into snooker, often the manufactuers of cigarette and alcohol. The main snooker stars began to earn a great deal of money.
With his unique, whirlwind style, the "Hurricane " was certainly one of these. But he possessed the talent to dominate the sport in the 70s and early 80s, and this he failed to achieve. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1976 and 1980, losing on both occasions, to Ray Reardon and Cliff Thorburn respectively.
Meanwhile his private life (as well as his relationship with the snooker authorities) was tempestuous. His career's peak came in 1982 when he once again won the World Championship, defeating Reardon in the final. This was the year Helen and I married. As we toured various houses that we were considering buying, we would follow the news of Alex's progress. His success in the final thrilled us all.
Higgins with trademark Guinness
Links
Alex Higgins -Wikipedia
Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins "Telegraph" obituary
Video feature on Alex Higgins's victory in the 1982 World Championship
Sunday, July 25. 2010
Psalm 148
Saturday, July 24. 2010
Shabbat Nachamu, by James O'Fee
Today is the first Shabbat after Tisha B'Av (see Tisha B'Av, Monday, July 19. 2010) and is called Shabbat Nachamu. The name comes from the first word's of the week's Haftorah passage: Nachamu nachamu ami ("Comfort, comfort my people"). It's a welcome comfort, like being held in your mother's arms after crying.
Then, a few days later, [I understand on this Monday coming] comes the joyous celebration of Tu B'Av (literally "the 15th of Av") .... Tu B'Av offers the first glimpse of autumn, when the temperature drops and the weather becomes more moderate.
- from Judaism for Dummies, p 315
This day, Shabbat Nachamu, the second book that I ordered on Judaism has arrived - ordered on the recommendation of the friend that I met at the synagogue (which can be given the Yiddish name shul, from the German word for school). The friend is in the process of converting from Christianity to Judaism.
The second book is To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life, selected and Compiled from the SHULHAN ARUKH and RESPONSA literature and providing a rationale for the laws and traditions, by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin (Basic Books, New York, 1972). I look forward to reading it.
At the evening Tisha B'Av service last Monday this friend introduced me to a local lad who has completed the process of conversion and was welcomed into the fellowship of the Belfast shul last Shabbat where he performed a little dance in celebration. This convert's religious name is Akiva ben Abraham - compare the forename of the great Chess Master Akiba Ruibinstein "the greatest stylist who ever lived" e.g. in Zugzwang Part 2, Monday, May 3. 2010.
Akiva attended the Shabbat Nachamu today and introduced me to his father (religious name Reuven ben Abraham - all converts take 'ben Abraham' rather than the name of their natural father). Amazingly, Reuven was an ordained Congregationalist Minister for 20 years, ministering in Banbridge and Spamount, Co Down; and he was attached to the Faith Mission at one time as well. So I asked whether he might know my friend David McKee who began his Christian work within Faith Mission in the South of Ireland. Again I was astounded to learn that Reuven did remember David, calling him "an inspired speaker".
On David McKee see -
A Swiss-German tutorial, Tuesday, October 31. 2006;
Moderator, Saturday, February 10. 2007;
Heaven, by C.S. Lewis, Friday, April 27. 2007;
Wurmbrand, Thursday, November 1. 2007; and
An important address, Thursday, May 22. 2008.
David told me that he became a Christian during or shortly after the second World War. His first Christian work was with the Faith Mission. With another, he would tour rural parts of the South of Ireland. They would set up their moveable premises during the day and then pray, perhaps for much of the afternoon that people would attend their evangelistic service in the evening. Sometimes no-one would show and David had had the experience of preaching to an empty hall.
David no longer comes to the Leisure Centre. Formerly he wopuld cycle the 6 miles from Donaghadee, where he lives, to Bangor, then cycle back. With age, he then drove in both directions. When I knew him, he drove and then only attended the "Health Suite" - sauna, Turkish back, spa pool and plunge pool. Today he doesn't come to the Leisure Centre at all. I saw David recently walking along the Coastal Path. He told me that he reads the New Testament in the original Greek every year.
Then, a few days later, [I understand on this Monday coming] comes the joyous celebration of Tu B'Av (literally "the 15th of Av") .... Tu B'Av offers the first glimpse of autumn, when the temperature drops and the weather becomes more moderate.
- from Judaism for Dummies, p 315
This day, Shabbat Nachamu, the second book that I ordered on Judaism has arrived - ordered on the recommendation of the friend that I met at the synagogue (which can be given the Yiddish name shul, from the German word for school). The friend is in the process of converting from Christianity to Judaism.
The second book is To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life, selected and Compiled from the SHULHAN ARUKH and RESPONSA literature and providing a rationale for the laws and traditions, by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin (Basic Books, New York, 1972). I look forward to reading it.
Akiba Rubinstein
Akiva attended the Shabbat Nachamu today and introduced me to his father (religious name Reuven ben Abraham - all converts take 'ben Abraham' rather than the name of their natural father). Amazingly, Reuven was an ordained Congregationalist Minister for 20 years, ministering in Banbridge and Spamount, Co Down; and he was attached to the Faith Mission at one time as well. So I asked whether he might know my friend David McKee who began his Christian work within Faith Mission in the South of Ireland. Again I was astounded to learn that Reuven did remember David, calling him "an inspired speaker".
Rev David McKee
A Swiss-German tutorial, Tuesday, October 31. 2006;
Moderator, Saturday, February 10. 2007;
Heaven, by C.S. Lewis, Friday, April 27. 2007;
Wurmbrand, Thursday, November 1. 2007; and
An important address, Thursday, May 22. 2008.
David told me that he became a Christian during or shortly after the second World War. His first Christian work was with the Faith Mission. With another, he would tour rural parts of the South of Ireland. They would set up their moveable premises during the day and then pray, perhaps for much of the afternoon that people would attend their evangelistic service in the evening. Sometimes no-one would show and David had had the experience of preaching to an empty hall.
David no longer comes to the Leisure Centre. Formerly he wopuld cycle the 6 miles from Donaghadee, where he lives, to Bangor, then cycle back. With age, he then drove in both directions. When I knew him, he drove and then only attended the "Health Suite" - sauna, Turkish back, spa pool and plunge pool. Today he doesn't come to the Leisure Centre at all. I saw David recently walking along the Coastal Path. He told me that he reads the New Testament in the original Greek every year.
The Inklings – Mythological Voyagers: Part 4, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
Continued from Part 3:
Part 4
Bangor, of course, was also the source for the famous Immram Brain MaicFebail, Voyage of Bran of which Douglas Hyde wrote,
“I know of few things in literature comparable to this lovely description, one so mystic and so sensuous, of the joys of the other world. But to my mind it breathes the very essence of Celtic Glamour and is shot through and through with the Celtic love of form, beauty, landscape, company and the society of women."
In the course of Bran’s voyage to the other world, the god Manannan appears announcing the birth of the historical Dalaradian prince, Mongan son of Fiachna (about a separate cycle of tales exists, one of which, Compert Mongain, is closely related to a passage in Immram Brain). In the poem Manannan foretells the part he himself would play in the birth of Mongan, prophesying, however, that eventual bloodshed would fall upon the Dalaradian household.
Kumo Meyer in his translation of the Voyage of Bran, describes it thus:
‘Mannanan, the descendent of Lir, will be
A vigorous bed-fellow to Cantigern;
He shall be called to his son in the beautiful world,
Fiachna will acknowledge him as a son.
‘He will delight the company of all the Sidhe,
He will be the darling of every goodly land,
He will make known secrets – a course of wisdom –
In the world, without being feared.
He will be in the shape of every beast,
Both on the azure sea and on land,
He will be a dragon before hosts at the onset,
He will be a wolf of every great forest.
He will be a stag with horns of silver
In the land where chariots are driven,
He will be a speckled salmon in full pool,
He will be a seal, he will be a fair white swan.
‘He will be throughout long ages
An hundred years in a fair kingship,
He will cut down battalions, - a lasting grave –
He will redden fields, a wheel around the track.
‘It will be about kings with a champion
That he will be known as a valiant hero,
Into the strongholds of a land on a height
I shall send an appointed end from Islay.
‘High shall I place him with princes,
He will be overcome by a son of error;
Mannanan, the son of Lir,
Will be his father, his tutor.
‘He will be – his time will be short –
Fifty years in this world:
A dragonstone from the sea will kill him
In the fight at Senlabor.
The Annals of Tigernach record that ‘Mongan mac Fiachna Lurgan was struck with a stone by Artuir (Arthur) son of Bicour the Briton and died.’ A verse follows:
‘Cold is the wind over Islay;
There are warriors in Kintyre,
They will commit a cruel deed therefor,
They will kill Mongan, son of Fiachna.
Code: Picts
To be continued
Part 4
Cllr Dr Ian Adamson
“I know of few things in literature comparable to this lovely description, one so mystic and so sensuous, of the joys of the other world. But to my mind it breathes the very essence of Celtic Glamour and is shot through and through with the Celtic love of form, beauty, landscape, company and the society of women."
In the course of Bran’s voyage to the other world, the god Manannan appears announcing the birth of the historical Dalaradian prince, Mongan son of Fiachna (about a separate cycle of tales exists, one of which, Compert Mongain, is closely related to a passage in Immram Brain). In the poem Manannan foretells the part he himself would play in the birth of Mongan, prophesying, however, that eventual bloodshed would fall upon the Dalaradian household.
Kumo Meyer in his translation of the Voyage of Bran, describes it thus:
‘Mannanan, the descendent of Lir, will be
A vigorous bed-fellow to Cantigern;
He shall be called to his son in the beautiful world,
Fiachna will acknowledge him as a son.
‘He will delight the company of all the Sidhe,
He will be the darling of every goodly land,
He will make known secrets – a course of wisdom –
In the world, without being feared.
He will be in the shape of every beast,
Both on the azure sea and on land,
He will be a dragon before hosts at the onset,
He will be a wolf of every great forest.
He will be a stag with horns of silver
In the land where chariots are driven,
He will be a speckled salmon in full pool,
He will be a seal, he will be a fair white swan.
‘He will be throughout long ages
An hundred years in a fair kingship,
He will cut down battalions, - a lasting grave –
He will redden fields, a wheel around the track.
‘It will be about kings with a champion
That he will be known as a valiant hero,
Into the strongholds of a land on a height
I shall send an appointed end from Islay.
‘High shall I place him with princes,
He will be overcome by a son of error;
Mannanan, the son of Lir,
Will be his father, his tutor.
‘He will be – his time will be short –
Fifty years in this world:
A dragonstone from the sea will kill him
In the fight at Senlabor.
The Annals of Tigernach record that ‘Mongan mac Fiachna Lurgan was struck with a stone by Artuir (Arthur) son of Bicour the Briton and died.’ A verse follows:
‘Cold is the wind over Islay;
There are warriors in Kintyre,
They will commit a cruel deed therefor,
They will kill Mongan, son of Fiachna.
Code: Picts
To be continued
Blog Administration
Quicksearch
Calendar
History
Thu, 30.07.2009 15:12Richard Ferguson 1935-2009, [...]
