The Munster Tribune, 11 November 1960 In November of 1960 a new word entered the Irish lexicon, a term of abuse that was aimed at someone thought to be especially uncivilised, savage or backward: “Baluba”. The word was derived from…
The Tipperary Star, 6 November 1926 The headline of this report is a misleading one. No, Ludwig van Beethoven did not play his Moonlight Sonata in Borrisoleigh Parochial Hall. In fact, no-one played the Moonlight Sonata in Borrisoleigh Parochial…
The Nationalist, 13 November 1909 Water. It seems like we’re always falling out over it. The year was 1909, and Clonmel had access to piped water, whilst Carrick on Suir did not. And that was the way one Carrick councillor…
The Tipperary Star, 23 October 1954 The erection of Nelson’s Pillar on Sackville Street in Dublin was completed in 1809, and from that day on it was the preoccupation of many Irish Nationalists as to how they could take…
Clonmel Chronicle, 5 October 1895 It was 1895 and Bridget Cleary was a little over 6 months in her grave. That horrific case highlighted the place of "pishogues" - traditional Irish superstition - in the mindset of the Irish peasantry,…
The Nationalist, 29 October 1906 To paraphrase that great aficionado of Gaelic Football, Mr. Oscar Wilde; “To lose one football may be regarded as a misfortune; To lose both looks like carelessness; To lose a third smacks of someone sticking…
The Tipperary Star, 11 October 1930 The Rev. J. Russell of Loughmore was home from a recent trip to Germany, and he liked what he saw there, so much so that he appealed to the people of his parish to…
The Nenagh Guardian, 24 September 1881 The painful account of an eviction in Cappawhite in September 1881. “Never would the tenants surrender to injustice”, stated the leader of the opposition to the ejectments, Rev. John Crowe CC. The eviction was…
The Nenagh Guardian, 4 September 1861 A report on the visit of James Edward William Theobald Butler, the 3rd Marquess of Ormond, to one of his family’s former strongholds. A few weeks ago we dealt with the demise of the…
Tipperary Star, 16 September 1939 Laurence “Larry” Slattery, a Littleton native, was a gunner on a Bristol Blenheim IV when it was shot down over Wilhemshaven, Germany, on 4th September 1939. Slattery’s pilot, Willie Murphy, from Mitchelstown, was killed in…