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1898 Frank Aiken was born on this day in 1898 in County Armagh. He was a leader of the IRA in the 1920s and led several attacks on British police. He then played a key role in many conflicts during the Irish Civil War. In 1923 Aiken was elected into Dáil Éireann and was repeatedly re-elected for Fianna Fáil until he retired from politics at every election until his retirement from politics in 1969.
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1956 Happy birthday to Liam Brady, born in Dublin on this day in 1956. Brady was arguably the most gifted footballer ever to play for the Republic of Ireland. He won 72 caps and scored 9 goals in an international career spanning 16 years.
He won the FA Cup with Arsenal and two Serie A titles with Italian giants Juventus. Brady was also named Player of the Year by his fellow professionals in 1979 and was inducted into the English FA Hall of Fame in 2006.
Liam Brady Goal in the Ireland-Brazil game in 1987.
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2004 The first ever Euromillions lottery draw took place on this day in 2004. The UK, including Northern Ireland, were one of the founding countries that took part, but the Republic of Ireland didn’t join until October the same year.
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2013 Thomas Patrick McKenna (known simply as TP McKenna) died on this day in 2013 in London. He was born in County Cavan and had a long and successful acting career. He starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in the 1971 film Straw Dogs and also appeared on numerous TV series in Britain and Ireland.
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2013 Ian McKeever died on this day in 2013 after being struck by lightning during a climb on Mount Kilimanjaro.
He was from County Wicklow and was an experienced climber and held the record for the Five Peaks Challenge, which involves reaching the summit of the highest mountain in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the fastest time possible. McKeever completed the challenge in 16 hours 16 minutes.
He also once held the world record for the fastest completion of the Seven Summits challenge, which entails climbing the summits of the highest mountains of each of the seven continents.
McKeever also founded the Kilimanjaro Achievers Organisation, leading several expeditions of schoolchildren to the top of the mountain.
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