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1855 John McKenna was born on this day in County Monaghan in 1855. McKenna was a successful businessman and a keen sportsman. He was the first ever manager of English football team Liverpool.
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1905 Padraic Fallon, the famous poet and playwright was born in Athenry on this day in 1905.
He grew up in Galway before moving to Dublin where he established himself as one of the top writers of his day. His first book, Poems, was published in 1974, the year he died.
His work has been influential on fellow Irish writers Seamus Heaney and Eavan Boland.
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1925 Maureen Potter was born on this day in 1925. She was Ireland’s top comedienne and also a gifted straight actress and dancer.
Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, she performed around Ireland and toured Europe with Jack Hylton and his orchestra, and once performed in front of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s (which she later regretted).
She was the first star to have a bronze cast of her handprints outside the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin where she performed for many years, and she received an honorary doctorate degree from Trinity College University in Dublin.
Here she is as Maureen Potter as Sister Gonzaga teaching the ‘facts of life’, from an RTE show in 1977.
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1966 Happy birthday to Martin Galway, born on this day in Belfast in 1966. Galway is a musician and composed the soundtracks to numerous video games in the 1980s and 90s.
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1988 Happy birthday to Jonny Evans, born on this day in 1988 in Belfast. Evans won the English Premier League and the FA Cup with Manchester United, and made his debut for the Northern Irish national team in 2006.
1999 On this day in 1999, along with many countries in Europe, Ireland dropped their national currency, the pound, to switch to the Euro.
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