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1907 Bob Tisdall was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on this day in 1907. He gave up his job as a bodyguard to pursue his dream of representing Ireland at the Olympics. He managed to do this in 1932 in Los Angeles, where he won a gold medal on what was the most successful day in the Olympics in Ireland’s history.
Click here to read more about Bob Tisdall and his fairytale story
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1926 On this day in 1926, Éamon de Valera held the first public meeting of the newly formed political party Fianna Fáil. De Valera had founded the party with Seán Lemass and Constance Markievicz after they became opposed to the direction in which Sinn Féin was moving. Eleven years later de Valera was elected as Taoiseach and ruled for more than ten years.
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Click for more Éamon de Valera quotes
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1952 Pierce Brosnan was born in Co Meath on this day in 1952. He is one of Ireland’s most recognisable actors, having starred in many major Hollywood films.
Brosnan played the suave British secret agent James Bond from 1995-2005 and also appeared in the Abba based musical Mamma Mia.
Click here to read more about Pierce Brosnan
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1967 Happy birthday to Brían F. O’Byrne, born in Co Cavan on this day in 1967. He is an actor and has starred in numerous television series and films both in Ireland and in America. He is possibly most recognisable for playing the recovering alcoholic Aaron Stark in the popular sci-fi drama FlashForward.
O’Byrne has also made appearances in several other popular series including Prime Suspect where he played Detective Reg Duffy and Brotherhood in which he played Colin Carr.
Click here to read about more great Irish actors
2000 On this day in 2000, An Post launched four new designs of postage stamps with Oscar Wilde’s face.
It was to mark in honour of the great writer’s career and contribution to literature, 100 years after his death.
Click here to read some of the best quotes from Oscar Wilde
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2002 Teresa Carey began her train driving career on the Cork-Heuston train on this day in 2002. The Kerry lady became Iarnród Eireann’s first female driver.
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