He was a big hit in America.
Played up to the drunken paddy literary genuis stereotype and he regularly featured on the big American talk shows.
Iāve read Borstal Boy and it was a very enjoyable.
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Downloaded it the other day myself.
I see there is a bit of a tradition of leaving a pint on his grave on his anniversary. Seems ridiculous these days to do that for an alcoholic, but presumably harks back to when being a hard drinking Paddy was almost a badge of honour.
Dying young is always a big help to the legacy too.
I always maintained the best thing you could do after a good year playing minor GAA is give it up. Youāll be forever regarded as a great.
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He wrote the auld triangle, and wore ridiculously dirty shirtsā¦even by dublin standards
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That Nationwide programme wasnāt bad, as Nationwide programmes go.
Great is a bit meh though. What you really want to do is play senior when barely even a minorā¦
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He was a bestselling author. His family were republican royalty. His uncle wrote the national anthem. They were working class republicans not like the cunts that took over the State in the 20s and 30s and fawned over Archbishop McQuaids cassocks.
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The following reasons:
- He was born into poverty.
- His family on both sides were steeped in Republicanism. His maternal uncle wrote the national anthem and his father spent time in jail around the civil war.
- His granny fed him porter from around the age of seven. When she was stopped once by a member of the public who commented on her cute retarded little boy she responded āHow dare you?! My grandson isnāt retarded - heās just drunk!!ā
- His father read Dickens and Tolstoy to him from a young age. Brendan himself turned into a massively talented writer himself.
- He was a drunk amongst it al which added to his overall character.
- He had leanings towards homosexuality which at the time was outlawed.
- He generally typified the old style Dubliner, drink, singing, drink, poetry, drink, republicanism, drink, contrariness, drink
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Why were so many big world title boxing bouts held in the likes of Kingston, Caracas, Manilla and Zaire?
Was it benevolent leaders in each country doing sports washing of the day and paying over the odds to gain global credibility by bringing these big fights to their country?
Don King is a common denominator here. He had only been out of prison for 2 years (on his second manslaughter conviction) by the time of the Rumble in 1974.
He was persona non grata with a lot of the US boxing authorities and, at the time, hadnāt the money or influence to deliver the fight in the America. Joseph Mobutu was seeking legitimacy in the Congo and underwrote the purse. Similar happened a year later as Marcos was trying to establish the Philippines as something other than a cult of personality dictatorship.
Those fights made Kingās name and he began to be accepted into the American mainstream of boxing afterwards.
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Is it tax related i wonder, tax free events? Pay local tax where performance occurs so may be waived in instances youve named maybe? Same reason desert nationās hosting a lot of events lately