Timothy Patrick "Tim Pat" Coogan is an Irish historian, writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of The Irish Press newspaper from 1968-87. He has been best-known for such books as The IRA, Ireland Since the Rising, On the Blanket, and biographies of Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera. His biography of de Valera proved controversial, taking issue with the former Irish president's reputation and achievements, in favour of those of Collins, whom he regards as indispensable to the creation of the new State.
Stephen John Coogan is an English actor, comedian, and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, working as a voice artist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and providing voiceovers for television advertisements. In the early 1990s, he began creating original comic characters, leading him to win the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions with Henry Normal.
The Irish Press was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995.
Martin Ferris is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) since the 2002 general election, currently for the Kerry constituency.
The Arms Crisis was a political scandal in the Republic of Ireland in 1970 in which Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were dismissed as cabinet ministers for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle arms to the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. At the ensuing Arms Trial, charges against Blaney were dropped, and Haughey and the other alleged conspirators were found not guilty. Blaney claimed that the then government knew about the plan, while Haughey denied any involvement.
Charlie Kerins was a physical force Irish Republican, was named the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army. After spending two years on the run he was captured by the Gardaí in 1944. Following his subsequent trial and conviction for the 1942 murder of Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien, Kerins was hanged in Mountjoy Prison.
Tony (Anthony) Magan was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Saor Éire was a far-left political organisation established in September 1931 by communist-leaning members of the Irish Republican Army, with the backing of the IRA leadership. Notable among its founders was Peadar O'Donnell, former editor of An Phoblacht and a leading far-left figure in the IRA. Saor Éire described itself as "an organization of workers and working farmers".
The Cairo Gang was a group of British intelligence agents who were sent to Dublin during the Irish War of Independence to conduct intelligence operations against prominent members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – according to Irish intelligence with the intention of assassinating them. Twelve men including British Army officers, Royal Irish Constabulary officers and a civilian informant were killed on the morning of 21 November 1920 by the Irish Republican Army in a planned series of simultaneous early-morning strikes engineered by Michael Collins. The events were the first killings of Bloody Sunday.
Her Majesty's Prison Wakefield is a Category A men's prison, located in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service, and is the largest high-security prison in the United Kingdom. The prison has been nicknamed the "Monster Mansion" due to the large number of high-profile, high-risk sex offenders and murderers held there.
Detective Sergeant Denis O'Brien, Registration Number: 8288, often called "Dinny O’Brien", was a veteran of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. He joined the Garda Síochána in 1933 and was killed by the Anti-Treaty IRA.
Combat arms is a collective name in a system of administrative military reference to those troops within national armed forces which participate in direct tactical ground combat. In general they include units that carry or employ a weapon system such as infantry, cavalry, and artillery units. The use of multiple combat arms in mutually supporting ways is known as combined arms.
Eamonn Coogan or Ned Coogan was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and Deputy Commissioner of the Garda Síochána. He was born in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kilkenny constituency at the 1944 general election. He died during the 1948 general election campaign. His son is the author Tim Pat Coogan.
Proinsias MacAirt was an Irish republican activist and long-serving member of the Irish Republican Army.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a 2013 British action comedy film starring Steve Coogan reprising his role as Alan Partridge, a fictional presenter he has played on various BBC radio and television shows since 1991, and Colm Meaney as Pat Farrell. The film was directed by Declan Lowney and written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham and Neil and Rob Gibbons. Principal photography began on 7 January 2013 in Norwich and Mitcham, and the film premiered on 24 July 2013.
The Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland, or Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV) for short, was an Irish civic organisation founded in Belfast in 1912. It was established to bridge the gap for 18 to 25 year olds between membership of youth organisations—such as the Boys' Brigade and Boy Scouts—and the period of responsible adulthood. Another impetus for its creation was the failure of the British government to extend the legislation for the Territorial Force—introduced in 1908—to Ireland. It was hoped that the War Office would absorb the YCV into the Territorial Force, however such offers were dismissed. Not until the outbreak of World War I did the YCV—by then a battalion of the UVF—become part of the British Army as the 14th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.
Michael Traynor was a leading member of Sinn Féin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Harry White was an Irish republican paramilitary.
The River Dinan, Deen or Dinin is a river in Ireland, flowing through County Kilkenny and County Laois.
On 11 November 1957 during the Border Campaign a landmine exploded prematurely in Edentubber, County Louth, Ireland. Five republicans were killed and are today known by republicans as the Edentubber Martyrs. According to Tim Pat Coogan it was the “single biggest disaster of the whole campaign”
