Alan Ross McWhirter was, with his twin brother, Norris, the cofounder of the 1955 Guinness Book of Records and a contributor to the television programme Record Breakers. He was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.
The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were two groups of people, mostly Northern Irish, who were wrongly convicted in English courts in 1975 and 1976 of the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 and the Woolwich pub bombing of 7 November 1974. All the convictions were eventually overturned in 1989 and 1991 after long campaigns for justice, and the cases, along with those of the Birmingham Six, diminished public confidence in the English criminal justice system.
The Guildford pub bombings occurred on Saturday 5 October 1974 when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two 6-pound (2.7-kilogram) gelignite bombs at two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, England. The pubs were targeted that evening because they were popular with British Army personnel stationed at Pirbright barracks. Four soldiers and one civilian were killed. Sixty-five people were wounded.
The Kings Arms was a public house in Woolwich in southeast London. Standing at 1 Frances Street to the south of Woolwich Dockyard and the Royal Marine Barracks, and northwest of the Royal Artillery Barracks, it was built in the 19th century. In the 1881 census it is listed as the Kings Arms Hotel. The pub was bombed by the IRA in 1974, killing two people.
PC Stephen Andrew Tibble, was a police officer in London's Metropolitan Police Service. During a chase through West Kensington, the unarmed Tibble was fatally shot by Liam Quinn, an American member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
Hugh Aodh Doherty is a Scottish-born Irish republican, who was a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), known for his role in the Balcombe Street Siege, in London in December 1975.
Roger Philip Goad, was an explosives officer with London's Metropolitan Police Service who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the heroism he displayed on 29 August 1975. He had previously been awarded the British Empire Medal in 1958 for gallantry whilst serving with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Cyprus, for repeated acts of deliberate courage in the disarming of bombs and booby traps set by terrorists.
Sarah Conlon was an Irish housewife and a prominent campaigner in one of the most high-profile miscarriage of justice cases in British legal history. She spent decades clearing the names of her husband Giuseppe and son Gerry over the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) pub bombings at Guildford and Woolwich, and helped secure an apology from former British prime minister Tony Blair in 2005 for their wrongful imprisonment.
Martin Joseph O'Connell, better known as Joe, is an Irish republican and a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He is most noted for having been a member of the Balcombe Street gang.
The Balcombe Street siege was an incident involving members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and London's Metropolitan Police lasting from 6 to 12 December 1975. The siege ended with the surrender of the four IRA members and the release of their two hostages. The events were televised and watched by millions.
On 27 August 1975 a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded without warning at the Caterham Arms public house in Caterham, Surrey, England. There were no fatalities, but 33 people were injured, some severely, including three off-duty soldiers who lost limbs.
On Tuesday evening 18 November 1975 an Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit nicknamed the Balcombe Street Gang, without warning, threw a bomb into Walton's Restaurant in Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, killing two people and injuring almost two dozen others.
On Thursday 9 October 1975, a bomb attack just outside Green Park Underground station in the City of Westminster, London, left one man dead and injured 20 others. The attack was carried out by volunteers from the Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang. The attack occurred during a period of heightened activity by the IRA in England and in particular London and surrounding areas, since the Caterham Arms pub bombing two months earlier in August 1975.
The Balcombe Street Gang was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service unit (ASU) who carried out a bombing campaign in southern England in the mid-1970s. The majority of their attacks and attempted attacks took place in London and the rest in Surrey, Hampshire and Wiltshire. Between October 1974 and December 1975 they carried out approximately 40 bomb and gun attacks in and around London, sometimes attacking the same targets twice. The unit would sometimes carry out two or more attacks in one day; on 27 January 1975 they placed seven time bombs in London.
On 17 June 1974 the Provisional IRA bombed the British Houses of Parliament causing extensive damage and injuring eleven people.
On 25 and 27 November 1974 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) placed several bombs in pillar boxes and one in a hedge behind a pillar box. This was a new tactic used by the IRA in England, although a similar tactic had been used in Northern Ireland during The Troubles several times previously. 40 people were wounded from five explosions in several districts.
This is a timeline of the events and actions during the Troubles that were carried out in Great Britain, the vast majority of which were carried out by Irish Republican paramilitaries mainly the Provisional IRA were by far the most active but both the Official IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, also carried out a number of attacks, which included bombings and shootings. Ulster Loyalist paramilitary groups also carried out a small number of violent actions.
On 19 January 1975 the Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang opened fire with automatic weapons on two hotels in London, England. Twelve people were injured by broken glass. The IRA carried out a similar attack a month before, and attacked one of the hotels again a few months after.
The Talbot Arms pub bombing took place on 30 November 1974, and was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Eight people were injured in the attack, which involved the IRA throwing homemade bombs through the pub's window. Only one of the devices exploded; the other was taken as evidence and used to discover how the unit assembled its devices.
Edward Butler is a former member of both the Official Irish Republican Army and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was part of different IRA units based in Ireland and then England. Butler and three others were called the "Balcombe Street Gang" or the "Balcombe Street Four" by news media during a five-day siege in the street of that name near Marylebone station, London. He and his co-accused were gaoled for seven murders plus other charges.
