Episode 1 Terry Wogan's Ireland


Episode 1

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Episode 1. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

# Wake up to Wogan on Radio 2. #

0:00:020:00:05

And this is it then.

0:00:050:00:07

This is the day I've been dreading,

0:00:070:00:09

the inevitable morning when you and I come to the parting of the ways.

0:00:090:00:13

'After 40 years of talking to myself and to you, the loyal listener,

0:00:130:00:18

'I gave up the day job and now I'm heading off to rediscover the country that made me.

0:00:180:00:23

'The Ireland I left behind at the end of the 1960s was an isolated place.'

0:00:230:00:28

Not much industry, agriculture was the mainstay and this meant a meagre existence for most.

0:00:280:00:34

It wasn't until the mid-'90s that the country's fortunes changed.

0:00:340:00:38

Now fully signed up to Europe, Ireland became

0:00:380:00:40

one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

0:00:400:00:43

The boom was christened the Celtic Tiger and never having

0:00:430:00:46

had a boom before, the Irish thought it would go on forever.

0:00:460:00:51

When the global financial crisis hit in 2007, the bubble burst.

0:00:510:00:56

By November last year, Ireland was forced to seek a bail-out.

0:00:560:01:01

In return, the Irish people were asked to accept

0:01:010:01:04

some tough austerity measures. That didn't go down well.

0:01:040:01:07

You have to remember this island has a history that puts the present crisis firmly in context.

0:01:080:01:15

This island has survived famine, 500 years of colonisation and religious discrimination.

0:01:150:01:21

I have to say though, that on this journey I found plenty of laughter

0:01:210:01:26

and music and a joy for living. They may be down,

0:01:260:01:29

but don't ever count Ireland and the Irish out.

0:01:290:01:33

'We'd like to draw your attention to the safety instruction card located close to your seat.'

0:01:470:01:52

I've lived in Britain longer than I ever lived in Ireland.

0:01:520:01:56

So this for me is...

0:01:560:02:00

exciting.

0:02:000:02:01

I'm going back to see what's changed about the four green fields.

0:02:010:02:04

I'll be meeting up with old friends.

0:02:040:02:07

-We all used to go in through this door, didn't we?

-Yes.

-And family.

0:02:070:02:11

You go first, just in case they set the dog on him, you know.

0:02:110:02:14

And of course, I want to show you the country at its best.

0:02:140:02:18

This is Ireland, come on, nobody comes here for the weather.

0:02:180:02:24

The first part of my journey is going to take me in a semicircle,

0:02:260:02:29

down through Cork and Kerry, on to my old home town of Limerick.

0:02:290:02:34

This of course is what the granny used to call dear old dirty Dublin.

0:02:370:02:41

Ah, there it is, Anna Livia Plurabelle,

0:02:410:02:44

the great Liffey River and the Ha'penny Bridge that spans it.

0:02:440:02:50

And of course proud O'Connell Street, the great boulevard.

0:02:500:02:53

And there's where I lived from '53 until '69, it's over 40 years since I fled the bailiffs and stole away.

0:02:530:03:00

I'm going to be escorted around the ol' country by my driver, Dave Sullivan.

0:03:000:03:05

Like most Dubliners, he thinks Dublin has terrible traffic.

0:03:050:03:10

But then, they've obviously never been on the M6 near Birmingham or the M25 around London.

0:03:100:03:17

Now, that's traffic, OK?

0:03:170:03:21

This is not traffic. OK, Dave?

0:03:210:03:24

Not traffic.

0:03:240:03:26

This is a few ol' cars.

0:03:260:03:28

Anyway, never mind what's supposed to be traffic.

0:03:280:03:31

The old city is still as familiar to me as it ever was.

0:03:310:03:35

Oh, it's lovely to come back to Dublin.

0:03:370:03:39

It's lovely to come back to Ireland, I don't come back often enough.

0:03:390:03:43

But when you come back,

0:03:430:03:46

you realise what

0:03:460:03:48

you don't realise that you've missed, if you see what I mean.

0:03:480:03:51

For many Irish people who've lived in Britain for years

0:03:510:03:54

and years, they still think of Ireland

0:03:540:03:56

as home. They'll say, "Are you going home for the holidays?"

0:03:560:03:59

They mean, are you going to Ireland?

0:03:590:04:01

I don't know whether I could live in Ireland again

0:04:020:04:06

because I think I've become anglicised.

0:04:060:04:09

For me, Ireland is wonderful,

0:04:090:04:14

a lovely place to come, but it's not home.

0:04:140:04:17

Home is where your family is as far as I'm concerned.

0:04:170:04:19

Saying that, Dublin was my home for nearly two decades.

0:04:220:04:27

My da was the general manager of a chain of grocery stores called Leverett and Frye.

0:04:270:04:32

I was sent to Belvedere College where I played my rugby and felt the stern hand of the Jesuit fathers.

0:04:320:04:39

And this is where my working life, if you can call it that, began

0:04:410:04:46

as a junior clerk of a long-forgotten branch

0:04:460:04:48

of the Royal Bank of Ireland.

0:04:480:04:51

'The building is long gone, but the bus stop's there, as is my old workmate, Leo Lacey.'

0:04:510:04:56

You and I were used to standing outside this bus stop.

0:04:560:05:00

We didn't care how long it took.

0:05:000:05:02

'Every week, Leo and I used to carry a bag of used banknotes

0:05:020:05:05

'from our branch out in the suburbs to head office.'

0:05:050:05:08

-We'll take it anyway, come on.

-The longer it took, the better.

0:05:080:05:11

Right, down to Foster Place with the money. After you, Leo.

0:05:110:05:16

No armoured security van for us.

0:05:160:05:17

Not likely, the number 10 bus, yet between us, we were carrying a small fortune.

0:05:170:05:24

What would be the value of that?

0:05:240:05:27

Doing a rough rule of thumb

0:05:270:05:29

of ten times the bank manager's salary, it was probably about £100,000.

0:05:290:05:36

Back in the '50s, most of the bank's customers were cattle jobbers or farmers.

0:05:360:05:43

Of course, these were old notes that we were bringing down.

0:05:430:05:46

But they were wrecked after being through the bars or the markets up in Phibsborough.

0:05:460:05:50

-Phibsborough, yeah.

-The cattle market.

0:05:500:05:52

I mean, the smell of them.

0:05:520:05:54

And the drippy, wet beer.

0:05:540:05:57

They were destroyed and then they gave us new notes which we brought back on another bus.

0:05:570:06:03

That's right, yeah. Casual as you like.

0:06:030:06:06

Racy days, eh?

0:06:060:06:07

And here we're coming up to Foster Place.

0:06:110:06:13

Foster Place was where the bank headquarters were, and we breathed

0:06:150:06:19

a little sigh of relief when we got to this point.

0:06:190:06:22

The question is, is the old place still there?

0:06:220:06:26

It's been 50 years since I made my last delivery of rancid banknotes.

0:06:320:06:38

-You don't feel that we should be carrying something?

-Yes.

0:06:380:06:41

The bags with the money.

0:06:410:06:44

Look, and the counter is still the same here. We used to go round here

0:06:440:06:48

and in there, which is now an open space,

0:06:480:06:50

-was where we used to carry the notes because that was the note department.

-And the major.

0:06:500:06:56

And the major was there with his Smith & Wesson.

0:06:560:06:59

Grumpy, crusty, old...

0:06:590:07:01

I suppose we were very lucky he didn't shoot us.

0:07:010:07:03

It probably wouldn't work, it'd blow up in his face!

0:07:030:07:06

But it brings back happy memories.

0:07:060:07:08

I'm delighted to see it's still here.

0:07:080:07:09

Foster Place.

0:07:090:07:11

Yeah, working in a bank was a respectable job then.

0:07:110:07:14

Here I am desperately trying to look like a man about town on the bonnet of my da's car.

0:07:140:07:20

But I thought of myself as an urban Irishman and the problem

0:07:200:07:23

with the bank was sooner or later,

0:07:230:07:25

they'd send you off to work in a branch out in the sticks.

0:07:250:07:28

It could be years before you returned to what you thought of as civilisation.

0:07:280:07:32

That wasn't for me, so I was on the lookout for something else.

0:07:320:07:36

In those olden times, I indulged the hidden show-off in me in amateur dramatics,

0:07:360:07:42

never thinking of a professional career

0:07:420:07:44

until I stumbled into broadcasting.

0:07:440:07:46

Irish National Radio offered me a traineeship and before I knew it,

0:07:460:07:50

I was sitting in front of a microphone talking to the nation, no-one more surprised than me.

0:07:500:07:56

That fear I had of being trapped in a small, provincial town

0:08:020:08:05

goes back perhaps to my father who spent a very unhappy childhood growing up under the patronage

0:08:050:08:10

of an English Protestant landowner in the little country village of Enniskerry.

0:08:100:08:16

My father in the great Irish tradition, resented authority

0:08:160:08:21

and the kind of authority that he had to endure,

0:08:210:08:24

and most people had to endure in Enniskerry in the 1900s,

0:08:240:08:29

was the authority of Lord Powerscourt who not only owned all the land,

0:08:290:08:34

but actually in the tradition of those English lords,

0:08:340:08:39

owned the people as well.

0:08:390:08:41

The village of Enniskerry was built to house the servants and workers of the nearby Powerscourt Estate.

0:08:450:08:51

Now, I've come back to my father's birthplace to meet a relation of mine,

0:08:510:08:56

Una Wogan, a second cousin and she's traced the Wogan clan as far back as they go in this village.

0:08:560:09:02

-Just look at one of them.

-God, you've got the pictures of my antecedents.

0:09:020:09:06

We have a picture of your grandfather and grandmother.

0:09:060:09:10

Look at that.

0:09:100:09:11

So that's Michael and he married a Sarah MacRoe, she was from Fermanagh.

0:09:110:09:15

Your father was very fond of, his mother,

0:09:150:09:17

-I heard.

-He was.

-Yes.

-And my father didn't like his father much.

0:09:170:09:21

By all accounts, his father wasn't a very pleasant man.

0:09:210:09:24

-Well, my father was a really nice man.

-Yeah.

0:09:240:09:26

But he didn't have a moustache like that,

0:09:260:09:29

but I can see the resemblance.

0:09:290:09:31

'My father left Enniskerry and his home and family'

0:09:310:09:35

as soon as he could, at 15.

0:09:350:09:38

He couldn't bear having to kowtow and doff his cap to Powerscourt's local dignitaries.

0:09:380:09:43

Now it seems Una has discovered a previous generation of Wogans in Enniskerry

0:09:430:09:48

'going way back into the 19th century.

0:09:480:09:51

'A man that would be my great-grandfather.'

0:09:510:09:54

The very first Wogan to come to the village was Michael Wogan.

0:09:540:09:57

He came from Dublin City and he married an Eliza Kelly who was from the village.

0:09:570:10:03

And then they went on to have 11 children.

0:10:030:10:05

They didn't fool around in those days, did they?

0:10:060:10:09

-No.

-And what did he do for a living?

0:10:090:10:10

He was a bootmaker. A master bootmaker.

0:10:100:10:13

Young Una here claims to have tracked down a photograph

0:10:130:10:16

of the great Wogan ancestor hanging on a wall in a pub.

0:10:160:10:19

'That's a surprise(!)

0:10:190:10:21

'This I must see.'

0:10:210:10:23

-So this is the old pub.

-This is the old pub.

0:10:250:10:29

-Yeah. And what's this?

-This is your great-grandfather, Michael.

0:10:290:10:33

-Of course, I'm a Michael.

-You're a Michael?

0:10:330:10:35

-Yeah, I'm a Michael Terence and my mother called me Terry because my father was Michael Thomas.

-Right.

0:10:350:10:42

To distinguish between us instead of shouting Michael and nobody knowing who's being called,

0:10:420:10:46

she called me Terry and that's another Michael.

0:10:460:10:48

Look at the herbaceous border. Don't tell me there's more.

0:10:480:10:51

-This is him sitting down.

-Where was this taken?

0:10:510:10:54

-Powerscourt House so he was 75 in this.

-And is that Lord Powerscourt there?

-That's him, yeah.

0:10:540:10:59

He's sitting there in what could only be described as a seigneurial position.

0:10:590:11:03

This is it. They were all at attention, really.

0:11:030:11:07

And this is Powerscourt today.

0:11:090:11:11

Over a century after my great-grandfather toiled over making the boots and shoes of the people

0:11:110:11:17

that served and worked here.

0:11:170:11:20

It's been transformed from Lord Powerscourt's stately home to one of Ireland's

0:11:200:11:25

most popular tourist destinations, but the reminders of the old hierarchies are still here.

0:11:250:11:30

These steps look strangely bare, don't they,

0:11:360:11:39

after those photographs in the pub. So how does one man get all this?

0:11:390:11:44

Well, his ancestor was a very successful soldier,

0:11:440:11:48

Wingfield was his name, and so he was rewarded by being Marshal of Ireland.

0:11:480:11:52

Given this huge parcel of land, he built this modest little place behind us...

0:11:520:11:57

Not him, the unfortunate Irish peasantry built this little place behind

0:11:570:12:01

and then these magnificent Italianate gardens.

0:12:010:12:07

For 20 years, hundreds of local Irish labourers slaved over the creation

0:12:090:12:13

of these fabulous gardens

0:12:130:12:15

and inside the house, great teams of butlers and cooks and tweenies

0:12:150:12:20

and housemaids and footmen would've been put to service running

0:12:200:12:24

and maintaining this vast residence for the comfort and pleasure of its wealthy owners.

0:12:240:12:29

You know, the good Lord and Lady Powerscourt,

0:12:320:12:34

they didn't get where they are or WERE by not thinking of everything.

0:12:340:12:38

This sunken road was specially designed by them so they didn't

0:12:380:12:43

have to see the rough peasantry

0:12:430:12:45

and their servants making their way to the fields and the house.

0:12:450:12:49

And the only reason you can see me is I'm taller

0:12:490:12:53

than the average peasant of those times... I like to think.

0:12:530:12:56

Powerscourt was built

0:12:580:13:00

by the people of Enniskerry.

0:13:000:13:03

And indeed, they relied on this place for their living.

0:13:030:13:08

They still do.

0:13:080:13:10

Enniskerry relies on Powerscourt and its tourism to this day.

0:13:100:13:15

At one time, Ireland was full of little fiefdoms like Powerscourt.

0:13:200:13:24

English and Scottish settlers seized much of the country's best land.

0:13:240:13:28

The native Catholics became tenants in their own country.

0:13:280:13:31

During the 1840s, the country experienced a crippling famine.

0:13:330:13:37

A million people died of starvation.

0:13:370:13:41

Even before the famine, thousands of people eked out an existence growing their crops among the stony hills

0:13:490:13:55

and valleys of the Wicklow Mountains.

0:13:550:13:58

On family drives over here over the weekends in the 1950s,

0:14:000:14:04

we'd marvel at the beauty of Sugarloaf Mountain, but coming from

0:14:040:14:08

the poverty-ridden countryside as he did, my da would always remind us, "You can't eat the scenery."

0:14:080:14:14

During the Great Famine, over a million people emigrated rather than starve to death

0:14:180:14:23

and the austere conditions in Ireland

0:14:230:14:25

meant people continued to emigrate in large numbers right up until the 1960s.

0:14:250:14:31

They left without knowing what they were going to,

0:14:310:14:34

they left because they were desperate, they left because they were starving,

0:14:340:14:38

they left because there was no work and their last view

0:14:380:14:42

of their native land was Cobh.

0:14:420:14:46

And I just thought that you might like to see it.

0:14:460:14:49

Adjacent to the city of Cork, the port of Cobh lies on an island

0:14:510:14:55

in the middle of the second-largest natural harbour in the world.

0:14:550:14:59

This was Ireland's emergency exit.

0:15:020:15:05

Poverty, escalating rents, anti-Catholic discrimination were just some of the reasons

0:15:080:15:14

Irish people sought a better life elsewhere.

0:15:140:15:17

Between the 1850s and the 1950s, 30% of the population,

0:15:170:15:22

around 2.5 million people, emigrated to America.

0:15:220:15:27

One of them was Philomena O'Shea.

0:15:270:15:30

She was just 17 when she decided to leave her family behind and set sail for America in 1952.

0:15:300:15:36

Why did you decide to leave?

0:15:360:15:39

There wasn't any work,

0:15:390:15:42

but it was an adventure I suppose as well, you know?

0:15:420:15:45

And we went to the cathedral that afternoon and lit candles and said our prayers.

0:15:460:15:50

Of course.

0:15:500:15:53

They brought us out and there was about 600 passengers on it

0:15:530:15:57

and we were shown our cabin and there were six of us in the cabin, to my memory I think, in bunk beds.

0:15:570:16:04

It was dawning in the morning.

0:16:040:16:07

We came up on deck, they told us that we were seeing the last sight of Ireland, but I do remember

0:16:070:16:13

looking at that and being very lonely and everybody was lonely on the deck.

0:16:130:16:18

That's the recollection I have, it was very sad.

0:16:250:16:29

Leaving it, I suppose, you know, and seeing my family out there.

0:16:290:16:34

-Did you cry?

-I did and I remember my brother was crying.

0:16:340:16:38

And how long did it take you to get over that on the boat before you recovered from the sadness of it?

0:16:400:16:46

Oh, I think I never got over it, for a year.

0:16:460:16:49

-It was a very tough year, that, for us.

-Were you lonely?

-Very lonely.

0:16:490:16:55

Very lonely.

0:16:550:16:57

But Philomena didn't stay lonely forever.

0:17:070:17:12

-You met the love of your life when you were there?

-I did.

0:17:120:17:15

-How did you meet him?

-At the Irish Centre.

0:17:150:17:18

William O'Shea. He was from Ventry, Dingle.

0:17:180:17:21

-That's where you're up from at the moment?

-That's where I'm living now, yeah.

0:17:210:17:24

He dragged you back to County Kerry?

0:17:240:17:26

He did!

0:17:260:17:29

Did you have a family before you left America?

0:17:290:17:32

I had brought one daughter with me, she was five months old from the States.

0:17:320:17:35

And how many children did you have again?

0:17:350:17:37

Six children altogether.

0:17:370:17:40

-Six O'Sheas. And so now, your children have married.

-They have.

0:17:400:17:45

-You've how many grandchildren?

-I have ten grandchildren.

0:17:450:17:47

God, I've only got four.

0:17:470:17:49

-Ten grandchildren, the prolific O'Shea family.

-Yeah.

0:17:490:17:53

History seems to be repeating itself,

0:17:550:17:57

the number of Irish people emigrating to the United States is up by 12%.

0:17:570:18:02

For the first time in 15 years, there are more people leaving Ireland than entering it.

0:18:020:18:08

Further up the River Lee is Cork City.

0:18:110:18:14

There's one thing that's all too readily associated with the Irish, and that's the demon drink.

0:18:180:18:24

There's no doubt it has been a problem in the past, there were once

0:18:260:18:30

800 licensed premises here in Cork alone.

0:18:300:18:34

Holy Catholic Ireland though has always regarded drinking as ungodly.

0:18:360:18:41

Back in the 1840s, the great temperance reformer Father Mathew

0:18:410:18:44

convinced almost half the adult population

0:18:440:18:46

of the country at the time to take the pledge and banish alcohol from their lives forever.

0:18:460:18:52

It didn't last forever though.

0:18:520:18:54

By 2003, Ireland had the second highest alcohol consumption in the world.

0:18:540:19:00

I've come to one of the oldest and most far-famed bars in Cork, to meet the bar owner

0:19:030:19:07

Mary O'Donovan and the Hi B proprietor himself, Brian O'Donnell.

0:19:070:19:12

I remember serving in the parlour of my aunts in the country

0:19:130:19:17

50 years ago or longer

0:19:170:19:19

and I saw a man having 24 pints,

0:19:190:19:23

but there was yeast in the pints at that stage and it was a kind of nourishment.

0:19:230:19:28

I see, this is kind of...

0:19:280:19:30

This wouldn't be regarded as a health drink now?

0:19:300:19:33

They'd like to call it that, but it wouldn't be any more.

0:19:330:19:36

The Hi B is like pubs used to be.

0:19:390:19:41

You won't find any plasma screens or Wi-Fi spots here.

0:19:410:19:45

The problem is, though, pubs can't be like they were.

0:19:450:19:48

The smoking ban has been enforced since 2004 in Ireland.

0:19:480:19:52

You can barely sniff a drink here before you're over the limit.

0:19:520:19:55

How can pub culture survive?

0:19:550:19:59

The pub can be the focus of a community.

0:19:590:20:04

Would you say that the pub is a very important part of Irish culture?

0:20:040:20:09

-Not any more.

-Have things changed?

0:20:090:20:12

Ah, they have. The drink-driving and the smoking.

0:20:120:20:16

So in your experience, Mary, are there less people coming into your pub?

0:20:160:20:19

Well, it has changed completely.

0:20:190:20:21

-The day trade has gone.

-The day trade?

-Yeah.

0:20:210:20:24

We don't open now until 4.00.

0:20:240:20:26

So, tell us about an average day

0:20:260:20:28

when times were good. When would the first customer come in?

0:20:280:20:31

-Oh, 10.30.

-Yeah.

0:20:310:20:34

Taking a drop of the craythur

0:20:340:20:36

during the day was once commonplace in Ireland

0:20:360:20:39

and this was because bars like the Hi B were at the centre of the community.

0:20:390:20:44

People came seeking company and conversation.

0:20:440:20:46

Not any more.

0:20:460:20:49

I understand you threw somebody out of this pub for having a mobile phone.

0:20:490:20:54

HE LAUGHS

0:20:540:20:57

-You're a hard man.

-But, I mean, you see in a kind of way, Terry, it is antisocial in a sort of way.

0:20:570:21:02

I mean, we provide people to talk to.

0:21:020:21:04

Social drinking and the pub has been at the heart of Irish life for centuries.

0:21:050:21:10

In times of hardship people have sought solace in drink and companionship.

0:21:100:21:15

But, of course, the other great mainstay of Irish life has been religion.

0:21:160:21:21

From Cork, and its neighbouring port of Cobh,

0:21:260:21:28

it's a short, but scenic journey to the little village of Ballinspittle.

0:21:280:21:33

To get there we head west over the picturesque estuary

0:21:350:21:38

of the River Bandon and on past the Old Head Of Kinsale.

0:21:380:21:41

'Like 90% of the population of the Republic of Ireland, I was raised in the Catholic tradition.'

0:21:430:21:49

Roadside statues of the Virgin Mary are as familiar as bus shelters,

0:21:490:21:54

corner shops, yet this one managed to catch the attention of the entire nation.

0:21:540:22:00

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary just outside the little village

0:22:000:22:04

moved, at least according to passers-by and devout Catholics.

0:22:040:22:10

This was the very statue.

0:22:100:22:13

It was first spotted moving in July 1985 by a small group of local people.

0:22:130:22:18

Two months later, it had become one of the biggest news stories in Ireland.

0:22:180:22:24

# Mother of Christ... #

0:22:240:22:28

Since that first sighting in July,

0:22:280:22:30

more than 250,000 people have flocked

0:22:300:22:33

to see Ballinspittle's moving Madonna.

0:22:330:22:35

They come from as far away as Dublin and Belfast in special coaches laid on for the pilgrimage.

0:22:350:22:40

Look at her head now.

0:22:420:22:44

Her head is moving now.

0:22:440:22:47

-Yeah.

-Yeah!

-Definitely now.

0:22:470:22:49

Kind of bowing a lot.

0:22:490:22:51

I thought we'd better go along and meet a couple of people, sensible people,

0:22:510:22:56

all right, devout Catholics,

0:22:560:22:59

who believe that they saw the statue move in Ballinspittle.

0:22:590:23:05

Pat Bowen and Sean Murray were there the day the alleged miracle happened.

0:23:080:23:13

..and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.

0:23:130:23:17

-She began to receive the Holy Spirit.

-You're a former policeman.

0:23:170:23:20

-That's right.

-So, you know, you're not going to be too easily deceived.

0:23:200:23:24

No. Well, I came here on the evening of the 24th July, 1985.

0:23:240:23:29

It was the crowd I was watching, not the statue, because as a policeman it's the crowd interested me.

0:23:290:23:35

And the only time my gaze switched to the statute was when the crowd

0:23:350:23:39

of about 400 people that were here at the time in mid-sentence stopped.

0:23:390:23:44

It was like you flick a light switch.

0:23:470:23:50

There was this collective gasp of amazement and then I looked at the statue.

0:23:500:23:54

It sounds crazy even today, and even mad today, but the statue, to my mind, was free of the grotto.

0:23:540:23:59

-It seemed to be floating.

-Floating in the air.

0:23:590:24:01

Now, I was so convinced this was a hoax

0:24:010:24:04

that the following morning at 7.00 on my way to work in the city

0:24:040:24:09

I decided I was going to solve this thing once and for all and I climbed up there at 7.00 in the morning.

0:24:090:24:14

I expected to find some form of trick wiring or trick lighting or something

0:24:140:24:19

and I was absolutely amazed when I found nothing.

0:24:190:24:22

And I actually walked right around the statue, even at the back.

0:24:220:24:26

I caught it by the shoulders, I tried to shake it

0:24:260:24:29

and it was as solid as the railings there we're looking at here.

0:24:290:24:32

So, tell me, did it change your life?

0:24:360:24:39

Well, I was always religious, but, yeah, it definitely deepened my faith.

0:24:390:24:45

So it's been a place of inspiration and consolation.

0:24:450:24:49

-Yes.

-Does it console you still?

0:24:490:24:52

Yeah, it certainly does.

0:24:520:24:54

I always come here with my troubles.

0:24:540:24:56

-And what about you?

-It's been an extraordinary place.

0:24:560:24:59

The only way I can describe it to you is that, like,

0:24:590:25:03

I can touch Terry Wogan, I know that's you because I can touch you,

0:25:030:25:07

but by the same token there are things out there that

0:25:070:25:09

we can't either see or touch, but that's where a bit of faith comes in.

0:25:090:25:14

The statue continued to attract the crowds for more than four months after the initial sighting,

0:25:140:25:19

but you have to remember back in 1985 Ireland was one of the most devout

0:25:190:25:23

Catholic nations in the world, so it's not hard to understand

0:25:230:25:28

how an alleged miracle like this might gather momentum amongst the faithful.

0:25:280:25:33

Back in the village, local journalist Tim Ryan has followed the story from the very beginning.

0:25:330:25:40

The amazing thing about the events of '85 was very ordinary people

0:25:400:25:44

believed they saw something moving, something happening.

0:25:440:25:47

I would say, an estimated guess from my memory,

0:25:470:25:50

about three out of five people who came believed they saw something happening.

0:25:500:25:54

-What did you think?

-Well, I thought if I gazed at it long enough

0:25:540:25:59

I could see a wobble on the statue, but I never put it down to

0:25:590:26:03

more than sort of staring at an number of bulbs together for a long enough time,

0:26:030:26:08

and I wear glasses anyway.

0:26:080:26:10

Why do you think it happened at the time it happened?

0:26:100:26:13

It was a very bad time.

0:26:130:26:14

The economy was going nowhere.

0:26:140:26:16

It was a phenomenally bad summer. People were praying for fine weather.

0:26:160:26:20

At that time farmers made hay, and in order to make hay you needed

0:26:200:26:23

two or three sunny days together, and it just wasn't happening.

0:26:230:26:27

People were desperate for saving their crops and I think

0:26:270:26:30

it all came together into a reaching out for help from the supernatural.

0:26:300:26:34

..And dwelt amongst us.

0:26:340:26:35

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.

0:26:350:26:37

Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

0:26:370:26:41

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now...

0:26:410:26:44

The devotion

0:26:440:26:45

to the Catholic Church

0:26:450:26:48

I suppose goes back to the times of oppression and, indeed, the times

0:26:480:26:53

of starvation because when a people have nothing else,

0:26:530:26:57

when they've got very little to eat,

0:26:570:27:00

when they've got nothing else to believe in,

0:27:000:27:04

when they can't be educated and they can't own land...

0:27:040:27:08

..they're going to fall back on the only thing that gives them any succour whatsoever,

0:27:100:27:17

and that's a belief in God and, more specifically, a belief in the Catholic Church.

0:27:170:27:25

But with church attendance waning, I wonder whether the new generation

0:27:260:27:30

of Irish look more to their Celtic heritage, to music and language, to define themselves.

0:27:300:27:38

We're hurtling ever westwards and onwards and out towards the Atlantic.

0:27:410:27:46

We're heading to a little island off the southwestern corner of the country.

0:27:460:27:50

The western fringes of Ireland are known as the Gaeltacht.

0:27:500:27:53

This is where the Gaelic or Irish language is spoken.

0:27:550:27:58

Clear Island is a favourite place for the young to learn their mother tongue.

0:27:580:28:03

The greatest gift you can have in Ireland is to be a good listener

0:28:100:28:13

because everybody is talking ALL the time.

0:28:130:28:17

And it's partly the fault of Gaelic.

0:28:170:28:19

I'll give you an example. If you say something like,

0:28:190:28:22

"I'm going out". No, "I went out", past tense.

0:28:220:28:27

"I went out". Well, in Gaelic that's expressed as...

0:28:270:28:30

HE SPEAKS GAELIC

0:28:300:28:32

I'm AFTER going out.

0:28:320:28:33

So you'll hear that with Irish people speaking English.

0:28:330:28:36

They'll say, "Oh, I'm after doing something terrible here", you know?

0:28:360:28:42

There's no such thing as "hello" in Gaelic, it's...

0:28:420:28:45

HE SPEAKS GAELIC

0:28:450:28:48

..which is God and Mary be with you.

0:28:480:28:50

The answer to that is not, "Hello, yourself", it's...

0:28:500:28:52

HE SPEAKS GAELIC

0:28:520:28:54

..which is "God and Mary and St Patrick be with you".

0:28:540:28:57

So, you can see that conversations take just that little bit longer.

0:28:570:29:02

So, here we are, Clear Island.

0:29:100:29:13

I want to meet some of the young people who come here every summer

0:29:130:29:16

to learn the Gaelic among these glorious surroundings.

0:29:160:29:20

And the added advantage to the parents of course is that,

0:29:240:29:27

unless they're very good swimmers, they can't escape.

0:29:270:29:32

I'm on the local bus.

0:29:320:29:34

Thank goodness Jim, the driver, is a fellow Dubliner

0:29:340:29:37

and happy to speak English.

0:29:370:29:38

Obviously, you speak Gaelic, you speak Irish because you live here.

0:29:420:29:46

I speak a small amount of Irish.

0:29:460:29:48

Although you don't speak it in Dublin and that,

0:29:480:29:50

but from schooling we have it and it does come back to you. The office where I work now...

0:29:500:29:55

All businesses translate it through Gaelic and it's amazing the way it will come back to you.

0:29:550:30:00

How many people are living here at the moment?

0:30:000:30:03

130 people live here all year round, and it increases by maybe 300, 400,

0:30:030:30:07

500 in the summertime, depending on the weather, really,

0:30:070:30:11

but also the colleges bring a lot of people and certainly brings a boost to the economy of the island.

0:30:110:30:16

Now, tell me this now, is it dangerous driving here?

0:30:160:30:19

Not a bit, as long as you stay between the ditches!

0:30:190:30:22

THEY LAUGH

0:30:220:30:23

Is this island a tax haven by any chance?

0:30:250:30:27

Yes!

0:30:270:30:29

Could I save money if I came to live here?

0:30:290:30:31

You could, because there's nowhere to spend it,

0:30:310:30:34

and that's the only reason why.

0:30:340:30:36

When my mother in law came down here, she said, "It's a lovely place, but there's no shops!"

0:30:360:30:40

THEY SPEAK GAELIC

0:30:440:30:47

'So, I seem to have got away with it, or maybe they're just being polite.'

0:31:190:31:24

When I was at school here Irish was compulsory and if you didn't pass Irish you failed all your exams,

0:31:240:31:31

which was very, very tough and what it meant was we didn't love Irish,

0:31:310:31:36

we were forced to learn it.

0:31:360:31:39

Can any of you say why you're doing this course in Irish? Why?

0:31:390:31:45

So I can do better in my Junior Cert than everyone, but...

0:31:450:31:48

It's for exams, yeah, isn't it?

0:31:480:31:50

-And also because certain jobs are only available if you have Gaelic, isn't that true?

-Yes.

0:31:500:31:57

Civil service, government jobs, etc.

0:31:570:32:00

So, do you have an affection for the language?

0:32:000:32:04

-Do you like speaking the language?

-Yeah.

0:32:040:32:06

After coming here, I think I like it a lot more.

0:32:060:32:09

Yeah. And do you like being here?

0:32:090:32:11

-Yeah.

-You're not lonely on the island?

0:32:110:32:13

No.

0:32:130:32:14

IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

0:32:140:32:17

'So, now learning Irish is about doing well, getting ahead in the world.

0:32:210:32:26

'Over 1.5 million people speak Gaelic now.

0:32:320:32:35

'That's three times the amount there was when I was born.

0:32:350:32:38

'Well, this is how you preserve your national identity, and it's working.'

0:32:400:32:45

I'd say he's a decent height.

0:32:450:32:46

What are you looking at?

0:32:550:32:57

Now, before I leave, I head up on the hill to take in the view from the top of Clear Island.

0:32:570:33:02

Out there in the distance is Fastnet Rock.

0:33:060:33:08

This is the southernmost point of the entire country.

0:33:080:33:12

I've never been there before.

0:33:120:33:13

Now is my chance.

0:33:130:33:15

With a height of over 50 metres above sea level,

0:33:230:33:26

Fastnet is the tallest lighthouse off the coast of the British Isles.

0:33:260:33:30

Even so, in 1985 a rogue wave as high as the lighthouse itself smacked into the building.

0:33:300:33:37

Every one of the 2,047 Cornish granite blocks

0:33:390:33:43

stayed firmly in place.

0:33:430:33:45

Fastnet is where Ireland ends and the Atlantic begins.

0:33:480:33:52

This thought was not lost on the many that have sailed past it over the centuries,

0:33:520:33:58

hence its nickname.

0:33:580:34:01

This is called Ireland's Teardrop because that was the last little bit of Ireland

0:34:010:34:06

that the emigrants saw as the ship sailed off

0:34:060:34:11

into the Atlantic and on to the New World.

0:34:110:34:16

Now it's time to head northwards.

0:34:270:34:29

I'm off to beautiful County Kerry.

0:34:290:34:32

This has always been one of my favourite parts of Ireland.

0:34:320:34:35

Of course, this is what the tourists come to this country for.

0:34:350:34:39

So, we're off to, I suppose, the gem in the diadem of Ireland's scenery.

0:34:430:34:48

It was around about the Sixties that some clever people in Bord Failte,

0:34:500:34:57

which is the Irish Tourist Board,

0:34:570:34:59

thought, "Let's start selling this country as a place where tourists can come."

0:34:590:35:05

One of Bord Failte's greatest successes was branding the country The Emerald Isle.

0:35:080:35:13

They're not wrong about that.

0:35:130:35:15

There's one particular scenic route that's a must-see

0:35:150:35:19

for lovers of landscape.

0:35:190:35:20

It's called the Ring of Kerry.

0:35:200:35:23

Tomorrow Dave and I plan on driving it.

0:35:250:35:28

Starting in Killarney, the Ring of Kerry is a 180-kilometre circular

0:35:300:35:34

route around the spectacular coast of the county's peninsula.

0:35:340:35:38

Tourists usually do the entire trip in a day,

0:35:380:35:41

so we'd better start early.

0:35:410:35:43

THUNDERCLAP AND HIGH WINDS

0:35:430:35:44

Ah ha! This is the view that greets us the next morning.

0:35:440:35:49

It's what the Irish call a 'soft day'.

0:35:490:35:51

Breathtaking scenery is out there somewhere.

0:35:510:35:54

Will we ever see it?

0:35:540:35:56

From the look on his face, I don't think Dave is overjoyed at the prospect of a 180-kilometre drive.

0:35:560:36:02

Do you know, you do this drive

0:36:020:36:04

on a beautiful day and you think,

0:36:040:36:08

this is magnificent.

0:36:080:36:10

You do this drive on a day like today and you say...

0:36:100:36:15

How does anybody live here?

0:36:150:36:16

How does anybody want to be in this part of the world, isn't it horrible?

0:36:160:36:20

Is it difficult to drive?

0:36:200:36:21

I mean, the scenery is a bit distracting, isn't it?

0:36:210:36:24

'Or it might be, if we could see it.'

0:36:240:36:27

This section of road is quite good, but as we go up the road does get much narrower.

0:36:270:36:32

I suppose it's better if you're doing it the right their round, rather than the wrong way round.

0:36:320:36:37

'Because of the weight of traffic on this road, Kerry County Council

0:36:370:36:40

'advise people to travel the ring in one direction, anti-clockwise.

0:36:400:36:45

'Rebel at heart that he is, Dave has chosen to travel the opposite way around.

0:36:450:36:50

'I fear we'll all pay the consequences.

0:36:500:36:52

'This is the tenth bus that's tried to force us off the road.'

0:36:520:36:56

Is this dangerous going the wrong way?

0:36:560:36:58

Absolutely! Sure, if it wasn't dangerous it wouldn't be fun. BUS HORN BEEPS

0:36:580:37:02

That's all very well taking that attitude, I'd just like to be able to finish this documentary!

0:37:020:37:06

'It's comforting to see the visibility going down by the second.'

0:37:060:37:10

So, I suppose you're saying now your life is in my hands.

0:37:100:37:14

Well, I hope I'm up to the task.

0:37:150:37:18

And so do I!

0:37:180:37:20

If we go over the edge...

0:37:200:37:22

You look after my wife and family.

0:37:220:37:24

I will absolutely, yeah. As I'm sure you'll look after mine as we both say goodbye.

0:37:240:37:28

Absolutely no chance of that!

0:37:280:37:30

DAVE'S LAUGHS ECHO

0:37:320:37:36

'The rain seems to be having a strange effect on our Dave.

0:37:360:37:39

'Luckily, my mind is still on the job and I persuade him to pull over, let me take a look

0:37:390:37:44

'at what the guidebooks tell me is one of the very best views in the whole Ring of Kerry.'

0:37:440:37:50

This is what the view is supposed to look like.

0:37:530:37:56

This is the view to end them all.

0:38:000:38:03

You can hardly see your hand in front of your face!

0:38:030:38:05

This is Ireland, come on!

0:38:070:38:09

Nobody comes here for the weather!

0:38:090:38:11

They come here for the scenery, even if you can see nothing.

0:38:110:38:17

I'll leave you now because I want to drink in this wonderful view.

0:38:170:38:20

'So much for the views, I need a drink!

0:38:260:38:29

'And I think Dave's spirits need topping up a little, too,

0:38:300:38:33

'though luckily for us, Tuesday night is Irish music and dance night

0:38:330:38:38

'at the Bridge Inn in Portmagee.'

0:38:380:38:40

Tell me this, I'm an urban Irishman myself,

0:38:440:38:47

do you like singing in pubs?

0:38:470:38:49

Do I like singing in pubs?

0:38:490:38:51

Do you like when you go into a pub people bursting into song?

0:38:510:38:55

That's a good question.

0:38:590:39:01

'Somehow, I don't think Dave is going to be joining me.'

0:39:010:39:04

IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

0:39:060:39:08

This is the craic. When you see advertisements for

0:39:170:39:19

Ireland, cead mile failte, 100,000 welcomes, come for the craic.

0:39:190:39:24

They don't mean, fall through something in the floor.

0:39:240:39:28

They mean craic, which is Gaelic for fun.

0:39:280:39:34

And you won't have more fun then you have in an Irish bar with the singing and the music.

0:39:340:39:40

Just listen to the hum of the atmosphere.

0:39:400:39:42

I mean, these are people having a good time.

0:39:420:39:45

IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

0:39:450:39:47

There are Irish pubs all over the world, of course.

0:39:490:39:52

Wherever you go now - Kiev, Riga, Moscow,

0:39:520:39:55

but they're not Irish pubs and you won't find anybody Irish in them.

0:39:550:39:58

This is an Irish pub.

0:39:580:40:00

Of course, you wouldn't feel like this kind of thing every night.

0:40:050:40:09

Particularly when it starts getting a little maudlin, as it always does.

0:40:090:40:14

# Come fill up your glasses

0:40:140:40:19

# And we'll drink hand in hand

0:40:190:40:24

# For tomorrow I'm leaving

0:40:240:40:31

# The shores of Lough Bran... #

0:40:310:40:36

The thing about most Irish songs is there's not many laughs in them.

0:40:360:40:41

It's usually a bit like country music, which is mostly about people's dogs or horses dying.

0:40:420:40:50

Irish music is usually about people going,

0:40:500:40:52

passing on,

0:40:540:40:57

or being shot by the Redcoats.

0:40:580:41:00

# And we'll all go together

0:41:030:41:08

# To pull wild mountain thyme... #

0:41:080:41:15

And before someone shoots me, I'm going to turn in for the night.

0:41:160:41:21

# Go, lassie, go... #

0:41:210:41:27

The next day, we head for Tralee.

0:41:370:41:39

Although it's the capital of County Kerry,

0:41:390:41:42

it can hardly be described as the jewel in the crown

0:41:420:41:45

of this otherwise beautiful county.

0:41:450:41:47

For that reason, Tralee has had to draw hard on the reserves of Irish ingenuity to get itself on the map.

0:41:490:41:57

I'm rather proud to say, I've played a part in all of this.

0:41:570:42:01

Back in the 1950s, Tralee had come up with the idea

0:42:010:42:04

of hosting an annual competition to find the country's loveliest lady.

0:42:040:42:09

Like all beauty contests, it wasn't all about beauty.

0:42:090:42:12

It was called the Rose of Tralee.

0:42:120:42:14

It was to become a national event.

0:42:140:42:17

The woman who helped create it and who became its first Lady President,

0:42:170:42:21

Irish-American, Margaret Dwyer.

0:42:210:42:23

-Well, hello.

-Margaret Dwyer?

0:42:230:42:26

Now in her 90s, Margaret recalls how it all started.

0:42:260:42:30

We had the bright idea, we were trying to figure out what we could have some kind of festival on.

0:42:300:42:37

The only kind of thing they could think of

0:42:370:42:40

was the song the Rose of Tralee, that John McCormack made famous over the world.

0:42:400:42:46

So it would be to choose a Rose each year.

0:42:460:42:51

There was no such thing as bathing suits, or anything like that.

0:42:510:42:54

What a shame!

0:42:540:42:56

No, no. I'm not that kind,

0:42:560:42:59

I was never that kind of a woman!

0:42:590:43:02

But how did you manage to spread the word?

0:43:020:43:05

Well, we worked at it.

0:43:060:43:08

We went out. We sold ourselves.

0:43:080:43:10

And it grew. It was successful, and people liked it.

0:43:100:43:15

Tralee got on the tourist map for the first time, ever.

0:43:150:43:19

So, you decided, OK, we're going to bring Ireland to Tralee,

0:43:190:43:24

so we're going to have this festival, the Rose of Tralee.

0:43:240:43:28

The Rose of Tralee, and it was not her beauty alone that won me.

0:43:280:43:32

# She was lovely and fair

0:43:320:43:36

# As the rose of the summer

0:43:360:43:41

# Yes, twas not her beauty alone that won me... #

0:43:410:43:51

There is a line in there that says, "'Twas not her beauty alone at that won me".

0:43:520:43:58

So, it wasn't just beauty, then.

0:43:580:44:01

It had to be intelligence, you had to have general knowledge,

0:44:010:44:05

and perhaps play the bodhran or indeed the banjo.

0:44:050:44:11

The girl had to be an all-rounder.

0:44:110:44:13

By the late 60s, the Rose of Tralee had become a major international event.

0:44:180:44:22

Any lady who could claim Irish descent,

0:44:220:44:25

no matter where she lived in the world, could enter the competition.

0:44:250:44:28

With the more ambitious show,

0:44:280:44:31

the organisers were on the lookout for a new compere.

0:44:310:44:35

Yours truly had started appearing on a television game show for RTE's new TV channel

0:44:350:44:40

and somehow, I became a contender.

0:44:400:44:43

The committee decided that I would be the man to present it.

0:44:430:44:48

At that time, I wasn't going to argue with that.

0:44:480:44:50

I was a veteran of Irish beauty contests.

0:44:500:44:54

I presented the competition from 1968 until 1970.

0:44:540:44:58

So, that's how I ended up playing my part in Tralee's success story.

0:44:580:45:05

Nowadays, the competition is one of the most popular events in the country.

0:45:050:45:09

This year's final was the most watched programme on Irish television.

0:45:090:45:13

The Rose of Tralee transformed the fortunes of the town,

0:45:130:45:16

but I wonder what effect it had on the 51 ladies who've won over the years?

0:45:160:45:21

I called in on the winner of 1969's Rose.

0:45:210:45:27

Cathy Quinn, the green-eyed student nurse, born in County Longford,

0:45:270:45:31

proudly wears the Dublin sash.

0:45:310:45:33

She says, her selection at Dublin's Gresham Hotel,

0:45:330:45:36

the most amazing, surprising and fabulous night of her life.

0:45:360:45:39

-Which of course, with immediately topped...

-By winning it!

0:45:390:45:43

But there's an even better one, Terry, wait till I show you. This one.

0:45:430:45:46

-Look at this.

-Look at that!

0:45:460:45:49

-Isn't that wonderful?

-Isn't that frightening?

0:45:490:45:51

My boys say, I want sideburns like that.

0:45:510:45:55

Well, actually, that was '69.

0:45:550:45:58

-Sideburns got even longer.

-They did!

0:45:580:46:01

You were, in fact, tripping over your sideburns.

0:46:010:46:03

Looked at the faces of the girls behind you.

0:46:030:46:07

Raging!

0:46:070:46:09

They were not!

0:46:090:46:11

Raging. Look at them!

0:46:110:46:14

If any of them had a knife,

0:46:140:46:17

they'd be stabbing you!

0:46:170:46:19

So, there you were, Rose of Tralee, and the next thing, you're back,

0:46:190:46:23

-being kicked around as a student nurse.

-That's right.

0:46:230:46:27

And look at the headline, here.

0:46:270:46:29

You're trying to choke a patient there.

0:46:310:46:34

Oh no, you're taking his temperature.

0:46:340:46:36

Life's no bed of roses for Cath...

0:46:380:46:41

When you went back to the hospital,

0:46:410:46:43

did you find the matron bullying you?

0:46:430:46:45

Did you find a lot of what can only be described as jealousy from the other nurses?

0:46:450:46:49

When I went back, all the nurses came into the refectory,

0:46:490:46:53

and sang the Rose of Tralee with a big cake and all the candles, and Matron led them.

0:46:530:46:59

She was wonderful.

0:46:590:47:01

Oh, that's terrific.

0:47:010:47:03

-Now, that's Irish.

-It was Irish!

0:47:030:47:06

And now, after more than 700 kilometres on the road,

0:47:120:47:16

we're about to arrive in Limerick.

0:47:160:47:18

This is where I was born, where I lived until I was 15.

0:47:180:47:23

I'm coming home.

0:47:230:47:24

Apart from being my birthplace,

0:47:240:47:26

Limerick's other claim to fame is that it lies on the mighty Shannon,

0:47:260:47:31

the longest river in the British Isles,

0:47:310:47:33

running as it does, all the way up to the border with Northern Ireland.

0:47:330:47:37

At Sarsfield Bridge, I cycled back and forth over that bridge

0:47:430:47:46

every day, travelling from home to school and back again.

0:47:460:47:50

And now, as a Freeman of the city, I can drive a herd of sheep over the self-same bridge.

0:47:500:47:54

And this was the school, Crescent College, run by the Jesuit Fathers.

0:47:570:48:01

The building's still standing.

0:48:010:48:04

I hope the same can they said of my old school friends.

0:48:040:48:08

-Look, look at the boys. Look!

-I thought you'd be running to us, Terry, with open arms!

0:48:080:48:12

-I've just had my knee replaced.

-And be saying, Sebastian, I haven't seen you for years!

0:48:120:48:16

'They're Jim Sexton,

0:48:160:48:18

'Bobby Mulrooney, and Mick Leehy.'

0:48:180:48:20

-Good to see you.

-How are you getting on?

-Oh, carrying on.

0:48:200:48:23

'The building is still used as a school, so I hope it hasn't changed too much.

0:48:230:48:26

'I haven't been through these doors in 60 years.

0:48:260:48:29

'Crescent College was run on a diet of study, rugby, prayer and punishment.

0:48:310:48:35

'This old staircase here takes me straight back to the person that dished out the punishment...'

0:48:350:48:41

Am I right in thinking that Snitch McLoughlin used to stand up at the very top there?

0:48:410:48:46

He was what, Jim, what did we call him?

0:48:460:48:49

The prefect of studies.

0:48:490:48:50

-He'd stand here.

-His real name was Gerry McLoughlin.

0:48:500:48:54

He was a northerner.

0:48:540:48:56

And he was a man of severe aspect.

0:48:560:48:58

He was. He was very strict.

0:48:580:49:01

And as you quite rightly say, we were all in a certain terror of him.

0:49:010:49:06

Remember you got a docket.

0:49:060:49:07

When you were punished for not knowing something, your teacher wrote out a little docket.

0:49:070:49:11

Six of the best.

0:49:110:49:12

Had the whole morning or afternoon to think about it.

0:49:120:49:15

-And he was the executioner.

-This is where you used to go to get your hands knocked off.

0:49:150:49:19

My screams could be heard at all the way down O'Connell Street.

0:49:190:49:24

'Just looking at that door brings back painful memories.

0:49:240:49:27

'I was larruped, twice a day sometimes.'

0:49:270:49:30

CANE WHIPPING

0:49:300:49:31

I wasn't brave.

0:49:310:49:33

'The Jesuit Fathers, or Jays as we called them, were hard taskmasters, but they were good teachers.

0:49:330:49:40

'Every so often, we even had some fun.'

0:49:400:49:44

-Do you mind if we go in and see the hall?

-OK, let's go.

0:49:440:49:46

Do you remember the dances that we used to have,

0:49:460:49:49

where they brought the girls from Laurel Hill in, and we could all dance?

0:49:490:49:54

But the priests and the nuns were still walking amongst us to make sure that nothing was going on?

0:49:540:49:58

The guys would all be lined up on one wall and the girls would be on the other.

0:49:580:50:03

And the gap in between was... I was very shy, I just couldn't manage it.

0:50:030:50:09

I found it hugely difficult to walk across the floor.

0:50:090:50:12

You see, it was Irish dancing. There wasn't waltzing or foxtrots.

0:50:120:50:15

There used to be a waltz or two during the course of it.

0:50:150:50:19

Did you know how to waltz?

0:50:190:50:21

Anybody know how to waltz?

0:50:210:50:24

You're the dancer, you're the dancer. What a boy.

0:50:240:50:28

What a boy.

0:50:280:50:29

I remember I learned to dance in the Hydro Hotel, Kilkeel.

0:50:290:50:31

One-two-three, one-two-three.

0:50:310:50:35

Whereas the foxtrot was one-two, one-two.

0:50:350:50:38

My gosh, you learned well!

0:50:380:50:40

Only up as far as three!

0:50:400:50:42

In the end, even though I had a strict religious upbringing,

0:50:480:50:51

rather than strengthen my faith, it left me with no great love of religion or the Church.

0:50:510:50:58

Limerick station, the gateway to the East, as it was when my mother and I

0:51:080:51:12

would escape to Dublin during the school holidays.

0:51:120:51:16

And today, the brother is coming the opposite way, to give me a bit of moral support.

0:51:160:51:21

Don't panic, no sign of the train.

0:51:240:51:26

I'm a bit worried about if the brother's going to turn up or not.

0:51:260:51:28

But I'm looking forward to seeing him.

0:51:280:51:31

We can reminisce a little bit about Father's store,

0:51:310:51:35

and what Limerick was like in those days.

0:51:350:51:38

Although he was very young.

0:51:380:51:39

He would have been very young when he left Limerick.

0:51:390:51:42

Brian's about, oh, six-and-a-half years younger than me.

0:51:420:51:45

I left I was 15, so he would only have been about eight.

0:51:450:51:48

So, his memory is probably fresher than mine, since he's a great deal younger.

0:51:480:51:52

You'll find him a small, red-headed person, with a wooden leg.

0:51:540:51:58

Hiya, Brian.

0:51:590:52:01

Welcome. You're looking very brown.

0:52:010:52:04

-And yourself. Good to see you.

-Good boy.

-That wasn't bad.

0:52:040:52:07

-No, no. Good journey?

-You should try the train sometimes.

0:52:070:52:10

-Good journey?

-57 years later after the last one.

0:52:100:52:12

You're looking brown. Is the sun shining on you?

0:52:120:52:15

It crossed my mind, you know, how would they recognise me when I got off the train at Limerick.

0:52:150:52:19

But then of course, I realised,

0:52:190:52:21

you're just going to stand out in the crowd with that handsome figure walking down.

0:52:210:52:25

And the six-pack stomach.

0:52:250:52:27

-I hope I didn't show you up in a bad way.

-No, not at all.

0:52:270:52:31

Well, I'm a bit like yourself.

0:52:310:52:32

My body is a temple.

0:52:320:52:34

Our first stop is to see the site of the Da's old grocery shop.

0:52:340:52:39

-Do you remember the Dad was more of a Fortnum & Mason than a Marks & Spencers.

-It was, yeah.

0:52:390:52:45

He used to keep all the stuff that the remittance men and the relics of "oul dacency"

0:52:450:52:49

-who lived in Tipperary came for...

-Oh, they all came round.

0:52:490:52:53

-The horse people. They used to come for exotic stuff, dried fish from India.

-That's right.

0:52:530:52:58

They even had, I think, caviar.

0:52:580:53:01

Yeah, and he had foie gras.

0:53:010:53:03

And he also had what he used to call "lichies".

0:53:030:53:07

The "lichies"!

0:53:070:53:09

Were coming down on to O'Connell Street now.

0:53:120:53:15

You see that thing on the corner?

0:53:150:53:18

-That's the father's old shop.

-That's the Da's old grocery store there.

-It is, yes.

0:53:200:53:26

It's now a clothing store, but if you look very carefully

0:53:260:53:29

at this rare old photograph, you'll see Leverett & Fry on the far right.

0:53:290:53:34

So, this is where it was.

0:53:340:53:37

-Do you remember, the Da used to carve the ham around about here?

-That's right.

0:53:370:53:42

Which when you think about it, he was handling all this exotic foodstuffs,

0:53:420:53:46

and he was actually an expert in meat and the cooking of meats and hams, and stuff like that.

0:53:460:53:51

My dear mother, God rest her soul, with the great destroyer of meat.

0:53:510:53:55

-She was.

-She did the incineration technique of cooking.

0:53:550:53:59

Auntie May used to say,

0:53:590:54:01

Rose couldn't boil water.

0:54:010:54:04

-That's right!

-That's my mother, Rose.

0:54:040:54:06

If he'd been any good he would have left the shop to us.

0:54:060:54:09

I think it was more a case, we certainly didn't want to be working for my Dad!

0:54:090:54:13

A hard taskmaster.

0:54:130:54:15

Yeah. It was really hard work.

0:54:150:54:17

He'd never have cut corners. We'd never have been able to get away with the new techniques.

0:54:170:54:22

Because you and I were intrinsically lazy people.

0:54:220:54:25

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely.

0:54:250:54:28

'At least we haven't any delusions about ourselves.

0:54:280:54:31

'Now, the moment I've been waiting for - Elm Park is were Brian and I were born,

0:54:310:54:35

'where we spent our childhood, and for the first time,

0:54:350:54:39

'since we left Limerick over half a century ago, we're going home.'

0:54:390:54:43

-18 Elm Park, Limerick.

-That's it.

0:54:460:54:48

-It's got a new name.

-St Judes!

0:54:500:54:53

-It was never called that.

-No.

0:54:530:54:54

I'm going to tear that down.

0:54:540:54:56

Number 18, this is.

0:54:560:54:59

Can we go in?

0:54:590:55:00

Yes, why not.

0:55:000:55:02

You go first.

0:55:020:55:04

OK, OK. I'll knock.

0:55:040:55:06

Just in case they set the dog on him, you know.

0:55:060:55:09

-Hello.

-Oh, my God.

0:55:090:55:11

How do you do?

0:55:110:55:13

-How are you?

-May we come in? This is my brother, Brian.

0:55:130:55:16

-Nice to meet you. How are you?

-Who have I got here?

0:55:160:55:19

-Tim.

-Tim.

0:55:190:55:20

-Thank you, very much.

-Come in.

0:55:200:55:23

Thank you very much indeed.

0:55:230:55:24

I remember that staircase.

0:55:240:55:26

And look, the good room.

0:55:260:55:29

It's a television room now.

0:55:290:55:31

-Excellent.

-That's wonderful.

0:55:310:55:34

This is grand, this is a huge, big room.

0:55:340:55:36

-Great room.

-Isn't that great?

0:55:360:55:38

Like what they've done with this, huh?

0:55:380:55:41

My mother was never a great cook.

0:55:410:55:43

But, she would have been impressed with the kitchen, wouldn't she?

0:55:430:55:47

Do you mind if we go upstairs?

0:55:470:55:48

-Do you mind?

-Work away.

0:55:480:55:50

-Look at this.

-The old narrow staircase.

0:55:520:55:55

Now do you remember were the bathroom was?

0:55:570:56:00

Oh, the bathroom was much classier.

0:56:000:56:02

In this very bathroom, Michael Wogan used to sing every evening as he shaved.

0:56:020:56:09

He used to sing songs like Dead For Bread and Valentines Goodbye to Faust,

0:56:090:56:15

and he used to deafen everybody within a radius of 100 metres.

0:56:150:56:20

But he always shaved the night before.

0:56:200:56:23

Meticulous man.

0:56:230:56:24

I learned the Floral Dance because in this very bathroom, he used to sing it here.

0:56:240:56:28

-That's right.

-Michael Wogan.

-You can hear it echoing.

0:56:280:56:32

Baritone extraordinaire.

0:56:320:56:34

MUSIC: "Floral Dance" by Terry Wogan

0:56:340:56:37

# All together in the floral dance... #

0:56:370:56:40

'The more cultured members of the audience might remember I recorded

0:56:400:56:43

'a version of the Floral Dance myself back in 1978.

0:56:430:56:46

'It got to number 21 in the charts, but many believe it went much higher than that!'

0:56:460:56:52

# Hurrah for the Cornish Floral Dance. #

0:56:540:56:58

'That's where it all began.

0:57:010:57:04

'Limerick marks the halfway point on my journey.

0:57:080:57:11

'My home town has certainly changed.

0:57:110:57:14

'It's more prosperous, bigger, more confident.

0:57:140:57:16

'Though much of what I've seen has been changed by the passage of time,

0:57:160:57:20

'many of the people I met have reminded me how Irish I still am.

0:57:200:57:23

'To paraphrase the old expression, once an Irishman, always an Irishman.

0:57:230:57:30

'Next, I'm headed to a land I'm less familiar with -

0:57:330:57:37

'the North.'

0:57:380:57:40

Now you see how idyllic this place is.

0:57:410:57:44

'I have some old friends here to catch up with.'

0:57:440:57:48

The people were innocent.

0:57:480:57:49

Everybody just went, thank you!

0:57:490:57:51

'And there'll be lots of things, I'm sure, that will surprise me about Northern Ireland.'

0:57:530:57:58

Three, two, one... Go!

0:57:580:58:02

'By the time I get back to Dublin and catch up with the gossip...'

0:58:030:58:07

People walked out in disgust.

0:58:070:58:08

'..I hope I'll be able to make sense of what has become of this great island in my absence.'

0:58:080:58:13

There are more of us in England than there are in Ireland.

0:58:130:58:18

'After all, you have to remember, I spent quite a lot of the last 40 years cooped up in a darkened room.'

0:58:180:58:25

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:430:58:45

E-mail [email protected]

0:58:450:58:47

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS