On 13th November last year I was on holiday in Rome, on my way to St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City, when news reached me that Dr Eamon Phoenix had passed away. I was aware that he’d been unwell, nevertheless the news left me in shock and disbelief. Eamon was in my thoughts all of that day as I explored the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Later, I queued for admission to St. Peter’s Basilica and, once inside, I decided that I was going to say a prayer for Eamon and his family. I wouldn’t describe myself as a religious person, and those who know me will know that I’m not even from a Catholic background, but it seemed like an appropriate thing to do at the time. Because, for me, Eamon was a hero, he was everything that I wanted (and still want) to be, and for that reason this episode is very much a personal and anecdotal reflection on someone who I regard as our ‘Historian Laureate’.

*Excerpts Included from an event at Feile An Phobail on Thursday 3rd August 2023 and the Year '21 Podcast Journey from November 2022.

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For this episode I’ve come to St John’s Catholic Church on the Falls Road to meet with the Parish Priest Father Martin Magill. I’m not here to make a podcast episode about the church though, I’m here to find out more from Martin about a project he’s been working on looking at the history of Belfast street names…

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The biggest ship the world had ever seen, constructed by the world’s biggest shipbuilder Harland & Wolff; Titanic was (and still remains) something that Belfast is immensely proud of. 

Belfast bore no shame from the tragedy of the ship’s sinking, for it was the blood, sweat and tears of our own that built it. “She was alright when she left here” was our tongue-in-cheek way of saying “We did our bit”, and suffered in the process. Eight Belfast lads lost their lives during the two-year construction period; I avoid calling them ‘Belfast men’ because the youngest was just 15 years of age – Samuel Scott from Templemore Street in the East of the city – only a child. Samuel had been employed as a ‘catchboy’ – a junior member of a riveting squad. His cause of death was recorded as a fractured skull. In many ways Samuel Scott and his 7 mortally injured colleagues are the forgotten collateral damage that was necessary to make Titanic a reality. In stark contrast to the luxury on board the ship and the billions of pounds and dollars that have swirled around the Titanic brand to this day Samuel Scott lay in an unmarked grave in Belfast City Cemetery until 2011 when Feile an Phobail (the West Belfast Festival) provided a headstone to remember him. 

Titanic is arguably worth more to Belfast today than 111 years ago when she slipped out of Belfast like a palace on the sea. Our Titanic Belfast museum, which took longer to build than the ship itself, cost in excess of £100m and continues to attract millions of visitors who are keen to see and hear more about a tragic maritime tale that has been so often told. It’s said that well over 500 books have been written about Titanic in the English language alone – if you count assorted reprints and books in foreign languages the total number of Titanic texts is somewhere in the region of 1,000. You’d think, therefore, that not much else could be written which hadn’t been written before – and you’d be wrong, because my guest for this episode has managed to do exactly that and seemingly with great success.

Gareth Russell is a Belfast-based historian, novelist and playwright. In 2019 he published his account of the Titanic disaster titled The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era. It was named a ‘Book of the Year’ by The Times newspaper and a ‘Best History Book of 2019’ by The Daily Telegraph – no mean feat…

And so when thinking about the Titanic and Belfast’s connections to it I figured there would be no better person to speak to than Gareth. 

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Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, will begin a five-day visit to the island in Belfast next Tuesday and it got me thinking about previous visits to Belfast by US presidents. There haven’t been many, and you might be hard pushed to name them all, but each have been important in their own way, some more than others, and generally they have all been dominated by one issue; peace for Northern Ireland.

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When we think of the Dutch and their association with football it immediately evokes images of Johan Cruyff and his iconic ‘Cruyff turn’, Van Basten’s almost impossible goal in 1988, Ruud Gullit’s ‘sexy football’, Ajax winning the European Cup in 1995, and the famous ‘sea of orange’ that accompanies the Netherlands national team wherever they play. It really is a world away from our own domestic football scene here in Northern Ireland where the prospect of a Tuesday night fixture away to Warrenpoint Town doesn’t quite have the same appeal as what the Netherlands can offer.

And yet recently I’ve come across a Dutch historian who is so fascinated by the history of football in Belfast that he has decided to write a book about it – in Dutch, and for a Dutch audience…

Wouter Schollema is from the Frieseland region in the north of Netherlands. Through his studies at the Groningen University Wouter gained a keen interest in the history of Ireland and, in particular, the more recent history of Northern Ireland.

Football-wise he supports a club called Cambuur who, if the Dutch Erdivisie is turned upside down, are one of the top teams in the Netherlands… In reality they’re about the be relegated to the Dutch second-tier. At Cambuur, Wouter provides stadium tours for visitors and he is also the Dutch language teacher for the foreign players at the club.

Over the last year or so Wouter and I have struck up a friendship due to our mutual interest in football and so I thought it was only right that I should invite him onto the podcast to talk about his book, and I began by asking him where his fascination with Belfast comes from.

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The story of the UVF’s dramatic 1914 gunrunning operation at the height of the third home rule crisis is one that has often been told. What is less well-known about the UVF’s gunrunning story, however, is the fate of the man who provided the weapons. Bruno Spiro, a German Jew, was arrested in Hamburg in 1936 by the Gestapo and charged with what were described as “serious allegations”. He was taken to the notorious Fuhlsbüttel Concentration Camp in Hamburg where he allegedly took his own life...

Thanks to Elise Bath from the Wiener Holocaust Library for providing some much-needed context to this story.

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You would be forgiven for being completely unaware of the rich Jewish heritage that exists in Belfast. Despite being a relatively small community today (less than 100 and still declining…) the Jews of Belfast have left an indelible mark on the history of our city.    

For Episode 27 of the Historical Belfast Podcast I’ve been speaking to Steven Jaffe, Director of the Jewish Heritage Project.

Link for Jewish Heritage Project: https://www.belfastjewishheritage.org/ 

Patreon link: www.patreon.com/historicalbelfast

Link for the upcoming walking tours: www.historicalbelfast.com

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“Head, heel or toe – slip it to Joe” – the words which are associated with Joe Bambrick, Irish football idol and Donegall Road man.

When Ireland beat Wales 7-0 at Celtic Park in Belfast, on 1 February 1930, the man of the moment and the name on everyone’s lips was Belfast-born centre-forward Joe Bambrick. That’s because, unbelievably, ‘slip it to Joe’ had scored 6 of the 7 goals, a double hat-trick — an unprecedented achievement which has never been equalled by any other British international footballer in the 92 years since.

Arguably the greatest Irish centre-forward of all time Bambrick achieved legendary status at Linfield FC, though he also turned out for Chelsea and Walsall.

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For this episode of the Historical Belfast Podcast I visited St. Matthew’s Parish Church, consecrated 150 years ago on 11 March 1872. I chatted with Sam Guthrie (Queen’s University Belfast) who has been busy working on an exhibition about the social history of St. Matthew’s and the surrounding community of the Shankill.

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Welcome to Episode 24 of the Historical Belfast Podcast – the first episode of 2022 but also the last in the Sandy Row mini series which has been an absolute pleasure to make.

I’ve decided to come to Sandy Row for the final episode and take a walk along the road we’ve been exploring over the last few months. The focus will be on the historical plaques that I encounter along the way – so, come and take a walk with me and see what I have found…

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