30 September-Boris Yeltsin at Shannon Airport

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Boris Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation serving from 1991 to 1999. During his first term as President he made a stopover at Shannon Airport in 1994. He was returning to Moscow following a visit to the US. He was due to hold talks with An Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. However the meeting was cancelled because the Russian President failed to emerge from his jet. It was reported that he was sleeping and was not wakened on medical advice.

Boris Yeltsin was born in Sverdlovsk [now Yekaterinburg], Russia on the border between Europe and Asia. Having studied at the Ural Polytechnic Institute he majored in construction and worked in the building industry. He became active in politics, eventually being appointed mayor of Moscow by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. However Yeltsin was critical of Gorbachev and the slow pace of reform and was forced to resign in 1987. He continued to campaign for reform and was elected President of the Russian Federation in June 1991.

In power Yeltsin rapidly introduced the reforms which Gorbachev had initiated. In the event, during the change from communism to capitalism, some people became very wealthy but many Russians experienced poverty. The fall in the standard of living led to a fall in popularity for Yeltsin but he was re-elected as President in July 1996. He served until December 31st 1999 when he resigned and named Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting president.

Boris Yeltsin paid a visit to the United States in late September 1994. During a busy schedule he gave an address to United Nations General Assembly and held a summit with President Clinton. He also held business meetings in cities such as New York, Washington and Seattle. On his return journey to Moscow the Russian President was due to hold a meeting with An Taoiseach Albert Reynolds at Shannon. The meeting was to be followed by a reception at nearby Drumoland Castle.

President Yeltsin’s plane circled Shannon Airport for an hour before landing. When it finally landed the red carpet was rolled out. Mr Reynolds together with officials from the Irish Government and officials from the Russian Embassy waited for 15 minutes on the tarmac before being told that Mr Yeltsin was not available to meet them. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, who reported the President was asleep held a brief meeting with An Taoiseach. Later in Moscow Yeltsin said he had overslept and would punish the officials who had failed to wake him. Yeltsin returned to Ireland in 2006. He went shark fishing off the Cliffs of Moher and had lunch on Inis Oírr.

Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Federation, failed to leave his plane at Shannon Airport to meet with Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in the year 1994 On This Day.

President Yeltsin photo

Photograph of President Boris Yeltsin and President William Clinton at Springwood the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York 10/23/1995

Photo by The U.S. National Archives

Photo by Harald Groven

Boris Yeltsin monument by Harald Groven on 2015-10-20 16:09:48

06 February-Jack Kirby

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Jack Kirby was a comic book artist who was a native of the USA. He was one of the creators of superheroes such as The Avengers and Captain America. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1987. The ‘Jack Kirby Awards’ are named in his honour.

Jack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg in New York City on August 28^th 1917. A self-taught artist he began working in the comic book industry in 1936. During his career he worked with artists Joe Simon and Stan Lee. With Joe Simon Kirby created the superhero character Captain America. With Stan Lee he created characters such as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk.

Jack Kirby, comic book artist and creator of superheroes such as Captain America, died aged 76 in the year 1994 On This Day.

Photo by ActuaLitté

Exposition Jack Kirby Angoulême

06 May-Channel Tunnel

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The Channel Tunnel is a rail tunnel which links Folkestone in England with Calais in northern France. The Channel Tunnel runs beneath the English Channel and is 50.5km (31.4) long. Nicknamed The Chunnel it began operations in 1994.

A French engineer, Albert Mathieu, first suggested a tunnel linking England and France in 1802. Despite several initiatives the project did not proceed until The Treaty of Canterbury was signed in February 1986. Two years later tunnelling began on both sides of the English Channel.

Two years after tunnelling began the service tunnel was completed. British and French workers met under the English Channel on December 1^st 1990. The island of Britain was connected to the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age.

Tunnels for freight and passenger trains running on either side of the service tunnel were completed during the following years. Today high-speed passenger trains, freight and automobile shuttles and rail freight trains pass through the Channel Tunnel.

The Channel Tunnel was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and the French President, François Mitterrand in the year 1994 On This Day.

Photo by John D F

Channel Tunnel Aerial

15 April-Man On The Bridge

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Arthur Fields was a Dublin street photographer who became known as ‘The Man on The Bridge’. Between the 1930’s and the 1980’s he photographed thousands of ordinary pedestrians on O’Connell Bridge and along O’Connell Street in Dublin. A book of his photographs has recently been published and his work was the subject of an RTE television documentary.

Arthur Fields was born Abraham Feldman in Dublin in 1901. His family, who were Jewish, had left Ukraine in 1885 because of religious persecution. Fields began taking photographs on O’Connell Street in Dublin in the 1930’s. His wife Doreen developed the photographs and arranged for their sale. By the time he retired in 1985 Fields had taken over 180,000 photographs.

Arthur Fields died in the year 1994 On This Day.

Rita and Bernard on O’Connell Street Dublin 1970.

Photo by Arthur Fields

Dolores and Paddy on O’Connell Street 1971

Photo by Arthur Fields

12 April-Saoirse Ronan

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Saoirse Ronan is an Oscar nominated actress who grew up in Carlow, Ireland. She is best known for her roles in such films as ‘Atonement,’ ‘The Lovely Bones’, ‘Hanna’ and more recently ‘Brooklyn’. Together with her Oscar nominations Ronan has also received BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe nominations. She made her Broadway debut in early 2016, playing the part of Abigail Williams in the Arthur Miller play The Crucible.

Saoirse Una Ronan was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA in 1994. Both her parents were Irish. When Saoirse was three the family moved to live in Co Carlow Ireland. At the age of nine Ronan made her screen debut when she appeared in the medical drama The Clinic on RTE (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) in 2003. She made her first film appearance in the movie ‘I Could Never Be Your Woman’ in 2007. In 2007 also, she appeared in the highly acclaimed and successful movie ‘Atonement’. Her role made her one of the youngest people ever to be nominated for an Oscar.

During the following years Saoirse Ronan continued to star in several successful movies. These included Hanna (2011), Byzantium (2012) and The Grand Hotel Budapest (2014). On November 6th 2015 the movie Brooklyn was released. Based on the novel of the same name by Colm Tóibín, Saoirse Ronan played the part of Irish emigrant Eilis Lacey. She won widespread acclaim for her role and received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Saoirse Ronan was born in the year 1994 On This Day.

Photo by gdcgraphics

Saoirse Ronan

Photo by Disney | ABC Television Group

2016-02-28