X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Northern Ireland


Bambrick

Joe Bambrick (1905–1983), Northern Irish international footballer who played for Chelsea, Walsall, Glentoran, and Linfield

George Joynt

Although not a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he believed in the organization's intention of overthrowing both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland and re-establishing the Irish Republic declared in 1919.

James McBratney

James McBratney (a.k.a. Jimmy From Queens) was born in 1941 to emigrant Catholic parents from Northern Ireland in 1941.

One for the Man Over There

One For The Man Over There is the first and only album by Northern Irish trio The Tides, and was released on 1 February 2007.

Victoria Park, Belfast

Today the Victoria Park can be accessed from Sydenham.


1951 Ringway Dakota accident

On 27 March 1951 a Douglas Dakota 3 cargo aircraft registered G-AJVZ operated by Air Transport Charter en route from Ringway Airport, Manchester, England, to Nutts Corner Airport, Antrim, Northern Ireland, crashed shortly after take-off following the failure of the aircraft to gain height.

Aghaloo O'Neills GAC

The club is based in Aughnacloy and Caledon which encompasses the parish after which the club is named, Aghaloo, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Agonum muelleri

In Europe, it is found in Albania, the Azores, Baltic states, Belarus, Benelux, Great Britain including the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, mainland Portugal, Russia, Sardinia, Sicily (doubtful), mainland Spain, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Yugoslavian states, and Central Europe.

Aidan Davison

Aidan John Davison (born 11 May 1968 in Sedgefield, County Durham) is an English-born Northern Irish former professional footballer and coach who is without a club after previously holding the position of Head Coach at USL Premier Development League side FC JAX Destroyers until the club disbanded in 2012.

Alistair Jackson

Alastair "Ali" Jackson (born November 17, 1988 in Glengormley) is an Northern Irish racing driver.

Antrim RFC

Antrim RFC (Antrim Rugby Football Club) is a rugby club based at Allen Park in Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa GAC

Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Ard Bó Uí Dhonnabhain Rossa (Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa in English) is a club based in east County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, close to the shores of Lough Neagh.

Barn United F.C.

The club's current facilities at Haslett Park are basic but does feature a social club, which was opened in 1981 by Rangers player and Northern Ireland international John McClelland.

Belvoir Park Hospital

Belvoir Park Hospital was a cancer treatment specialist hospital situated in Newtownbreda, South Belfast, Northern Ireland.

British Superkart Championship

The karts race on full size British circuits such as Pembrey, Silverstone, Bishopscourt (Northern Ireland), Castle Combe, Darley Moor, Snetterton and Croft, Cadwell Park, Thruxton, Donington Park, Oulton Park along with the 31st running of the MSA British Superkart Grand Prix at Cadwell Park.

Clogherbog

Clogherbog is a townland situated on the south west side of Boho in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Cross-border flag for Ireland

This is the flag of the nine-county province, similar to but distinct from the Ulster Banner, the former flag of the Northern Irish government.

David Miskelly

David Thomas Miskelly (born 3 September 1979) in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Portadown.

Dual naming

"Derry/Londonderry" has been used unofficially to circumvent the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, in which Irish nationalists used "Derry" and Ulster unionists use "Londonderry" for the city and county in Northern Ireland.

Earnest Goodsir-Cullen

In 1947 the family went to live with Elsie's mother in Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and Ernest had to re-qualify as a doctor at Queen's University, Belfast.

Electricity sector in the United Kingdom

The UK grid is connected to adjacent European and Irish electrical grids by submarine power cables, including for links to northern France (HVDC Cross-Channel), Northern Ireland (HVDC Moyle), Republic of Ireland (East–West Interconnector), the Isle of Man (Isle of Man to England Interconnector), and the Netherlands (BritNed).

England national under-16 football team

The England under-16 team compete in the annual Victory Shield tournament against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

FA Trophy

Former Northern Ireland international Martin O'Neill, in his first managerial role, led Wycombe Wanderers to two wins, and Geoff Chapple managed Kingstonian to victory twice and Woking three times, all within the space of seven years.

Gareth McLearnon

McLearnon is a recipient of the 2003 Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award, a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award and was awarded full scholarships to attend Sir James Galways Masterclasses in Italy (2003) and Switzerland (2004) McLearnon has given recitals all over the U.K. and Europe for the Ireland Funds, Invest Northern Ireland, and the Concordia Foundation, and is currently a Making Music Recommended Artist for 2006.

Garry Robison

In 1977 and 1978 he made two Emergency tours of duty in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles".

Gayle Williamson

Gayle Williamson (born c. 1980, Dollingstown, Northern Ireland) is a model and former Miss Northern Ireland and Miss United Kingdom winner.

Griggstown, New Jersey

Paul Muldoon (born 1951) writer, academic and educator, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning poet originally from County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Hednesford Town F.C.

Former Northern Ireland international and AFC Telford United manager Bernard McNally was appointed caretaker manager while the club searched for a new manager.

Henry McStay

Henry Matthew Patrick McStay (born 6 March 1985) is a retired footballer from Lurgan in Northern Ireland, is is current Lead Academy Physio at Leeds United.

If I Should Fall from Grace with God

"Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" showed the political side to their music, the first part being about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the second half about the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, two groups of men wrongly imprisoned for terrorism offences and held in jail.

Inishowen

As the coastline turns towards the East it reaches Lough Foyle and Shroove on the mouth of the Lough and then Greencastle (a port used by fishing boats and landing point for the car ferry to and from Magilligan in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland).

Jennifer Johnston

Born in Dublin, to the Irish actor/director Shelah Richards and the playwright Denis Johnston, a cousin of the late actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, via Fitzgerald's mother, Edith, Johnston was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and currently lives in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Kieran Dynes

Kieran Dynes, born in Clonmore Dungannon, Northern Ireland, is a race car driver currently competing in the European Late model(NASCAR) series, he has also raced in the NASCAR nationwide series and the ARCA remax series in the United States.

Lagan College

The school's first Chairman was Basil McIvor, a former Ulster Unionist MLA and Minister of Community Relations, who was a proponent of integrated education in Northern Ireland.

Learjet 45

De Havilland Canada builds the LJ45s wings, and Bombardier subsidiary Short Brothers of Belfast, Northern Ireland, builds the fuselage and empennage.

Live at Austin City Limits Festival

Live at Austin City Limits Festival by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison is a limited edition live album recorded from the Austin City Limits Festival concert at which he was the first night headliner on September 15, 2006.

Lutheran Church in Great Britain

The Lutheran Church in Great Britain is a Lutheran church, operating in Great Britain (The Lutheran Church in Ireland operates in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland).

Mikael Heggelund Foslie

Foslie contributed an algal collection named Algae Norvegicae to the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Monty's Pass

Monty's Pass was the winner of the 2003 Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool, when ridden by Barry Geraghty, trained by Jimmy Mangan and running in the colours of the Dee Racing Syndicate, a group of owners based in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, and led by Blackpool born bingo hall owner Mike Futter.

Northern Ireland flags issue

The Ulster Banner, the flag of the pre-1973 government of Northern Ireland, was used from 1953 to 1972 by the Stormont government to represent the government of Northern Ireland.

Of One Belief

The Group was established on December 7, 2007 at a general meeting in the Elk Restaurant in Toome, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which was attended by over 400 people.

Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels

The Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels (Office of the NI Executive in Brussels) is part of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister and is the focus of Northern Ireland's relations with the institutions of the European Union .

Ordination of Ministers Act 1571

The whole Act, so far as it extended to Northern Ireland, was repealed by section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1953.

Peter Murnoy

Murnoy was elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland as the Nationalist Party MP for South Down at the 1945 general election.

Ramón Calderé

After the win against Northern Ireland he was summoned for a doping test, which came out positive.

Roma Ryan

Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, currently living in Artane, Ireland, with her husband Nicky.

RPG-7

The RPG-7 was used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2005, most notably in Lurgan, County Armagh, where it was used against British Army observation posts and the towering military base at Kitchen Hill in the town.

The O'Rahilly

O'Rahilly's family for many years owned the port of Greenore in County Louth not far from the present day border with Northern Ireland, while his grandson Ronan O'Rahilly achieved some fame during the 1960s as the founder of the offshore radio station Radio Caroline, and was also involved in the production of some films and the promotion of several recording artists including Georgie Fame and The Animals.

Thomas Begley

Begley was killed when a bomb he was planting on the Shankill Road, West Belfast, Northern Ireland intending to kill Johnny Adair and senior members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) exploded prematurely, killing him, a UDA member and eight Protestant civilians.

Ulster Volunteers

After World War I, the British Government agreed to set up two self-governing regions in Ireland: Northern Ireland (made up of six Ulster counties with Protestant/unionist majorities), and Southern Ireland.

White House, County Down

The White House is a ruined 17th century dwelling house at Ballyspurge, near Cloghy, County Down, Northern Ireland on the Ards Peninsula.

Willie Jorrín

Jorrín holds an amateur win over Wayne McCullough, the bout took place in McCullough's home country of Northern Ireland.


see also

2nd Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment

The funeral of one, Private Paul Sutcliffe, an Englishman, was held in Barrowford, Lancashire - the only UDR funeral to be held outside Northern Ireland.

C2K

Classroom 2000 - a Northern Ireland-wide information and communications network

CCNI

Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, government body regulating charities in Northern Ireland

Daisy Hill

Daisy Hill Hospital, a National Health Service Hospital in Newry, Northern Ireland

Disinvestment

The effort to disinvest in Northern Ireland met with little success, but the United States Congress did pass (and then-President Bill Clinton signed) a law requiring American companies with interests there to implement most of the MacBride Principles in 1998.

Edward Prentice Mawson

Large-scale town planning schemes include London County Council's St Helier Estate (1934), and for Ulster Garden Villages Limited in Northern Ireland, Merville Garden Village, Abbots Cross, Fernagh, Princes Park, Kings Park, Whitehead and Muckamore Garden Villages, all in County Antrim.

Emergency Powers Act

Emergency Powers Act 1964 Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964

Enactment

In the preceding provisions of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and in section 18 of that Act, the word "enactment" means any legislation (including subordinate legislation) of the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland.

Frederick Hamilton

Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1875–1930), British soldier and Senator of the Northern Ireland Parliament

Friends of Israel Initiative

They include Republican Party former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Forza Italia's former President of the Italian Senate Marcello Pera, former President of Czech Republic Václav Havel, Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo, and billionaire financier, Robert Agostinelli and British Conservative Party peer, former First Minister of Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble.

Garbhan Downey

In 2010, he won a contest to predict the winners of Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster constituencies, missing out on just one, Naomi Long, who surprisingly beat First Minister Peter Robinson in East Belfast.

Gawa

Green and White Army (slang for Northern Ireland international football fans)

Gerald Brown

Gerald Browne (1871/2-1951), unionist politician in Northern Ireland

Habeas Corpus Act 1862

In 1971 Lord Denning led the Court of Appeal in Re Keenan 1971 3 WLR 844 in saying that no English court has jurisdiction to issue a writ of habeas corpus anywhere in Ireland, whether in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

Hegan

Danny Hegan (born 1943), Scottish-born Northern Ireland footballer

Henry Benson, Baron Benson

In 1963 Benson submitted his report, which recommended closing all railways in Northern Ireland except the Belfast commuter lines to Bangor, County Down and Larne and the main line between Belfast and the Republic of Ireland, and the reduction of the main line between Portadown and the Republic to single track.

Herbert Dixon

Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran (1880–1950), Northern Ireland Unionist politician

History of Fine Gael

The National Coalition is noted for its attempts to build a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland through the Sunningdale Agreement.

History of the Jews in Northern Ireland

Well known Belfast Jews include: Ronald Appleton QC, Crown Prosecutor during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, who was elected President of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation and served in that post until he retired in 2008; Belfast actors Harold Goldblatt and Harry Towb; pioneer of modern dance in Northern Ireland Helen Lewis; and jazz commentator Solly Lipschitz.

Hugh Mulholland

Mulholland was appointed the curator for the Northern Irish Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale by the British Council Northern Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

J D Wetherspoon

He was educated at eleven different schools in Northern Ireland and New Zealand including Campbell College in Belfast.

James Spratt

Jimmy Spratt (born 1951), Unionist politician from Northern Ireland

John Blelloch

Since 1998, he has been the co-chair of the Northern Ireland Sentence Review Commission along with Brian Currin.

Kennomeat

Robert Wilson & Sons were an established manufacturer of pet foods, with canneries in Barrhead near Glasgow and at Malone in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and in the 1930s they registered the names Kennomeat and Kattomeat.

Labour Party of Northern Ireland

The next attempt to form a labour organisation in Northern Ireland was the Labour Coalition, which won seats on the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996.

Leader of the House

Minister and Leader of the House of Commons, former post in the Parliament of Northern Ireland

Márcio Sousa

In 2004 Sousa played for the under-19s in the 2005 European Championship qualifiers, netting against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the country failed to ensure a place in the finals in Northern Ireland.

Markwell

Clyde Markwell, architect and urban designer from Northern Ireland

Miles Clark

Born Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 3 November 1960, he was the son of Wallace Clark and the godson of Miles Smeeton, themselves both distinguished yachtsmen and authors.

Miles Messenger

The production aircraft were built at Newtownards in Northern Ireland and flown to Woodley for final fitting out.

Newsom Report

:Secondary modern schools (secondary intermediate schools in Northern Ireland) trained pupils in practical skills, aimed at equipping them for less skilled jobs and home management.

No. 15 Group RAF

Its headquarters then transferred to Stranraer, with its squadrons flying from bases in Northern Ireland and western Scotland, to provide support and convoy escorts in the Western Approaches.

Northern Ireland Assembly Elections Act 2003

The Northern Ireland Assembly Elections Act 2003 (c 3) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games

At the games the Northern Ireland team uses the flag of the former Government of Northern Ireland, the Ulster Banner as its national flag.

Paddy Toland

Paddy Toland is the coach of the current Middle and Light Middleweight kickboxing champion, Tommy McCafferty (born in Letterkenny, Ireland) and the ISKA World Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champion, Daniel Quigley (born in Derry City, Northern Ireland).

Paul Rankin

In 1989 Paul Rankin changed the face of culinary Northern Ireland when he opened Roscoff, the restaurant that was to become the first to win a Michelin Star in the country.

Political thriller

A playwright who has embraced the genre is Gary Mitchell, who in the 2000s became "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright".

Portadown College

Portadown College (often shortened to the College) is an academic selective grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, founded in 1924.

Richard N. Haass

In late 2013, Haass returned to Northern Ireland to chair inter-party talks aimed at addressing some of the unresolved issues from the peace process such as parades, flags and "the past".

Robert Lowry

Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry (1919–1999), Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

Sale of Offices Act 1551

This section, in so far as it extended to Northern Ireland, was repealed by section 1(1) of, and Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1950.

Sam McCrory

Sammy McCrory (1924–2011), footballer for Ipswich Town and Northern Ireland

Sam McMillan

Sammy McMillan, association football player (Manchester United, Wrexham, Northern Ireland)

Short Sealand

A third, G-AKLW (originally bought by the wealthy Egyptian client mentioned above) is under rebuild (2008) at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, Holywood, Northern Ireland.

Sky Blues

Magherafelt Sky Blues F.C., in the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League of Northern Ireland

Sophia Swire

Hugo Swire MP, Minister for Northern Ireland (brother), Philip Swire (brother)

Stewart Holden

He represented England at the World Scrabble Championship 2003, where he finished in 62 place, and represented Northern Ireland at the World Scrabble Championship 2011 where he finished in 28th place and achieved the highest game score of the tournament (694pts).

Tar ag Spraoi Sesame

The series' adaptation coincides with Sesame Tree, a Sesame Street co-production for Northern Ireland from BBC Northern Ireland.

Veerstichting

David Trimble MLA, former President of Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Dr. Javier SolanaSecretary-General of the Council of the EU.