Now Mcguinness is in the dictionary
IRA chief turned peacemaker added to Britain’s catalogue of famous lives
FORMER Deputy First Minister Martin Mcguinness has joined Royal photographer Lord Snowdon and Sixties socialite Christine Keeler as new entrants in an acclaimed publication documenting the lives of high-profile people.
The latest Oxford Dictionary of National Biography adds details of 224 men and women who left their mark on the UK, and who died during 2017.
In total the dictionary, published today, comprises biographies of 64,054 individuals, written by over 14,000 contributors.
The additions also include actors Sir Roger Moore and Rosemary Leach; Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Morse; and cricketer Rachael Heyhoe Flint.
The Northern Ireland entrants are led by Mr Mcguinness, the former IRA leader turned peacemaker, who jointly led the Executive from 2007 until shortly before his death in March 2017.
Another entrant is Brendan Duddy, the Londonderry businessman described as Northern Ireland’s secret peacemaker, who acted as a back-channel between the British government and the IRA leadership.
Also added is Sean O’callaghan, the former IRA leader turned informer who became a best-selling author; and Glen Barr, an EX-UDA leader who played a key role in the Ulster Workers’ Council strike of 1974.
Dr Alex May, the dictionary’s senior research editor, said selecting entries can be a “long and complicated process”.
“We draw up lists of candidates, people who died in a certain year, and put those into different broad occupational categories — they might be politicians, or sports people or media people, and we take advice from around 500 advisers,” he said.
“They are asked about who ought to go in and who ought to write the entries.”
In Mr Mcguinness’s case, the entry was written by the late journalist Chris Ryder.
Dr May admitted that sensitivities can arise around some people, such as Mr Mcguinness, who sharply divided opinion.
He added: “This is where our role as an historical dictionary comes in. What makes this different from Wikipedia and other things is that they are authored entries, and they do convey the viewpoints of the author writing it. But at the same time, as it is an historical dictionary, it needs to stick to the facts — what happened, what he did and what he said — that type of thing.
“Obviously there is interpretation in them, but it has to be of a more lofty, overview kind than partisan.
“The entry on Martin Mcguinness is interesting because it was written by Chris Ryder, who passed away in October. I think it is the last thing he wrote before he died, it was written in August.
“Chris was very much the choice of our advisers as being someone who knew the subject. He was deeply engaged in following Mcguinness throughout his career but he also had that objectivity, and he wasn’t going to be laying down his own political standpoint.”
Other local entries are David Bleakley, the Northern Ireland Labour politician and trade union member; and Sir John Blelloch, the Scottish-born civil servant who served at the Northern Ireland Office.
Dr May added: “The only thing that brings these people together is that they died in the same year — 2017. We do find that, year by year, things can be quite different. For example, in one year we had seven Nobel prize winners, whereas normally you might get one or two at most.
“That is the case here in a sense — it is kind of coincidental that there are quite a few major figures from Northern Irish politics that died in the same year.”
Other notable entries are Christine Keeler, who died in 2017 aged 75. She became famous for her part in the 1963 Profumo Affair, which shook Harold Macmillan’s government. At the height of the Cold War, the then teenager claimed she had an affair with Conservative cabinet minister John Profumo. Mr Profumo resigned after lying about the affair to Parliament.
Another entry is Lord Snowden, the renowned photographer and film maker. He married Princess Margaret in 1960 but they separated after 16 years and the divorce was finalised in 1978.