Acting the goat in Kerry
QUESTION What is the history of the Puck Fair in Killorglin, Co. Kerry? What is the significance of the goat paraded around?
THIS year’s Puck Fair in Killorglin was the 415th, starting as always on August 10 and lasting for three days.
It’s one of the oldest fairs in Ireland and one of the most popular, drawing around 100,000 visitors to the north Co. Kerry town, where the pubs stay open until 3am for the duration.
The fair can only be officially traced back to 1603, but it’s far older than that. In 1603, King James I granted a charter to the existing fair. No-one knows when or why the fair started, but some people believe it goes back to Celtic pre-Christian times and that it was designed to create a bountiful harvest for the area.
Another version of its creation and the role of the goat goes back to Cromwellian times in the mid17th century, although this was 50 years after the royal charter was granted. In this version, it’s said that when Cromwellian troops were ravaging the area, a goat got separated from his herd and made his way to Killorglin, where his distressed state alerted locals to the imminent arrival of Cromwell’s troops, giving them time to prepare their defences. If this version of the fair’s origins are true, the fair was already well established when Cromwell’s troops started terrorising the area.
But ever since, a wild male goat has been selected from the surrounding mountains and brought down to Killorglin for the fair. On the first day of the festival, the goat is paraded through the town to the main square, where the Queen of Puck Fair, a young girl chosen from a local primary school, crowns the goat King Puck on his pedestal. He remains there for the duration of the festival and visitors can get their photograph taken with King Puck for €10.
In recent years, supporters of animal rights have said that the tradition is unfair on the goat and should be scrapped.
During the festival, many events take place, including a cattle fair that starts at 6am on August 11, although this isn’t organised by the Puck Fair Committee. The second day of the festival is Fair Day, the heart of the festival, when many street vendors descend on the town and many other events are organised. On the three evenings of the festival this year, musical accompaniment was provided by the Swing Cats, the Cosmic Funk Band and Jake Carter.
Between 5.30pm and 6pm on the last night of the fair, King Puck is dethroned and is released back into the wild. At 11.45pm that night, the fireworks display begins in the town square and after that, it’s all over for another year.
The festival is less rowdy than it used to be; in the old days, pubs in Killorglin stayed open 24 hours a day, for non-stop, round the clock drinking, but these days, they close at 3am.
The Puck Fair remains not only one of the oldest street fairs in Ireland, but also the most popular. The huge influx of visitors into Killorglin over the three-day fair is said to inject an annual €10million into the local economy. Chris Farrelly, Inch, Co. Kerry.
QUESTION What year did Telefís Éireann switch from black and white to colour television?
THE new Irish television service, Telefís Éireann, began transmitting, in black and white, on New Year’s Eve, 1961, from the Gresham Hotel in central Dublin, and by the end of that decade, had started transmitting in colour, a task completed by 1976.
It’s often said that the first colour transmission in Ireland happened accidentally in 1968, when the Irish station, by mistake in standards conversion, transmitted a relay of the Wimbledon men’s finals in colour. The first programme that the station, by then known as RTÉ, made in colour was for the Seven Days series in 1969, with a programme called John Hume’s Derry.
Introducing colour as standard was a slow process, which RTÉ undertook in three phases.
The first phase began with relays of sports events and other programme material, in colour, from the Eurovision network. The first home-based sports programme to be transmitted in colour was the 1971 Railway Cup finals.
Then came the coverage of the 1971 Eurovision Song contest, staged at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, following Dana’s dramatic win the previous year, and was broadcast in colour. The second phase of the switchover was the colourisation of playback equipment which allowed for the transmission of home-produced films and video productions in colour.
Finally, came the switchover of all RTÉ’s studios at Montrose to colour and the conversion of all its outside broadcast units to colour. The first studio was converted to colour in 1972 and the news studio changed in 1974. The last to go colour was Studio 1 – where The Late Late Show was produced – in 1976, which meant The Late Late Show was the last of RTÉ’s major productions to make the switch from black and white to colour.
In 1976, the BBC completed the nationwide conversion of all its transmissions to colour, so RTÉ was in step with the international standards. Eileen Kelleher, Wicklow.
QUESTION Does anyone recall a comic poem about springtime in the Bronx?
THIS was a favourite of comedian Spike Milligan, who would often break into it at random occasions: Spring is sprung, the grass is ris. I wonders where the birdies is. They say the birds is on the wing. Ain’t that absurd? I always thought the wing was on the bird. Add a bit of a Brooklyn accent and it should come out more like: Spring is sprung, duh grass is riz I wonder where dem boidies is. Duh little boids is on duh wing – But dat’s absoid: Duh little wing is on duh boid.
Often credited to Ogden Nash or E.E. cummings, the author is, in fact, the prolific poet Anonymous. There have been countless imitations, such as: Spring is sprung! The grass has ris, I wonder where the posies is. Come look here, my dear sis, I have found little crocuses. Jane Simmonds, Kidderminster.