From illness to immortality
QUESTION Architects Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edwin Lutyens and Richard Rogers missed a lot of schooling because of childhood illness. Who else achieved success after difficult early years healthwise? CHILDHOOD adversity can have positive outcomes. There is evidence that people who suffer setbacks are more able to concentrate on a future goal as well as having flexibility of thought.
US President John F Kennedy suffered from myriad childhood ailments. Aged two, he was bedridden with scarlet fever, an infection that was often fatal.
Later in boyhood, he developed a gastrointestinal disease that would be diagnosed as Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the adrenal glands.
He got sick so often that his younger brother, Robert, joked: ‘When we were growing up, we used to laugh about the great risk a mosquito took in biting Jack Kennedy – with some of his blood the mosquito was almost sure to die.’
At 16, he was hospitalised for a mysterious illness doctors feared might be leukaemia. Later in life, he would suffer terrible back pain from a football injury and war wound.
‘Almost all his life, it seemed, he had to battle against misfortunes of health,’ his mother, Rose Kennedy, wrote in her memoirs. ‘Perhaps this gave him another kind of strength that helped him to be the great man he became.’
Serbian-born inventor Nikola Tesla, best known for his contribution to the alternating current system of electrical supply, credited his childhood illness for his success. In his late teens, he was studying for the clergy in accordance with the wishes of his parents.
A bout of cholera saved him, he wrote in his autobiography: ‘Later it developed into dropsy [oedema], pulmonary trouble and all sorts of diseases until finally my coffin was ordered. When they thought I was dying, my father came to my bedside and cheered me: “You are going to get well.” “Perhaps,” I replied, “if you will let me study engineering.’ ‘Certainly I will,” he assured me. “You will go to the best polytechnic school in Europe.’ Michael Dale, Pembroke. A HOST of artists suffered from polio in their youth. Many claimed this had a profound long-term effect on them.
Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell started singing aged nine while in hospital recovering from polio. Her distinctive sound of non-standard guitar tunings was developed partly to compensate for a weakened arm.
Fellow Canadian Neil Young was also a polio sufferer.
Itzhak Perlman, the Polish-born virtuoso violinist, contracted polio at four. He began playing a toy violin at this time. As Perlman needs braces and crutches to walk, he plays the violin seated.
Mellow Yellow singer Donovan contracted polio aged three, which left him with a limp, and rock’n’roll maverick Ian Dury had a shrivelled hand and leg from a bout of polio aged seven.
He later campaigned with Unicef to eradicate the disease.
A number of Hollywood actors had a similar experience, including Mia Farrow, Alan Alda and Donald Sutherland, who developed a love of reading while bedridden. Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller contracted polio aged nine. At the suggestion of his doctor, he took up swimming and won five Olympic gold medals during the 1920s.
Jack Nicklaus contracted the disease as a child and has suffered from stiff joints ever since. It contributed to a remarkable strength of will which led to him winning 18 golf majors.
Kay Holland, Derbyshire. QUESTION How many official GAA stadiums exist in the 32 counties? CLOSE on 50 GAA stadiums exist throughout Ireland, with a number of counties being home to more than one.
The top stadium in terms of capacity is Croke Park in Dublin, which has been totally redeveloped in recent years. It has a capacity of just over 82,000 and while it’s usual for football and hurling finals to be played there, it is also often used for entertainment events.
The next biggest stadium in terms of capacity is the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, which has a capacity of very close to 50,000.
Semple Stadium in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, which is where the GAA was founded in 1884, is the third-biggest GAA stadium, capable of holding a crowd of just over 46,000. Fourth on the list, just 1,000 behind in terms of capacity, is Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, a recent reconstruction (2017) that cost around €80million.
Then comes Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, with room for just over 43,000 spectators, while at number six is MacHale Park in Castlebar, Co. Mayo which can accommodate 42,000 people and is the largest all-seater venue outside Dublin.
At number seven, is St Tiernach’s Park in Clones, Co. Monaghan; then comes Pearse Stadium in Galway, followed by Casement Park in Belfast. Number ten on the list is Breffni Park in Cavan. All four of these stadiums can hold just over 30,000 people. Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon can take some 25,000 people. Casement Park in Belfast is due for a major redevelopment and when it’s completed, it should be able to hold 34,500 people, making it an even more important GAA venue in Ireland.
Stadiums in Portlaoise, Omagh, Kilkenny, Castleblayney, Derry, Carlow, Tullamore, Wexford, Newry and Enniskillen, can each hold more than 20,000 spectators and make up the numbers between 11 and 20 on the list.
Stadiums much further down the list can take just over 10,000 spectators each. Donnycarney in north Dublin holds 13,500 people. But towards the end of the list, capacities are much, much smaller, as is the case with the 3,500 capacity Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda, Co. Louth. The smallest GAA stadium in Ireland is Páirc Phroinsías in Clara, Co. Offaly, which holds just 1,000 people.
Outside Ireland, the Canada GAA has Shamrock Field in St John’s, Newfoundland (4,000 capacity); the New York GAA has Gaelic Park (for a crowd of just 2,000) and the London GAA has the Emerald GAA grounds in Ruislip, Middlesex, with a capacity of 5,000. But with such a proliferation of GAA stadiums throughout Ireland, no-one is too far from their nearest local stadium. Carmel Cassidy, Bunclody, Co. Wexford.
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