Stumped by a demolition job

QUESTION

Is it true that the IRA bomb that blew up the top of Nelson’s Pillar did little other damage, but the Army’s subsequent blast to clear the remnants blew out many windows on O’Connell Street?

NELSON’S Pillar, outside the GPO on O’Connell Street, Dublin, was built in 1808 to honour Lord Nelson and his victories at sea during the Napoleonic war.

It managed to survive until March 8, 1966; during the 1916 Rising, it had remained intact even when all the buildings around it, including the GPO, were reduced to rubble.

A group of young republicans had plotted to blow up Nelson’s Pillar and the planting of the bomb was admitted, in 2000, by Liam Sutcliffe, who died in 2017.

The 121ft-high (36.9-metre) pillar was topped by a 13ft (3.9m) statue of Nelson.

For many years, members of the public had been able to climb the narrow internal staircase and enjoy magnificent views of the city from the plinth at the top of the pillar. For many years as well, Nelson’s Pillar featured on the destination signs of trams and buses when they were headed for the city centre.

When the bomb went off, at 1.32am on March 8, 1966, it blew down the statute of Nelson and left a stump of the pillar.

The explosion did little damage beyond the pillar, even to the nearby GPO. CIE had an information kiosk at the foot of the pillar and this was unscathed. But the clock on top of the kiosk had stopped at the precise time the bomb had gone off.

However, a week later, on March 15, 1966, when the Army did two controlled explosives on the remains of the pillar, it was a different story altogether. Huge crowds had gathered to see these two explosions and there was a carnival atmosphere, even though the gardaí kept the crowds well back, behind cordons.

Most of the damage was done by the first controlled explosion, which blew out shopfront windows and office windows all along O’Connell Street.

The second explosion caused less than a quarter of the damage done by the first blast.

Some onlookers joked that the professionals, the republican bombers, should have been called in to do the job neatly. The original

Damage: Nelson’s Pillar was partly destroyed by blast in 1966 explosion, on March 8, had even provided a rare humorous comment from the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, who was notorious for having zero sense of humour. He phoned The Irish Press, the newspaper that his family owned, and suggested a headline: ‘British Admiral leaves Dublin by Air.’

Nelson’s head, blown off from the statute, became notorious in its own right.

It was stolen from a Dublin Corporation storage department in Clanbrassil Street by seven students from the National College of Art and Design.

It made various public appearances, including on the stage of the Olympia Theatre, when The Dubliners were performing there. Since 2005, it has been in the Gilbert Library in Pearse Street, run by the Dublin City Library Service.

In the aftermath of the explosion, many ‘tributes’ ensued, including pop songs.

However, Dublin Corporation had to pay for substantial legal claims for all the damage caused, not by the original blast, but by the Army’s subsequent two controlled explosions.

The Spire of Dublin was erected in 2003 at the exact site of Nelson’s Pillar.

Anne Enright, Co. Dublin.

QUESTION

Why are there ten million more women than men in Russia?

THE contrast in life expectancy between Russian men and women is extreme.

In 2016, the life expectancy for Russian women was 77.1 years, but only 66.5 years for men. And 25% of Russian men die before the age of 55.

Studies have shown this is caused mainly by excessive consumption of vodka, but smoking may also be a factor.

Alcohol And Mortality In Russia, an extensive review for journal The Lancet, asked 151,000 men and women how much vodka they drank and then kept track of their lives for up to a decade.

Of the 8,000 deaths among this group, most were men who consumed more than three litres of vodka a week.

Men were also far more likely to be heavy smokers.

Many of the deaths were from alcohol poisoning, accidents, violence, suicide and diseases linked to alcohol.

P. A. Collins, Worcester.

QUESTION

Was a famous figure who had been convicted of forgery depicted on an Australian banknote?

FRANCIS GREENWAY was a 19th-century, English-born architect convicted of forgery who was sentenced to transportation to a prison colony in Australia.

He designed some of New South Wales’s most prominent buildings, earning him a place on the Aus$10 note. Greenway was born in Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire, on November 20, 1777.

He became an architect of some repute in Bristol, designing the city’s Clifton Club, an exclusive private members’ establishment. However, he developed a reputation for being arrogant and intolerant of criticism.

In 1809, Greenway became bankrupt, and in 1812, he was sentenced to death for forging a financial document.

This was commuted to 14 years’ transportation. New South Wales governor Lachlan Macquarie, in dire need of skilled men, commissioned Greenway to build the Macquarie lighthouse at Dunbur Head in Vaucluse.

Greenway’s beautiful building introduced a new aesthetic, marking a change from the largely utilitarian buildings of Sydney in the early 19th century.

In 1816, he was appointed acting civil architect. However, Greenway’s unpleasant personality eventually caught up with him. Macquarie accused him of charging high fees while on a government retainer, and he was dismissed by the next governor, Thomas Brisbane, in 1822.

By 1835, he was destitute, advertising in the Sydney Gazette that ‘Francis Howard Greenway, arising from circumstances of a singular nature, is induced again to solicit the patronage of his friends and the public’.

He died in 1837, aged 59. The location of his last resting place is unknown.

In 1966, Australia adopted the Australian dollar in place of the pound. The Aus$10 note featured author and poet Henry Lawson and Greenway, along with images of several of his buildings, on the reverse.

In 1993, Greenway and Lawson were replaced by bush poet Banjo Paterson and writer Mary Gilmore.

OTom Davies, New South Wales.