ZOZIMUS

WHO now remembers Michael Dillon? A big baldy man, he presented Mart and Market on Raidio (and later Telefis) Eireann. It only lasted five minutes — but despite the show’s brevity, the presenter described by one radio critic as “mesmeric” was a national hero to the farming community.

It was simple, really: he told them the livestock prices in the marts around the country — a vital piece of intelligence, because they now knew what their beasts were worth.

He started with Raidio Eireann in 1962 and switched to Telefis Eireann when the new television service opened and rapidly became known as “the voice of farming”.

When my grandparents got the television in, the set was turned on for the Angelus, the news, Mart and Market and the showjumping, because Eddie Macken from Granard was then the star of the circuit.

Michael Dillon was on the television for so long that he became known as ‘Cowjack’ to townies, because his big bald head resembled that of Telly Savalas, the actor who played Kojak in the popular television series.

Michael Dillon, who was born in Dublin, the son of a chemistry professor in University College Galway, lived the dream by acquiring a farm near Celbridge, Co Kildare, where he died in July 1992.

If he was first with the heifer prices, the probate of his will took considerably longer, for last week we learned that he left estate valued at €1.1m. Not bad for reading out the heifer prices and having to put up with being referred to as “that big bald fella”.

******* AS a frequent bus user, Zozimus finds the arrogant antics of the toffee-nosed Merc and BMW brigade of Ballsbridge deplorable.

Portraying the worst aspects of the Dublin 4 mentality, they seem to think that their foliage is more important than allowing ordinary people to take bus journeys with the certainty that they will get to their destination in an allotted time.

These patrician multimillion-euro homeowners have colluded with a local politician to tie red ribbons on about 100 trees lining the Merrion Road in a carefully devised plot to stop the excellent and longawaited plan to make it a bus corridor.

Okay, we’re all in favour of trees, but these property millionaires didn’t plant the trees, they haven’t maintained them, nor will they accept responsibility for the roots destroying large sections of pathway and becoming a danger to passing buses.

But they want to put the interest of a few trees before the hard-working folk who are stuck in buses for far longer than they should be after paying exorbitant prices for their fares.

It is about time that the ‘common good’ became a feature of Irish life, not just the good of a few privileged people who happen to live in big houses and don’t care about those who have to travel on public transport every day.

It is time that the elites and their trees were cut down to size.

If they feel so strongly about it, they can always plant more trees in their ample gardens to compensate for the loss of about 100 trees lining the road and blocking a better bus service for those who don’t drive petrol-guzzling cars, and also hopefully providing a safer surface for cyclists.

******* FOR those of us who still like to think of Lansdowne Road as the home of rugby and The Point as a place for concerts, it is good to see someone has got the “naming rights” right, for a change.

Old Belvedere Rugby Club is to rename its home ground on Anglesea Road the Ollie Campbell Park — to celebrate one of the true gentlemen of sport, a colossus on and off the rugby pitch.

Not only was he one of the all-time greats of the game, but Ollie (who doesn’t like to talk about himself very much) has done unbelievable work for the IRFU Charitable Trust which helps injured rugby players.

The Anglesea Road property — probably one of the most valuable sites in Dublin — is jointly owned by the Old Belvedere club and financier Dermot Desmond. Naming it Ollie Campbell Park is part of the club’s celebration of its first 100 years of existence.

Ollie was the main speaker at a recent dinner and we hear his speech, as fluent as his style on the pitch, was greeted with a standing ovation.

One of the burning topics of the evening was just how old Old Belvo actually is. There are two schools of thought. It was founded in 1919, but following the execution of 18-year-old clubman Kevin Barry and the imprisonment of various players during the War of Independence, it folded, before being revived some years later. But 100 years sounds good enough for us.

******* OUR man on the inside rail at Kilbeggan is still intrigued by Michael O’Leary’s decision to close down his racing interests after the current crop of horses have run their race.

Racing has always enjoyed the patronage of the rich and famous and it is estimated that O’Leary’s successful tilt at the glittering prizes of Punchestown, Cheltenham, Aintree and other far-flung courses cost about €4m a year.

They say that the way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a large fortune. Someone who has a fortune in the O’Leary league, said to be in the region of €700m, is developer Luke Comer, the builder and developer who is also a wealthy patron of the turf, although his ride has been a lot bumpier than O’Leary’s.

Although he has a huge number of horses in training, he’s only had a couple of winners this year, and never came near O’Leary’s success of winning the big prizes of the turf — which means that it isn’t all about money, even though that helps.

However, we’re glad to see his Brookville Racing, which is based in the splendid setting of Palmerstown House, near Naas, Co Kildare, has reported a profit of €1,444 for the last year.

A note in the accounts says that Brookville Racing has a loan of €104,115 from another of Mr Comer’s companies, which goes by the name of Generous Property Company. Generous indeed!

Palmerstown House was once owned by the fascinating Anne Bullitt and later by local boy made good James Mansfield, before his empire collapsed.

We also liked a note by the architectural historian Mark Bence Jones on Palmerstown House, now an upmarket golf course which is part of the farflung Comer property empire.

In his Guide To Irish Country Houses, he concludes: “The well-known caterer Mrs B Lawlor, owner of the popular hotel in Naas, began her career as a cook to the 7th Earl and Countess of Mayo at Palmerstown.”

Is that a putdown or what?