Sir, - On the evening of June 6th at seven o'clock, I tuned the radio to that stalwart station BBC4, and got cricket! (expletive deleted). So I turned in to RTE1 and heard the unmistakable voice of John Quinn. It was his new series, This Place Speaks to Me. He was in Carrick-on-Suir interviewing the writer and local historian, Michael Coady. This was serendipity! It also demonstrated that excellence does not necessarily involve a huge budget and a large cast of professional actors. Here we had two men walking around Carrick, talking about the town's history. It was educational and fascinating.
Of course, not everybody is blessed with the dulcet voices of these two exceptional men. Michael Coady spoke about the history of his native town and I could not help comparing his intriguing account with the boring stuff I remember hearing as a schoolboy. He painted vivid pictures of what life must have been like in Carrick in times past. He recited his poignant poem about Sally Edmonds, who died when she was three years old, ending with the words, "Little Sally Edmonds is 200 years in clay". He spoke of a 1799 census of the town which revealed that it had a population of 11,000 people, twice today's population - which is consistent with the generally accepted figure of the national population before the famine. The records for that time identified the names and occupations of all the people, their servants, apprentices, and other intimate details. There were people who were identified as "paupers". Up to 30 people - several married couples and their children - lived in one house. The town was cramped, with people living in cellars, and yet this was considered to be a relatively prosperous town.
Kudos to John Quinn, whose inspired work continues to highlight the general lack of imagination in so much of our domestic radio programming. As for today's schoolchildren, I cannot help wondering if history is still being taught in the same old dreary way that I remember. Or rather, perhaps the question should be if history is still being taught? - Yours, etc. Myles Crowe,
Seapoint,
Co Dublin.