Sir, – Further to Steve Coronella's Irishman's Diary (August 30th), the coveted title "grandaddy of literary MDs" might reasonably go to Dr Michel de Nostredame (1503-1566). Nostradamus, as he is better known, penned over a thousand verses and is said to have predicted events as varied as the death of Henry II of France to the sinking of the Titanic. A medical graduate of the universities of Avignon and Montpellier, he dedicated a successful clinical career to the treatment of plague. – Yours, etc,
Dr STEPHEN
McWILLIAMS,
Consultant Psychiatrist,
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Saint John of God Hospital,
Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Sir, – The discussion inspired by Steve Coronella’s Irishman’s Diary needs to incorporate Oliver St John Gogarty. An accomplished ear, nose and throat surgeon, he was apparently notorious in the medical world for his caustic wit and outrageous behaviour in theatre. Meanwhile, in theatres of a different sort, he had several plays which ran at the Abbey. He was of course best known as a poet, in which field his endeavours won him an Olympic medal in 1924. He had 17 poems in a single edition of The Oxford Book of Modern Verse.
In a remarkably complete life, he also played football for Bohemians and as a goalkeeper for Preston North End. He was politically active too, serving as a senator in the Irish Free State. But as a claim toward literary significance it is hard to match the fact that, having rented the Martello Tower in Sandycove which he briefly shared with James Joyce, he was the inspiration for the character of Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.
Sir, – The Irish Texts Society, founded in 1898, was established “to advance public education by promoting the study of Irish Literature” and has, to date, published 67 volumes of Irish literary editions in its Main Series (as well as the famous Dinneen’s Dictionary).
The small group of persons who established the society included three medical doctors: George Sigerson, Norman Moore and Abraham Colles. – Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIGÍN RIGGS,
Bishopstown,
Cork.