Madam, - Further to Conor Brady's assertion (October 18th) that "We know the names of the four men who were the de facto editors [ of The Irish Times] before the great Healy", he was surely remiss in not acknowledging the source of this largely unknown piece of knowledge.
It was with some assistance from a former staff member of your newspaper's library, John Vincent, that I was the first to assemble the complete listing of all the editors of The Irish Times to date, a listing that I supplied to Mr Brady for his recently published book.
As to your newspaper's removal to Tara Street, the caption for the evocative photograph of the paper's old front office (October 14th) stated somewhat vaguely that the picture was taken "during the 1960s". In fact it was taken at approximately 3pm on September 16th, 1951, following the fire that destroyed the paper's entire printing plant. The apparently unnoticed candles on the mahogany counters were there because staff throughout the remainder of the premises continued to operate for several hours without electricity.
Furthermore, the front office depicted was not, as stated, at D'Olier Street but at Westmoreland Street, where it continued to function for a further 25 years. Although journalists in the adjoining photographs were named, the five members of the paper's front counter staff visible in the picture were not. For the record they were: Marjorie Homan, Jim Reid, Leslie Sibbald, "Paddy" Bassett and. . . - Yours, etc,
DERMOT JAMES, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.