Kate Ewart-Biggs was just eight years-old, when her father, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the former British Ambassador to Ireland was assassinated by the IRA, just two weeks after the family arrived in the country.
Looking back on that day in 1976, Ewart-Biggs says she spent “a lovely morning” with her father, before he then left their home to attend an official meeting. Minutes later, the explosion from a bomb which detonated underneath her father’s car could be heard as she played in their front garden.
“It was one of those days where you knew something was up but nobody was telling you,” she tells Kathy Sheridan on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast.
Following the death of her mother to cancer more than a decade later, Kate left Britain and took off to Africa, where she lived and worked for many years. She also spent time in Brazil working with street children and disadvantaged groups.
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It was this experience which ultimately reshaped her view of the world and paved the way for her current role as Deputy Chief Executive of the British Council.
“It was one of those experiences you have as a young person, and you look back on it and you think, wow, that really did change my life,” she says.
In this episode, she speaks about the work and global reach of the British Council, her experience growing up in a diplomatic family and the brief time she spent in Ireland before her father was murdered.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above, or wherever you get your podcasts.
