Jackie Uí Chionna
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When the history of British codebreaking is told, the story is often a men-only preserve (for example, of the top fourteen listed actors in Bletchley Park-set The Imitation Game, only one is a woman). That perception completely ignores the fact that the vast majority of codebreakers were in fact women. And foremost among them was one who is largely unknown to the public, and whose activities were a secret even to her closest contacts - Emily Anderson.
Anderson was a leading member of British intelligence for over three decades. She played key roles in both World Wars, worked in Bletchley Park and in the Middle East, and was reckoned among the top three female codebreakers in the world. Her work coincided with her other great love - music. She is famous in musicology circles as being the first to effectively decipher the letters and diaries of Mozart and Beethoven. In 1961 Germany awarded her their highest honour, the Order of Merit First Class, completely ignorant of the fact that the interpretative skills they were honouring were the same utilised to defeat their military only a few years previously. Secrecy was the keyword of her life, as she also had affairs with other women at a time when such was not generally accepted. That few are familiar with her name is no surprise. Even those close to her had little idea that she had such a significant role in international affairs. Now, this startling new narrative of her life, complete with new material and sources The Queen of Codes will place Emily Anderson at the forefront of great British codebreakers. |
'Jackie Uí Chionna expertly weaves an immense amount of material into an engaging and highly enjoyable narrative. She adds context and explanation where necessary but doesn’t overanalyse the voices of the participants. The book will be enjoyed by UCG graduates, staff, and those with a wider connection to the university, but it shouldn’t be limited by this fact. It stands as an excellent example of how a detailed study of everyday life in a particular place can enhance our understanding of broader shifts and currents in history.' Adrian Grant, Women's History Association, 2021. |
This book tells the story of University College Galway from 1930 to 1980, through the reminiscences of dozens of people who were there. Interviews were conducted with everyone from college presidents to grounds staff, from students who began their college lives in the 1930s to the post-free-education student activists of the 1970s.
There are tales of lady superintendents supervising the moral wellbeing of female students; of dodgy digs; of eccentric professors; and of maternal tea ladies. There are scholarship students coming to Galway with a single change of clothes and very little else except a keen desire for knowledge; demobbed American GIs coming to study medicine in the 1950s and creating quite an impression on the female population; army cadets, nuns and brothers who made up quite distinct strands of the student population; and generations of ordinary students from every part of the country and every socioeconomic background, who came to UCG for a good education – and to have some fun. Based on ‘The University in Living Memory’, an oral history project initiated by the National University of Ireland Galway in 2007, this is a portrait of a university that changed considerably over time, but retains the affection of those who have been associated with it over many decades. The book was officially launched in the Aula Maxima, NUIG, by former President of NUI Galway, Prof. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, in February 2020. |
‘It’s a terrific read and must be flying out the doors of Shop Street,’ Joe Cully, History Ireland, March/April 2017. |
Martin ‘Máirtín Mór’ McDonogh was, in every sense of the word, Galway’s ‘big man.’ A natural entrepreneur, and a man of drive, ambition, and no small intellect, he took his father’s company, Thomas McDonogh & Sons, and expanded it to the extent that he became the largest employer in Connacht and one of Galway’s richest men. In turn a merchant, farmer, industrialist, and politician, McDonogh entered the national political stage when he was elected to Dáil Eireann, where he represented Galway as a Cumann na nGaedheal T.D. from 1927 until his death in 1934. McDonogh came to dominate every aspect of Galway life, from the world of business to its sporting and civic life.
A colourful character, who never married and lived a frugal – and somewhat reclusive – life, he was acknowledged as ‘impatient’ and ‘brusque’ by his friends, and ‘terrifying’ by his enemies, but following his death it was widely recognised, by friend and enemy alike, that ‘For half a century he was Galway.’
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