X-Nico

unusual facts about Belfast, Northern Ireland



1953 in British television

1 May – The BBC brings into service television transmitters at Pontop Pike (County Durham) and Glencairn (Belfast) to improve coverage prior to the Coronation broadcast.

1978 in Northern Ireland

18 January - The European Court of Human Rights finds Britain guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of republican internees in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.

Agonum muelleri

In Europe, it is found in Albania, the Azores, Baltic states, Belarus, Benelux, Great Britain including the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, mainland Portugal, Russia, Sardinia, Sicily (doubtful), mainland Spain, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Yugoslavian states, and Central Europe.

Alexander Robinson

In an interview with the north Belfast playwright Martin Lynch in the 1980s, Robinson claimed he worked for Al Capone and Joseph Kennedy.

Anderson baronets

The Anderson Baronetcy, of Parkmount in the County of the City of Belfast and of Mullaghmore in the County of Monaghan, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 22 June 1911 for Robert Anderson, Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1908 to 1910.

Antrim RFC

Antrim RFC (Antrim Rugby Football Club) is a rugby club based at Allen Park in Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Antrim, Nova Scotia

It was first settled by the Kerrs, McMichael and McMullin families who came from Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Apollon XI

She was chartered by Burns & Laird Lines Ltd. for the service between Belfast and Liverpool, also from Cork to Fishguard, Dublin to Liverpool and for the service Glasgow - Dublin - Liverpool.

Belfast, New York

Facing Jake Kilrain in Richburg, Mississippi that August, the fight went 72 rounds before Sullivan was declared the winner.

Belvoir Park Hospital

Belvoir Park Hospital was a cancer treatment specialist hospital situated in Newtownbreda, South Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Big Self

The line-up expanded to a six-piece with the addition of Owen Howell (previously drummer with Belfast band Stage B) on percussion, but then drummer Michael Morris returned to live in Belfast, and soon after saxophonist Gordy Blair left to join Australian band Dave Graney and the Rattlesnakes.

Bob Kyle

During this time the Whites claimed three League titles, two Irish Cups, one City Cup, three County Antrim Shields and one Belfast Charity Cup.

Brendan O'Neill

Brendan O'Neill (musician) (born 1951, Belfast), Irish musician, drummer of the late Rory Gallagher band and now Nine Below Zero

British Superkart Championship

The karts race on full size British circuits such as Pembrey, Silverstone, Bishopscourt (Northern Ireland), Castle Combe, Darley Moor, Snetterton and Croft, Cadwell Park, Thruxton, Donington Park, Oulton Park along with the 31st running of the MSA British Superkart Grand Prix at Cadwell Park.

Caolas

Hirta was also the most western settlement in the United Kingdom, which is now Belleek, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Cathal Brugha water polo

The Cathal Brugha club was formed in 1932 and was based in the old Falls Baths on the Falls Road, Belfast.

Celia de Fréine

Also in 2009 the Abbey Theatre commissioned her short play Casadh which was given a rehearsed reading at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin and at An Chultúrlann in Belfast as part of the Gach Áit Eile series.

Chief Justice

The courts of England and Wales are headed by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales; in Northern Ireland's courts, the equivalent position is the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and in Scottish courts, the equivalent is the Lord President of the Court of Session.

Earnest Goodsir-Cullen

In 1947 the family went to live with Elsie's mother in Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and Ernest had to re-qualify as a doctor at Queen's University, Belfast.

Electricity sector in the United Kingdom

The UK grid is connected to adjacent European and Irish electrical grids by submarine power cables, including for links to northern France (HVDC Cross-Channel), Northern Ireland (HVDC Moyle), Republic of Ireland (East–West Interconnector), the Isle of Man (Isle of Man to England Interconnector), and the Netherlands (BritNed).

FA Trophy

Former Northern Ireland international Martin O'Neill, in his first managerial role, led Wycombe Wanderers to two wins, and Geoff Chapple managed Kingstonian to victory twice and Woking three times, all within the space of seven years.

Garbhan Downey

In 2010, he won a contest to predict the winners of Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster constituencies, missing out on just one, Naomi Long, who surprisingly beat First Minister Peter Robinson in East Belfast.

Gary Arbuthnot

Gary Arbuthnot gives regular recitals for Fred Olsen and Cunard Cruise Lines and he has also performed as a soloist at venues including the South Bank Centre in London, the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Pollack Hall in Montreal and the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

Henry Benson, Baron Benson

In 1963 Benson submitted his report, which recommended closing all railways in Northern Ireland except the Belfast commuter lines to Bangor, County Down and Larne and the main line between Belfast and the Republic of Ireland, and the reduction of the main line between Portadown and the Republic to single track.

History of Fianna Fáil

The election of Tony Blair in Britain gave renewed hope of an agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, an issue that has traditionally always been an aspiration of Irish Governments.

History of the Jews in Northern Ireland

Well known Belfast Jews include: Ronald Appleton QC, Crown Prosecutor during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, who was elected President of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation and served in that post until he retired in 2008; Belfast actors Harold Goldblatt and Harry Towb; pioneer of modern dance in Northern Ireland Helen Lewis; and jazz commentator Solly Lipschitz.

Irish Home Rule movement

1920: Fourth Irish Home Rule Act (replaced Third Act, passed and implemented as the Government of Ireland Act 1920) which established Northern Ireland as a Home Rule entity within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and attempted to establish Southern Ireland as another but instead resulted in the partition of Ireland and Irish independence through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922.

Jennifer Johnston

Born in Dublin, to the Irish actor/director Shelah Richards and the playwright Denis Johnston, a cousin of the late actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, via Fitzgerald's mother, Edith, Johnston was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and currently lives in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

John Grubb Richardson

John Grubb Richardson (13 November 1813 – 1891) was an Irish linen merchant, industrialist and philanthropist who founded the model village of Bessbrook near Newry in 1845, in what is now Northern Ireland.

Julian Simmons

Simmons' career in broadcasting began when he appeared in amateur drama productions in Belfast while working for Air Canada at their offices in the city.

Kapelle der Versöhnung

The chapel also has a replica of Coventry Cathedral’s Statue of Reconciliation, a gift of the Cathedral found in Hiroshima and Belfast too – also places emerging from the destructiveness of war.

Kieran Dynes

Kieran Dynes, born in Clonmore Dungannon, Northern Ireland, is a race car driver currently competing in the European Late model(NASCAR) series, he has also raced in the NASCAR nationwide series and the ARCA remax series in the United States.

Latvia national under-17 football team

The following players have been called up for the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship matches against Northern Ireland, Turkey and Luxembourg in Belfast and Dungannon in November 2013.

Lilian Bland

In 1900, following the death of her mother, Bland and her father moved to Tobercorran House in Carnmoney, north of Belfast, to live with her aunt Sarah.

Live at Austin City Limits Festival

Live at Austin City Limits Festival by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison is a limited edition live album recorded from the Austin City Limits Festival concert at which he was the first night headliner on September 15, 2006.

Loughlynch

Loughlynch or Lough Lynch is a townland in the parish of Billy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Luna Nera

The former Drawing Offices of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, once the largest shipyard in the world, where the RMS Titanic was designed and built.

Mo Courtney

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Courtney was part in a gang of teenagers from Belfast's Shankill Road and nearby districts who spent their days near the Buffs Club on Century Street in the nearby Oldpark district.

Monty's Pass

Monty's Pass was the winner of the 2003 Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool, when ridden by Barry Geraghty, trained by Jimmy Mangan and running in the colours of the Dee Racing Syndicate, a group of owners based in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, and led by Blackpool born bingo hall owner Mike Futter.

MS European Endeavour

She was chartered to DFDS Seaways in August 2010 and early September 2010 to provide refit cover on the BirkenheadDublin and Belfast routes.

Of One Belief

The Group was established on December 7, 2007 at a general meeting in the Elk Restaurant in Toome, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which was attended by over 400 people.

Official Irish Republican Army

However it retained a strong presence in certain localities, notably the Lower Falls, Andersonstown, Turf Lodge and the Markets areas of Belfast, along with a big presence in Derry but particularly Free Derry in the Bogside area as well as Newry and South Down.

Peter Murnoy

Murnoy was elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland as the Nationalist Party MP for South Down at the 1945 general election.

Robbie Blake

He made his debut for the club alongside Northern Ireland striker David Healy in the first match of the 2005–06 season against Millwall and scored his first goal just two days later in the Championship match against Cardiff City at Ninian Park.

The Healing Game

On "Burning Ground" the singer relives a common scene from his childhood when jute was shipped to Belfast from India.

The Troubles in Claudy

The 13 people killed there in the Troubles are equivalent to one percent of the village's 2001 population; in comparison, the death rate in Belfast was equivalent to just over half a percent of the city's 2001 population, and that in Derry a quarter of a percent.

The Vals

To celebrate the release of their debut single 'Yesterday Today', the band played a special show in Belfast with Chris Helme of John Squire’s post-Stone Roses band The Seahorses.

Thomas Begley

Begley was killed when a bomb he was planting on the Shankill Road, West Belfast, Northern Ireland intending to kill Johnny Adair and senior members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) exploded prematurely, killing him, a UDA member and eight Protestant civilians.

Ulster Hospital

The hospital provides acute services to 250,000 people in the North Down, Ards and Castlereagh council areas, as well as east Belfast.

Ulster Project

Currently, the project brings teens from eleven cities in Northern Ireland, including Banbridge, Belfast, Derry, Omagh, Coleraine, Strabane, Sion Mills, Limavady, Portadown, Castlederg, Enniskillen and Cookstown.


see also

A Night in November

A Night in November follows Kenneth Norman McCallister, a Protestant dole clerk working in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Ballymurphy

Ballymurphy, Belfast, an area in Belfast, Northern Ireland, known for the Ballymurphy Massacre.

Bank Building

Bank Buildings, Belfast, a building located at 1–27 Castle Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Belfast Airport

George Best Belfast City Airport, serving Belfast, Northern Ireland, a smaller airport closer to Belfast City Centre

Belfast International Airport, serving Belfast, Northern Ireland, the main international airport

Ernest Charles Nelson

Ernest Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially Erica, and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially Adenanthos.

Félix Anaut

Notable recent events have included exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Centre CAM in Mont-de-Marsan France; The James Wray Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK; The Barnard Gallery, Capetown; The Zimmer Stewart Gallery, England, UK; BBK (Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa) Foundation, Bilbao; Caja Rural de Aragon Foundation, Zaragoza.

Jim Knoedel

In 1996 he coached the USA Women's Ekiden team competing in Yokohama, Japan, and in 1999, the Junior Men's Coach at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Kennomeat

Robert Wilson & Sons were an established manufacturer of pet foods, with canneries in Barrhead near Glasgow and at Malone in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and in the 1930s they registered the names Kennomeat and Kattomeat.

RCJ

Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast in Chichester Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Red Barn

Red Barn Gallery, a photography exhibition space in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Therese Hughes

She self nominated and was awarded a MBE in the 2008 Honours List in recognition of her work with patients in The City Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland.