Author Archives: Ian Adamson

A prominent Irish Language enthusiast has gone to great pains to tell us Irish was once widely spoken in East Belfast according to Census figures. This new source of information becomes available to us with the Census of Ireland of … Continue reading →

Gallo is a regional language of France. It is not as commonly spoken as it once was, as the standard form of French now predominates. Gallo is classified as one of the Oïl languages . Langue d’oïl (in the singular), Oïl languages … Continue reading →

‘The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall to the Angles. For centuries it was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge for criminals, a hide-out … Continue reading →

In 1970, I purchased the Ballatis of Luve, an important anthology produced by Professor John McQueen at the Edinburgh University Press. This brought together some of the best lyrics of courtly love written by Scottish poets and musicians during the … Continue reading →

Four years ago, a Conference in Monte Carlo, Monaco…Ireland in the Decade of the Great War, 1912 – 1923: Towards Commemoration resulted in the publication of an important book Towards Commemoration: Ireland in War and Revolution, edited by John Horne and Edward Madigan, … Continue reading →

On Thursday, 19th May 1988, I flew from Dublin to New York and on to Philadelphia as a guest of my friend W Paul Loane and Monsignor Michael Fedorovich of the Ukrainian Cathedral Church of the Immaculate Conception. Located in … Continue reading →

In May, 1988 I was invited to be the Guest of Honour at the Celebration of the Millenium of the Ukrainian Church in Philadelphia. I had many friends there, one a Roman Catholic priest, who asked me to attend one … Continue reading →

When I was a young doctor in the City hospital I was asked to look after a devout young Muslim from Pakistan. I brought him to the Doctors’ home where they were watching a Rugby match on the television. Someone … Continue reading →

 He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to … Continue reading →

Phoenicia was the ancient name of a very small country situated between the 34th and 36th degrees of north latitude on the Eastern Mediterranean Coast to the North of Palestine.  The northern boundary is stated by our old friend Ptolemy … Continue reading →