Dermot O'Donnell: Dermot O'Donnell, who has died aged 81, was a popular Belfast showbusiness figure and the owner of The Abercorn Bar, the cabaret club that was bombed by the IRA in March 1972.
The bomb left in the packed city centre bar on a busy Saturday afternoon killed two young women and injured more than 130 people, leaving many of them maimed for life.
A five-minute warning for the general area proved totally inadequate as the device exploded just two minutes after the 999 call was made.
O'Donnell vowed to reopen the bar and, against the odds, stayed in business until 1989.
Born in 1925, he was the eldest of the three sons of Percy and Patricia O'Donnell, Belmont Road, east Belfast.
He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, leaving at the outbreak of the second World War to join the Royal Air Force.
During the war he served as a rear-gunner in a Stirling bomber.
His flying jacket was part of his wardrobe for many years, and he cut a dashing figure wearing it at the wheel of a Triumph Roadster.
Following his first marriage he established The Paper Disposal Company, operating as a paper mill agent; he also held the agency for Kraft Paper.
Changing direction, with Trevor Kane and George Connell he brought ice-skating to Belfast. In November 1964 he and his partners promoted The Beatles in concert at the Kings Hall.
The group was then at the height of its popularity, having recently conquered America and set to top the charts with I Feel Fine.
He and Kane went into the bar trade at the Russell Court and later took over the ownership of the Queen's Court Hotel in Bangor, Co Down.
There the leading showbands of the day pulled in the crowds, and the young Van Morrison made an early public appearance.
"He was just a wee fellow from off the Woodstock Road, it cost me next to nothing," O'Donnell said.
In the mid-1960s he set about establishing the Abercorn Bar as Belfast's top cabaret venue.
During the worst years of the Troubles he presented acts like PJ Proby, Korean Kittens, Los Reales del Paraguay and the Real Thing to the city.
Local acts included Frank Carson, Gloria Hunniford and Roy Walker.
He joked that his second wife, Norma, came to the Abercorn to "get off" with Engelbert Humperdinck but got him instead.
O'Donnell regarded the comedian Jimmy Cricket as one of the most genuine showbusiness people he ever met.
He recalled Cricket's routine, which included a running gag about the willingness of acts to appear at the Abercorn for very modest fees.
The comedian told the audience that it had cost him £10 to travel from Glasgow and that O'Donnell was paying him £9 for the night.
By the late 1980s, however, time had run out for the Abercorn.
The Troubles had taken their toll and not even the introduction of exotic dancers could save the club from closure.
O'Donnell subsequently ran a guesthouse in Carryduff, Co Down.
A schools rugby player, he never lost his enthusiasm for the game.
An immensely strong prop forward, he and his brothers played together in the Instonians Senior Cup-winning team in 1958; he was also a fiercely competitive squash player.
He enjoyed a flutter and a late-night game of poker.
Famous for his parties, he never passed up the opportunity to sing Little Old Wine Drinker Me.
He is survived by his wife Norma, son Kevin, daughter Karen, brothers Don and Desmond and stepdaughters Karen and Paula.
Dermot O'Donnell: born August 29th, 1925; died September 3rd, 2006