Spare a thought for 1798 historians who are having an unprecedentedly busy year. Ruan O'Donnell, who held a party in Bray Town Hall on Monday night to celebrate his new book, The Rebellion In Wicklow 1798, estimates that by the end of this year he will have given over 50 talks on his chosen specialised subject. That's in addition to a second volume on the 1798 rebels due out later this year, his weekly 1798 diary for this paper and his lecturing tasks in UCD.
Professor Thomas Bartlett, the respected academic and Wolfe Tone expert, who made the speeches at Ruan's launch, has a similarly demanding schedule; one that is more reminiscent of a rock star than an academic, taking in America, Rome, Amsterdam, London. "Up at 7 a.m. every morning and me supposed to be in the autumn of my life," he grinned ruefully. Fittingly, the hall was thronged with members of the 37th Wicklow Militia, complete with red coats, and just two pike men - the rest of the pike men didn't turn up. Over the hubbub, Prof Bartlett managed to sing the praises of Ruan's book which he described as "banishing forever the notion that the rebellion was solely a Wexford affair". Ruan, in his turn, sang the praises of his two grandfathers, James Kirwan and George O'Donnell, who as amateur historians started him on the road to the busy career of a 1798 historian. Other historians included Dr Jim Quinn, Dr C.J. Woods and James Maguire who are all working on the Dictionary Of Irish Biography, while Ruan's wife, Maeve O'Donnell, and their four children, Ruairi, Fiachra, Cormac and Saoirse, also added their support.