Sir, – I was fascinated by Elgy Gillespie's Irish Woman's Diary (March 30th) regarding William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane and Hearst Castle in California.
More than 20 years ago while working as the London correspondent of the Irish Press I travelled on Ryanair's inaugural flight from Luton to Galway.
The airline’s London maestro Pat Carroll, a Galwegian, introduced me to the proprietor of Kenny’s Bookshop in central Galway. He told me that when he opened the shop in the 1950s it was a real struggle to stay afloat selling Irish-interest books.
One day, a rotund American strolled into the shop and took an interest in an antiquarian Irish history book. “How much?” he asked. “£15” replied Kenny, a substantial sum at the time. “Will you take a cheque?” asked the Yank. Now few people had chequebooks and there was no such thing as bank cards to back up the transaction. Kenny agreed.
Delighted, the customer signed the cheque William Randolph Hearst and departed with the book. He was the son of the original Citizen Kane.
About a month later a post office van pulled up outside the shop and the postman informed Kenny that the entire contents of the van were letters for him, all from the US.
Hearst junior had a syndicated newspaper column in more than 100 titles in the US and on his return home had eulogised in print the little bookshop which accepted his cheque. Explained the founder: “I was nearly five years filling all the orders for books as a result of his article. It set me up.” – Yours, etc, JOHN McENTEE Fulham, London.