Brian Costello

I enjoyed this chat with @barry_shep . Our respective g-grandfathers were neighbours, friends and even court case opponents! #cloughjordan

@RobLooseCannon The initial charge on the Bastille was led by an Irishman, Col. James Blackwell rte.ie/archives/2016/…

Today in 1789 was the "Storming of the Bastille" in Paris. Bizarrely, among those infamous escapees from that notorious prison was a Dubliner named James F. X. Whyte. The supposedly impregnable fortress was ‘liberated’ by rioting peasants, revolting against the despised Louis XVI and his decadent aristocracy. For centuries, this state prison was a symbol of royal power, used as a threat and punishment for political prisoners and other undesirables. To make things even stranger than a Dub being banged up there, on the day of the storming, he was one of only seven inmates imprisoned there. Whyte, also known as Comte Whyte de Malleville, was born in Dublin in 1730. Of Jacobite decent, he served during the Seven Years War. His military career took him to Paris as a captain in Lally’s Regiment of the Irish Brigade. Whilst there, he fell in love with a local and married in 1767. Sadly, the romantic fairytale turned to tragedy. He suffered an unexplained psychotic breakdown in 1781. Legal records, which may have been deceptive to justify his incarceration, stated the Irishman thought he was the Roman emperror Julius Ceasar. He was committed to the Bastille as a private prisoner by his family, who then inherited all his significant wealth. So when an army of armed peasants raided the prison, set him free, and proceeded to parade the wildeyed soldier around Paris like an emperor, he must've felt his tragic dillusions were finally vindicated! An English doctor called Edward Rigby witnessed this "royal" parade and described Whyte thus "He was draped in a greasy reddish Cloak - his beard was very long & his Hair which had not been combed during this long Period was grown very long - closely matted together - was divided into two parts and reached lower than is knees". Truth be told, his mental illness and the dungeom conditions of his incarceration had left him decrepit. Eyewitness accounts said the Dubliner was ‘a little feeble old man who exhibited an appearance of childishness and fatuity, tottering as he walked and his countenance exhibiting little more than the smile of an idiot’. His glorious new status was sadly not to last. The very next day, he was committed to the Charenton "lunatic" Asylum, where he was once again in the company of the famous hedonistic erotic author the Marquis de Sade who had also been recently liberated from the Bastille. Buy the Dublin Time Machine a pint and support the DTM Book ko-fi.com/buchanandublin…

@donlav Condolences to you Don. The loss of a twin is a specific form of loss and grief. RIP

#Media To let friends and colleagues know. My twin brother, Michael ( Mike) Lavery has died suddenly after a short illness. Mike, who was meticulous in his accuracy, worked in ' The Roscommon Herald', ' The Leitrim Observer' and ' The Evening Herald' Arrangements later.

@reptracker I saw Floriana play @sligorovers in The Showgrounds. 1994/95 Cup Winners Cup

Shamrock Rovers have been drawn against Maltese champions Floriana in the First Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League. Floriana claimed the Maltese title last month under Malta’s new league format, securing their 27th league championship and ending a wait of over three decades for a league crown. They reached the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Conference League last season before being eliminated by FC Ballkani, and on paper this looks like a favourable draw for Stephen Bradley’s side as they begin another European campaign.

@RTERadio1 your new schedule continues to grate - and lose you listeners. Callans Kicks rudely disturbing peaceful Saturday mornings 😩🙉👎

@BrigidLaffan @EamonDelaney10 I believe they were hurriedly painted green in the days before St Patrick’s Day 1922. The minutiae of State establishment!

This post box in Glasthule predates the establishment of the Irish state- it was installed before Queen Victoria died in 1901 & rebranded green with the establishment of the Irish state

@pris_dom Well done Dominic. Fascinating subject. I’d love to read it sometime

Finally - PhD thesis was bound & delivered in Jan.

@bcarroll2025 @GaaCollector I have one from, I think, December 1990, NFL in Croke Park.

@BrianCostello_ @GaaCollector I have it in the collection, a great memory!

1987 national football league Dublin v Roscommon. #gaacollector

@dpjkellett Anelka

@_onlyscott Claude Makele

Hazard and Courtois excluded, name a player that played for Chelsea and Real Madrid Difficult

@LeagueofIreland ……Harry McLoughlin, rain, 1983 🏆

Sligo Rovers and Bohemians makes you think of...

@gpowithistory @1916Relatives He was very well regarded as a Volunteer training officer in the reorganisation after the Rising, particularly in North Tipperary.

#OTD in 1960, Seán McLoughlin died. Often referred to as the 'forgotten boy-commandant' of 1916, McLoughlin's scouting and leadership earned him a promotion in the final hours of the Easter Rising. However, his eventual emigration led to his name almost disappearing. #history

Followers and friends, asking a favour! My brothers and I, taking Dad to Dublin for #walesVIreland on 6th March @SixNationsRugby for his 80th birthday! Need 1 more ticket!! If anyone can help?? DM me Or retweet please! Many thanks 🙏

@BarryWhelan16 @FourCourtsPress Looking forward to this. One of the many important forgotten figures who “lived for Ireland” . “Dying for Ireland” is over-rated, yet endlessly written about.

Delighted to sign a book deal with @FourCourtsPress on Michael Noyk, a solicitor who played a vital role in achieving Irish independence 🇮🇪

@neilojim1972 @DrDanMO Jim, I admire your seemingly endless energy for refuting this kind of nonsense. Well done.

@DrDanMO Clearly you're not emeritus in history. Ireland breached neutrality from the start of war

This says a lot about Ireland…

@RobLooseCannon I got the “knowing nod” a few times when I lived on campus in the early 90s. He radiated calm contentment

"Old Man Belfield" was a beloved and mysterious gentleman who peacefully roamed the looping paths of University College Dublin’s Belfield campus between the late 1970s and the early 2020s. His real name was Michael Byrne, and he was greatly respected. He was usually seen wearing a grey, cloak-like coat and wheeling a battered bicycle. He possessed the effortless aesthetic of a monk, and if you were lucky, he would give you a knowing nod as he passed by. Mr. Byrne arrived in the area sometime in the late 1970s when he was already sleeping rough on land near the Merrion Road. When development pushed him out, he drifted into Belfield itself. He rarely spoke, but the atmosphere of calm around him was a kind of communication and students and staff were very fond of him. As with any non-conforming figure, myths grew up around him. One persistent tale claimed that Old Man Belfield had intervened late one night to save a young woman from an assault, dragging the attacker away before melting back into the darkness of the campus hedges. Other rumors speculated that he was a retired academic who had suffered a breakdown. None of these stories survived even cursory scrutiny, and Mr. Byrne himself never confirmed or denied anything. He was offered accommodation more than once and turned it down. He accepted social welfare but preferred to sleep outdoors. A long-time acquaintance, who helped him collect payments, later said that he was not unhappy. He simply did not want more than he had. On the 11th of January 2021, Michael Byrne passed away on the grounds where he had lived for more than three decades. He was 71. News of his death traveled far beyond Belfield, carried by alumni scattered across the world. His funeral had a huge attendance, reflecting the generations of students, faculty, and distant admirers whose lives he had been a mysterious and beautiful part of. Today the 'Michael Byrne Community Fund' provides accommodation bursaries for students facing hardship. A memorial bench sits in the Rose Garden at Belfield House, providing an appropriately quiet place for reflection. Each year, 'UCD Michael Byrne Mile' brings students and staff together in remembrance.

@Ankaman616 @UTDTruth He needs to watch clips of Mark Hughes - he put the laces through every shot

@UTDTruth He has all the tools, he just needs to be nastier.

Sesko 5+ shots for 2 straight games, I'm a happy man but ye he's gotta start smashing it instead of passing to the keeper

@KillianM2 @RTEsport Great to see that again! (It’s 1982 Triple Crown though - I was at the “decider” v Scotland)

One of the earliest @RTEsport montages I've found (rudely ended early by Glen Frey on Top of the Pops) Just wondering, does anyone remember any older ones on RTE? I have a feeling this is one of the first. Triple Crown 1985

@PatsyMcGarryIT Lovely memories Patsy. A big roundabout to navigate on “that grand entrance” these days.

Yet another year is almost gone...! Have you noticed this is one of the most significant days of the year? irishtimes.com/culture/2025/1…

@DublinMilitary @1916Relatives Important organisation. Can you post thd rest of the guest list ?

Souvenir pamphlet produced for the 1916 1921 Club first annual commemoration dinner held in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin on 30th April 1942. The attendance list is a who’s who of the Irish Revolutionary period.