The Forgettables by Myles Dungan

The Forgettables by Myles Dungan

You won't find Mary Robinson, Ernest Shackleton or Rory McIlroy in this volume -- they are among the unforgettables who have shaped Irish life. Instead, meet some fascinating, Irish people (and animals), who have advanced (or set back) the cause of everything from astronomy to zoology. 

There's the honourable but underappreciated Valentine Greatrakes, a 17th-century witchfinder and healer from Waterford. There's also the bygone baddie Miler McGrath, possibly the worstbishop in the history of religion who appears to have been a Franciscan monk, a Catholic bishop AND a bishop of the Church of Ireland at more or less the same time. Then there's Paddy the Pigeon, the WW2 veteran who brought the news of the Allied D-Day success to England.

Be inspired by their stories and maybe one day, you can be forgettable too!

Myles Dungan is an historian and well-known radio broadcaster with RTE Radio 1. He currently presents 'The History Show'. He presented the 'Drivetime' programme on Radio 1 for twelve years and also presented the RTE arts programme 'Rattlebag' from 2000 to 2006.

He is the author of a number of books on various historical topics. These include Irish Voices from the Great War (1995), They Shall Grow Not Old (1997), The Theft of the Irish Crown Jewels (2003), How the Irish Won the West (2005), The Captain and the King: William O'Shea, Parnell and Late Victorian Ireland (2009) and Conspiracy: Irish Political Trials (2010).

In 2007 Myles received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at UC Berkeley and gained a PhD in history from Trinity College Dublin in 2012. He is a board member of the inaugural Hay/Kells Festival 2013.