Monthly Archives: February 2016

Mike the Headless Chicken

Mike the Headless Chicken (April 1945 – March 1947), also known as Miracle Mike, was a Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off. Although the story was thought by many to be a … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven, Part 9

And what of Francis Stuart?. Stuart died on 2nd February 2000, but he still has admirers of his undoubted literary genius among the Irish Academic Establishment. Francis Stuart: face to face , by Anne Mc Cartney was the first complete “critical” … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven, Part 8

On 15 January, 1943, Frank Ryan was laid low by an apoplectic fit. Francis Stuart visited him in the Charite and found him with his eyes half closed and his right arm paralysed. Ryan recovered, but one complication followed another. … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven, Part 7

Whilst the invasion armies of the Allies were massing in the United Kingdom, particularly in a Northern Ireland and Queen’s University in particular, now cleared of German spies, the German front was losing ground to the Russians and Germany was being subjected … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven: Part 6

Among the people of Northern Ireland, reactions tended to blame the mediocre Ulster Unionist government for inadequate precautions. Tommy Henderson, the great Shankill working-class hero, an Independent Unionist MP in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, summed up their feelings when … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven: Part 5

The first deliberate raid took place on the night of 7 April. (Some authors count this as the second raid of four). It targeted the docks but neighbouring residential areas were also hit. William Joyce (known as “Lord Haw-Haw”), whose … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven:Part 4

There had been little preparation for the conflict with Germany. Craigavon had said: “Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be.” And when asked in the N.I. parliament: “if the government realized ‘that these fast bombers … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven: Part 3

To quote Clissmann: “In order to obtain suitable people for the Abwehr’s special tasks Ryan and I visited the camp dressed as civilians. We were both very sceptical as to whether our mission could have any possible success. As a … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven, Part 2

In October 1938 Ryan was visited in Burgos Prison by the Irish ambassador in Madrid, Leopold Kerney. Kerney hired a lawyer for Ryan, (Jaime Michel de Champourcin, one of the best lawyers to be found in Spain, paid for by … Continue reading

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The Hidden History of Herr Hoven: Part 1

The great Ulster intellectual Emyr Estyn Evans (1905-1989), in his article on the Celtic Racialist and Nazi Spymaster in Dublin before the Second World War, Adolph Mahr, wrote of another of his aquaintance: “Suspicion fell too on another German, a certain … Continue reading

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