Ireland

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan, lead singer of the Pogues, died

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish-English musician and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the punk band The Pogues.

Oíche Shamhna - Cetlic New Year Eve (Halloween)

In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winters calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints Day, to commemorate the sou

ALBAN ELFED (Welsh Bardic name for autumn equinox)

Alban Elued, The Light of the Water, the first day of Autumn, was also called Harvesthome. Observed on September 21, the Autumnal Equinox was the day when the sun again began to wane, as the dark half of the year drew near.

St Mirren Day (patron saint of Paisley).

Feast day of St. James

Guinness St. James Gate Since mediaeval times, Dubliners held an annual drinking festival in the Saint’s honor. Fittingly, Guinness chose St. James’ Gate as the site for their brewery

James Boswell's, Life of Johnson, published

A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Northern Bank in Belfast, one of the largest bank robberies in British history

On 20 December 2004, a total of £26.5 million in cash was stolen from the headquarters of Northern Bank on Donegall Square West in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Having taken family members of two bank officials hostage, an armed gang forced the workers to help them steal used and unused pound sterling banknotes. The money was loaded into a van and driven away in two trips. This was one of the largest bank robberies in the history of the United Kingdom.

The replica famine ship, the Jeanie Johnston, arrives in Dublin after final fittings in Cork

Jeanie Johnston is a replica of a three masted barque that was originally built in Quebec, Canada, in 1847 by the Scottish-born shipbuilder John Munn. The replica Jeanie Johnston performs a number of functions: an ocean-going sail training vessel at sea and in port converts into a living history museum on 19th century emigration and, in the evenings, is used as a corporate event venue.

The Listowel Races in Co. Kerry begin. For the first year in its history, which dates to 1858, it will be a seven-day meeting.

Closing of Samhain - with animal sacrifices to exclude evil sprits (later Christianized as Martinmas)

Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”) is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. It is celebrated from sunset on October 31st to sunset on November 1st in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, Samhain is typically observed from April 30th to May 1st.