Connemara - Notable People Associated With Connemara

Notable People Associated With Connemara

  • John Ford, the American film director, and winner of 4 academy awards, whose real name was Sean O'Feeney, was the son John Augustine Feeney from Spiddal, and filmed the Classic Movie The Quiet Man in nearby Cong, County Mayo.
  • Máire Geoghegan-Quinn is an Irish politician, and is the current European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. was born in Carna.
  • Richard Martin, MP, known as "Humanity Dick", was born in Ballynahinch Castle, Ballynahinch, and represented Galway in the House of Commons.
  • Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, was president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and lived at the family seat in Spiddal.
  • Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century, and wrote the Irish Language classic Cré na Cille, was born in Connemara.
  • Peter O'Toole, the noted actor of stage and screen, who achieved stardom in 1962 playing T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, was born in Connemara in 1932, according to accounts of his life.
  • Pádraig Pearse who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, owned a cottage near Rosmuc, where he spent his summers learning the Irish Language and writing.
  • Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, an Indian prince and cricket player, was the first head of state to make an official visit to the newly-founded Irish Free State, bought Ballynahinch Castle estate and visited the area every year till his death in 1932.
  • Tim Robinson, a cartographer, has lived many years in Connemara and published books on the area.
  • Gráinne Seoige, the Irish TV presenter and Journalist, who has worked for TG4, RTE, SKY and the BBC, is a native of Spiddal.
  • Mairtin Thornton was a heavyweight boxer, nicknamed the "Connemara Chrusher", he was the Irish HeavyWeight Boxing champion in 1943, and fought Bruce Woodcock for the British heavyweight title in 1945.
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian philosopher, was a temporary resident, for some months in 1948, at Rosroe on Killary Harbour.

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