London, Midland And Scottish

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In addition to the famous trans-Atlantic ships (image above), Belfast was part of the travel network in the UK and Ireland (image below). Before there was British Railways, there were the Big 4: the Southern, Great Western, London and Northeastern, and London, Midland, and Scottish (LMS) railways. The latter included the railways in the Northern Counties. In addition to railways, the company owned canals, ships (including the Princess Victoria which sank on the Larne-Stranraer route), and hotels. “Belfast-built liners bridged the Atlantic and took people all over the world.” “Railway-owned ships ensured a seamless journey throughout the British Isles.”

Previously:The history of Shipbuilding in Belfast.

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Shaun Dreams Of The Dead

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Three more panels from the Glen Molloy gallery on Corporation St: Shaun (of Shaun Of The Dead, played by Simon Pegg), Dom Cobb (from Inception, played by Leonardo DiCaprio), and David Bowie.

Previously: Jack Nicholson in God Of Madness | Billy Casper from Kes.

Shaun replaces DMC’s Three Missed Calls, below.

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Ed’s Entry, Jim’s Departure

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Flowers for James (Jim) Hughes, killed by stabbing, outside Divis Tower, where he lived, in November 2016. (Irish News | Belfast Telegraph)

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Cousins

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Cousins Francis Hughes (Ó hÁodha) and Thomas McElwee (Mac Gıolla Bhuídhe) were the second and ninth of the 1981 hunger strikers to die. They share a grave in St. Mary’s churchyard in their hometown of Bellaghy, Co. London-/Derry. The image above shows their gravestone “erected by the people of Co. Derry and Co. Antrim”.

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X03932 ı measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a nanamacha óglaıgh na héıreann IRA

Billy Casper

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The hopeless case, Billy Casper (played by David Bradley), from the Ken Loach film Kes, flashes two fingers at the world – as seen in the poster for the movie.

This is another of the 10 panels by Glen Molloy on Corporation Street. See previously: Jack Nicholson in God Of Madness.

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Generations Of Health

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These two murals of five women and five babies at the rear of the Maureen Sheehan health care centre are entering (at least) their eighth year of existence and are showing their wear due to both the natural and human causes, such as graffiti and burning (see previously: A Philosophy of Liberation). For the murals in better condition (in 2010) see M05732 and M05733.

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Shipbuilding

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A history of shipbuilding and its role in Belfast’s industrial life is told in the first five panels of a 13-panel installation along York Road (“The harbour made York Street Belfast’s global gateway”) and in particular its connection with Scotland. (It is sponsored by Discover Ulster Scots.) Two Scots, William Ritchie (whose 1802 portrait by Thomas Robinson is shown) and Charles Connell (who oversaw the construction of the first wooden steamboat in Belfast – Aurora, pictured below) along with another Scot, Alexander MacLaine, were the leading shipbuilders in Belfast from 1791 until the 1860s, when Englishman Edward Harland (soon joined by German Gustav Wolff, and then in 1874 by William Pirrie and Wilson brothers Walter and Alexander) took over the rival Hickson yard (which included land on Queen’s Island and on the south side of the Lagan) and became dominant. Their connection to York Street is that all of them except Pirrie lived on or near York Street.

For potted histories (and a larger picture of Aurora) see LibraryIreland and Ulster-Scots.com.

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The Sun Of Your Bravery Laid Siege To Death

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“Hasta siempre, Comandante” is a 1956 song celebrating the life of Che Guevara, with Fidel Castro appearing in the final verse to join the Cuban people in saying “Hasta siempre, Comandante” to Che as he departs Cuba for the Simba Rebellion in Congo. The slogan is here applied to Fidel himself on the occasion of his death in November 2016 at the age of 90.

Here is French singer Nathalie Cardone’s version on the song, which reached in France and in Belgium in 1997:

The Castro mural is next to one for fellow Marxist Salvadore Allende of Chile: see La Historia Es Nuestra.

See also Hasta La Victoria Siempre.

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God Of Madness

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Glen Molloy’s Jack Nicholson takes the place of Jonny McKerr’s Bacchus on the wall of Direct Wine Shipments in Corporation Street.

See the final entry in the series for an overview.

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Large Vehicles Emerging Ahead

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IRPWA sticker on a road sign in Dalton St (Bridge End), east Belfast.

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