Ireland's Greatest

JonathanAnon

Looking at this, I think Mary Robinson and Bono have their work cut out to win this thing..

The Floyd p

Michael Collins.

JonathanAnon

Actually good idea, why dont we set up a poll.. mods.. can you help me out here.

Michael Collins
Bono
Mary Robinson
John Hume
James Connolly

My god when you see what Collins did for Ireland, you really would wonder what he would think of the current lot..

JonathanAnon

Did anyone see the credits at the end... 90 years after Collins signed the treaty to give us independence from the British and the credits of the biography program for him read:

"Based on the BBC Television Format 'Great Britons' devised by the BBC" ...

I nearly fell off the chair laughing..

Skid

I enjoyed the first show. Michael McDowell was an odd choice to bat for Michael Collins, but he was passionate and knowledgeable in his advocacy of Collins and delivered a good programme.

There isn't enough time to go into any areas in depth, and by the nature of the show, there is no criticism of the subject, so their is a lack of balance.

Even so, a decent programme, not sure about Bono but the other shows should be worth a look.


PS If you want a more detailed biography of Michael Collins I'd recommend 'Hang up your brightest colours', made in 1973 for ITV, but not broadcast until 1993 as the network considered it too controversial

It's on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n87TmIii1NI&feature=related

btard

I can't take it seriously with Bono in the final. It negates the whole idea and just makes it look stupid.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

btard wrote: »

I can't take it seriously with Bono in the final. It negates the whole idea and just makes it look stupid.

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm still in shock that he's made it into the final 5. Even his wife would be more deserving of it than him.

I don't know how the hell Dave Fanning is going to compare "he did that 'do they know it's Christmas' song" to "was instrumental in the Good Friday Agreement" or "one of the leaders of the 1916 rising"
Even Mary Robinson did some important stuff in her days before she was president. She campaigned for women to be allowed on juries, and for the right to the legal availability of contraception. Not to mention her work for Human Rights in the years since her presidency.

If anything it embarrasses me when Bono is mentioned as being Irish.

I can't wait to see the Late Late Show debate about it.

matrixroyal

I thought last nights show was very good, well presented and very informative.

Bono being on the list devalues the entire series, surely there were other candidates : Paraic Pearse, Wolfe Tone, Daniel O'Connell, Parnell, Davitt etc.

narky

I agree that Bono being on the list devalues it. If they wanted to go down that route then surely Bob Geldof would be a worthier candidate than Bono. But still they come nowhere near to the others who are on the list.
In my opinion out of that list it would be between Collins and Connolly.

Dymo

narky wrote: »

I agree that Bono being on the list devalues it.

Stephen Gately made it to the last 10 and just missed out on the top 5

narky

Dymo wrote: »

Stephen Gately made it to the last 10 and just missed out on the top 5

That shows the problems with an open public vote.

hypervalve

Jack Charlton by a country mile

JP Liz V1

Dymo wrote: »

Stephen Gately made it to the last 10 and just missed out on the top 5

Are u serious :eek:

I's say Collins has to win

KerranJast

I'm not McDowell's biggest fan but he knows his stuff and presented the show well.

Two things struck me:
- On a serious point whatever your views on Collins, you have to admit that anyone willing to lay down their life for a just cause and more importantly do/order some pretty heinous acts to achieve that cause, deserves respect.
- I was laughing at how depressed sounding the British narrator was commentating on the official handover in 1921. Hard luck chaps

campo

John Hume gets my vote

JonathanAnon

Best of luck to Fanning trying to convince everybody that Bono gave more for Ireland than Collins..

JONJO THE MISER

Sweet mother have mercy
about bono and Dave Fanning licking his arse, im going to have to switch off now before i throw something at the t.v.

JONJO THE MISER

Dave says that he alaus spents the money wasnt there a thread last week where he had not spent a fraction of the money he charity has got last year:mad:, pay you ****ing taxes here in Ireland you ****ing :mad:, sorry i better stop watching before i...

Poly

Bono this Bono that, Fanning hasn't metioned that Geldof is the driving force behind this.

Speaking of Geldof, I would have thought he was more deserving of a show that the bono

daithi09

As just mentioned, Bono doesn't even pay tax here... I'm not watching the show because he made top 5, it's a joke...

focusfan

Michael Collins should get this award. It would be hugely symbolic given the fact that in 1921 he went up against the greatest briton Winston Churchill and won.

There is no doubt that Bono has a humanitarian streak but this is an inappropriate forum for an RTE/U2 love in.

Michael Collins was gunned down so that we could achieve self determination or the "freedom to achieve freedom" as he put it. There is no comparison.

JonathanAnon

Michael MacDowall's episode was like college level work.. This is more like primary school... Very amateur, disjointed, back and forth through time ... repetitive "Bono did this, Bono did that.. all of this was due to Bono" statements the whole way through.

Bodhisopha

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Best of luck to Fanning trying to convince everybody that Bono gave more for Ireland than Collins..

The show isn't called "Who Gave More For Ireland".

JonathanAnon

Bodhisopha wrote: »

The show isn't called "Who Gave More For Ireland".

Really I didnt know that.. I thought it was called Ireland's Most Pedantic.

Fanning should have kept closer to the brief.. He's talking way too much about the band... It's meant to be why he himself should be voted Ireland's greatest person.

Bodhisopha

WOW!

The amount of lives he has touched is absolutely staggering. Truly global, truly great. He's won my vote.

Congrats to Dave Fanning who i thought did a great job.

JonathanAnon

Bodhisopha wrote: »

WOW! The amount of lives he has touched is absolutely staggering. Truly global, truly great. He's won my vote. Congrats to Dave Fanning who i thought did a great job.

I dont get if you're being sarcastic in part or all of this.. I thought Dave Fanning should have tried to get some sort of structure to the program.. He seemed to repeat a lot of points.. MacDowall's effort was a lot more professional I thought, though he did have a better story to tell.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

focusfan wrote: »

Michael Collins should get this award. It would be hugely symbolic given the fact that in 1921 he went up against the greatest briton Winston Churchill and won.

I'm not that knowledgeable on this subject, but did Collins really go "up against" Churchill?
Lloyd George was Prime Minister at the time, and Chamberlain was the main man in the negotiations with Collins and Griffith.

focusfan

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I'm not that knowledgeable on this subject, but did Collins really go "up against" Churchill?
Lloyd George was Prime Minister at the time, and Chamberlain was the main man in the negotiations with Collins and Griffith.

Indeed Churchill was on the team I believe one of their conversations went thus
Collins "Your such a F****ing imperialist"
Churchill "I love my country"

ButtersSuki

Suggested alternative titles for Monday's show:

Ireland's Greatest Tax-Avoider (not "Evader" for legal reasons )
Ireland's Greatest Tool
Ireland's Greatest Self-Promoter
Ireland's Greatest Egomaniac
Ireland's Greatest Short Person
Ireland's Greatest Hypocrite


I could go on....and yes, I'm a huge Bono fan.......:)

paddyismaddy

i dont get why bono is there

Cris Jones

paddyismaddy wrote: »

i dont get why bono is there

People voted for him.:)

Anyway, I couldn't see another thread about this series so I bumped this thread to say that tonight's show about John Hume, presented by Miriam O'Callaghan, was the best one of the series so far.
Really interesting and not leaving out mention of other main players in the peace process while giving credit where credit was due to John Hume. Well done RTE.

MisterAnarchy

Cris Jones wrote: »

Anyway, I couldn't see another thread about this series so I bumped this thread to say that tonight's show about John Hume, presented by Miriam O'Callaghan, was the best one of the series so far.

I thought the most interesting thing was the old footage of Miriam when she seemed to have a clear distinct accent compared to the ridiculous lisp she has now.

optogirl

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Looking at this, I think Mary Robinson and Bono have their work cut out to win this thing..

Watched the Mary Robinson one last night - unbelievable how much good she has done for this country and others. A social reformer and woman of great integrity. She has my vote.

JonathanAnon

optogirl wrote: »

Watched the Mary Robinson one last night - unbelievable how much good she has done for this country and others. A social reformer and woman of great integrity. She has my vote.

I think that this case today.... where the two Lithuanian guys got off a murder charge because some of the Garda evidence taken was considered as inadmissible (for what was really a very benign infringement of their "civil rights").... shows that the whole civil rights movement has gone too far. And Robinson is partially to blame for this..

She also brought in free legal aid, which is hugely abused by people like John Gilligan. The worst criminals in the country are now legally entitled to the best legal representation IN THE WORLD. Whereas if I was to go to court, I would get NO free legal aid, and would only be entitled to what representation I could afford (i.e. my yellow pack solicitor).. And somehow our "justice" system considers this not to be an infringement of MY legal rights.. The whole system is a mess, and Mary Robinson can be considered partially responsible for the fact that many dangerous people are now on our streets....

How about those apples..

Was a good enough presentation by MacWilliams... I thought Fanning (Bono) was particularly poor, and MacDowall's (Collins) was the best..

ArtSmart

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I think that this case today.... where the two Lithuanian guys got off a murder charge because some of the Garda evidence taken was considered as inadmissible (for what was really a very benign infringement of their "civil rights").... shows that the whole civil rights movement has gone too far. And Robinson is partially to blame for this..

She also brought in free legal aid, which is hugely abused by people like John Gilligan. The worst criminals in the country are now legally entitled to the best legal representation IN THE WORLD. Whereas if I was to go to court, I would get NO free legal aid, and would only be entitled to what representation I could afford (i.e. my yellow pack solicitor).. And somehow our "justice" system considers this not to be an infringement of MY legal rights.. The whole system is a mess, and Mary Robinson can be considered partially responsible for the fact that many dangerous people are now on our streets....

How about those apples..

Actually, was going to rant but you're so way off the mark, it aint worth it.

caseyann

Seems to me Irelands greatest should be just that,and be what they have done for Ireland and Irish people.Not other countries.
Like Bono what has he ever done for Ireland

Skid

I thought Mary Robinson's documentary last night was excellent, contained a lot of information I'd never heard before.

I'd like to see more of these type of programmes on RTE. TG4 do a lot of good historical biographies, but I don't speak Irish so I have to rely on the subtitles.

I predict the result will be:

1. Michael Collins
2. Mary Robinson
3. James Connolly
4. John Hume
5. Bono,

As long as Bono comes last I don't mind, all the others were interesting programmes about people who deserved to be listed as 'great' Irish people.

SuperInfinity

This is one of the STUPIDEST things RTE has ever done. You can't compare people like that.

And for RTE, that's saying a lot.

And why the HELL are they showing them all about five times each? Fools.

JonathanAnon

SuperInfinity wrote: »

This is one of the STUPIDEST things RTE has ever done. You can't compare people like that. And why the HELL are they showing them all about five times each? Fools.

Yeah, the whole premise for the thing is like judging apples, oranges and kiwi fruit.. Baffling why they would show Joe's "Ireland's Greatest" on RTE TWO (for the second time) the same night they show David McWilliams' "Ireland's Greatest on RTE ONE for the first time??

paddyismaddy

when is winner announced? surely it has to be collins

caseyann

paddyismaddy wrote: »

when is winner announced? surely it has to be collins

In Ireland must be kidding me it will be someone who doesnt even like Ireland:mad:

Skid

paddyismaddy wrote: »

when is winner announced? surely it has to be collins

The winner is announced during The Late Late Show tomorrow night.

SuperInfinity

I couldn't give the slightest monkeys who "wins", it's all a big joke, and neither could anyone who I would sit down and watch something with.

The "public vote" is something designed to generate extra income for RTE.

JonathanAnon

SkidMark wrote: »

The winner is announced during The Late Late Show tomorrow night.

So does that mean that they refill the guest list from the canteen for another post-vote debate?