WDYTYA Ireland

That series reminds me of a local supermarket’s ‘special offer’ on wine. You try a bottle (watch an episode), like it and buy a case (watch the series). But, and it’s always a big ‘but’, the others rarely live up to expectation, are rubbish and leave a sour taste.

I missed the Dempsey episode, saw Short last night. Very disappointing and made worse by an assumption that the audience are total idiots. The granduncle was described several times as a ‘James Bond’ character in London during WW2. We are informed that he trained in the Irish Army’s Signal Corps, where he was a ‘radio engineer’. No proof supplied. He was not an officer: most of the enlisted men in Signals were trained as linesmen or as radio operators (radio technique/Morse code); very, very few were radio engineers, almost all of those were officers because the qualification was one that required several years of study, with either City & Guilds exams or / and part-time attendance at Kevin St. Tech. (as it was called in those days). Soldiers enlisted, they were trained, they left and they invariably became ships radio officers having served their time or bought their way out. No proof for sexing it up, Shortt’s granduncle worked in a factory making electronics, no more. The ‘Bond / secrecy’ banter was mere nonsense, everyone was told not to talk, “Walls have ears!” and he was as close to being James Bond as a girl on a munitions factory line in Birmingham.

It also is disappointing that despite the frequent mentions of the Limerick connection and the opening shot of the village sign of ‘Castleconnell’ the area got no further mention. For example, a John Shortt (of Nevis and the Windward Islands) was a Cromwellian-era adventurer who with his daughter had property in Castleconnell after the Commonwealth. Some research on that – even to rule them out - would have contributed to making an interesting programme, but possibly it would not have enough ‘oohh, aah’ for a gullible audience.

It was nice to see Des Marnane getting an airing, his books/articles on Tipperary are invaluable for those with a connection there.

Best, as Grenham says, to enjoy the series like Bismarck’s sausages. Quite suitable to occupy couch potatoes, but ……………..

I didn't enjoy either first or second programme. Regarding Damien Dempsy's one, I never felt he showed much interest in what he was being told. Little did I know that he already knew it. Pat Shortt's programme was a disappointment, I had too many questions at the end of it. In the trailer Bertie Aherne said he hoped they don't find any Royals. I wait with bated breath! On a more positive note, I loved John Grenham's blog post about Damien!

pinkypinky wrote: »

Enjoyed PS's father saying "I knew that" several times at the end. I can totally relate to that experience with my own family. Think Pedro might be a little harsh - they always edit out the donkey work and it's quite possible they obtained MoD records..

I might be ‘a little harsh’ Pinky but as you know I don’t ‘do’ BS and the Pat Short programme was heavily loaded with it. Whatever about ‘editing out donkeywork’, calling a soldier a ‘Radio Engineer’ and sexing up his work as ‘Q’ in James Bond without any proof other than a photograph of a factory is on a similar level to describing a clerk in charge of the petty cash as the ‘corporate finance director’.

The facts are clear. Shortt’s uncle Brendan was not a commissioned officer. He might have had a radio technician qualification but he was not a ‘radio engineer’. Actually, pre-WW2 very few Irish Army officers held a degree (generally those that did were either musicians, doctors or engineers and entered the army already qualified) and it would have been unheard of for a soldier to be a graduate. In the Signal Corps (where Shortt served) it was a rarity for an officer to be technically qualified beyond a Brit. I.R.E (British Institute of Radio Engineers) cert or diploma, or more generally a radio technician’s qualification from Kevin St. Any degree-level person in the army of the 1930’s would have been assured of a permanent pensionable job and rapid promotion due to the ‘Emergency’.

I’d guess that Shortt’s uncle took the boat like many others and was put working in a factory that made radar, then a highly secret device. I’d bet he was on the assembly line, a bloke with a screwdriver. He most likely worked for a company like GEC or Cossor who were contractors - both had 'shadow factories'. He would not have worked for the MoD. I agree it was important defence work and secret but the use of the ‘James Bond’ terminology is utter nonsense and the makers do genealogical research a disservice. Harsh perhaps, but true.
What would be nice would be a lucid programme on genealogy, but that is not what the series is about.