Letters: A historian – and a great speaker
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Like so many across Ireland, I was saddened to hear of the death of Dr Eamon Phoenix.
Those of us in the historical community valued enormously his contributions to Irish history.
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Hide AdAs a speaker, he was the man for the great state occasion. But he also gave his time gladly to humbler events.
I remember - it can only be a year or so ago - his riveting talk to the tiny Horsey Hill community group.
He stood on a mound, overlooking the river Lagan, and talked with characteristic fluency about barges, bargemen and of course their horses.
It was a tour de force and also a revealing detail from a life of scholarship and public engagement.
Liam Kennedy, Professor of History, Queen's University Belfast