This is a series of two programmes about the life and accomplishments of the late Harold O’Sullivan as both a trade unionist and a historian. Much of the detail and nuance of Louth’s history might have remained both unknown and irretrievable without his decades of research.
Harold O’Sullivan pursued a love of his local and national history after his trade union career. He received his PhD by completing an extensive history of the Trevor family of Rostrevor. He would go on to write an extensive medieval history of Louth, making accessible a vast amount of information that was previously buried. Having been in his 60’s when he completed a Masters in Literature and a Ph.D Harold seems to have disregarded age as any barrier to his literary career.
After completing both the Masters and Ph.D, he published five books and two theses, becoming in the process the most authoritative source on local history in the Dundalk area. His work as a historian brought forward a frustration in him that a town like Dundalk which is steeped in such fascinating history, literary evidence of which is available as far back as the 12th century.
Part 1 features Isabell Murphy, Dr Alison Lennon and Dr Raymond Gillespie.
Part 2 features Felix O’Callaghan and Shay Cody.
