Ballymagash

Ballymagash is a satirical Irish television programme that aired on RTÉ One for one series in 1983. Presented by Frank Hall and featuring many of the cast members from the earlier Hall's Pictorial Weekly, the show was set in the fictional town of Ballymagash and cast a satirical eye on some of the "local" stories and personalities.

References

Black

Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light. It is the opposite of white (the combined spectrum of color or light). It is an achromatic color, literally a color without color or hue. It is one of the four primary colors in the CMYK color model, along with cyan, yellow, and magenta, used in color printing to produce all the other colors.

Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.

In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches and magic. According to surveys in Europe and North America, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, force, violence, evil, and elegance.

Frank Kelly

Frank Kelly (born Francis O'Kelly on 28 December 1938) is an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career has covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film. He played Father Jack Hackett in the sitcom Father Ted. He is the son of the cartoonist Charles E. Kelly.

Early career

Kelly's first film role was as an uncredited prison officer in The Italian Job (1969), escorting Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) out of prison in the film's opening sequence.

He starred in the popular RTÉ children's programme Wanderly Wagon alongside Eugene Lambert and Nora O'Mahoney from 1968–1982, playing a number of different characters and writing many of the scripts. It was Kelly's work on Hall's Pictorial Weekly (1970–1982) which established him as one of Ireland's most recognisable faces. He memorably portrayed councillor Parnell Mooney, a send-up of a backwoods Local Authority figure in rural Ireland. Kelly won a Jacob's Award in 1974 for his work on the series.

In the early 1980s, he was featured in the RTÉ TV show for those learning Irish Anois is Aris, at the end of the programme, speaking into a telephone, gradually introducing Irish phrases. In 1988 he appeared in the Irish thriller film Taffin.

Christy Moore

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, Paddy on the Road was recorded with Dominic Behan in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.

Early life

Moore was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. He was originally a bank employee who wanted to express himself using traditional music. During a bank strike in 1966, which lasted twelve weeks, he went to England, as many striking officials did, but didn't return when the strike was settled. "I had a wild and wonderful time in England, with no bank manager looking over my shoulder," he said. Doing general labouring work, he frequented the folk clubs and the Irish music pubs where he met Seamus Ennis, Margaret Barry, Luke Kelly, Martin Byrnes and many other traditional musicians.

Musical career

1972 brought his first major release, Prosperous, which brought together the four musicians who shortly thereafter formed Planxty: Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine and Dónal Lunny. For a time they called themselves "CLAD", an acronym of their names, but soon decided on Planxty.