Fred O'Donovan

Fred O'Donovan (1930 – 14 May 2010) was an Irish theatre producer and businessman. He worked and associated with, Seán O'Casey, George Bernard Shaw, Peter O'Toole, Maureen Potter and Siobhán McKenna, amongst others.

O'Donovan served as Chairman of the RTÉ Authority between 1981 and 1985. He was a co-founder of the Irish Cancer Society with Austin Darragh, an achievement he expressed his fondness for before he died.

Career

O'Donovan was born in Fairview, Dublin. In 1948 he was working for the Royal Air Force when he caught tuberculosis and was told by Swiss medical professionals that he would be dead within the year. He survived. Whilst working with the RAF he developed his first taste for showbiz after producing a Paul Robeson show at Long Kesh, intended to entertain the military personnel. "It made me realise what a wonderful business it was", he later recalled.

Back in Ireland, he took up jobs in radio and theatre, beginning his new career as an assistant stage manager in the theatre, a position he described as "the lowest form of life". Whilst working on a 1955 production of The Bishop's Bonfire he commenced a close personal relationship with Seán O'Casey over the telephone, recalling in later life that "I learned more from O'Casey on the phone than anybody". O'Donovan embarked on a trip to London to meet George Bernard Shaw with the intention of having his royalty fee decreased; he was refused. He produced The Ed Sullivan Show when it visited Ireland, insisting on the use of Irish artists, including Maureen Potter, who received a career boost from the experience.

Donovan

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Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch; 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, London and California, and, since at least 2008, in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!.

Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein, but after a new contract with US CBS/Epic Records his popularity spread to other countries. After extricating himself from his original management contract, he began a long and successful collaboration with Mickie Most, a leading British independent record producer, with hits in the UK, the US and other countries.

His most successful singles were the early UK hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" in 1965. "Sunshine Superman" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (number two in Britain), and "Mellow Yellow" reached US number two the following year, with "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the Top 5 in both countries in 1968. He was the first artist to be signed to CBS/Epic Records by the new administrative vice-president, Clive Davis. Donovan and Most collaborated on hit albums and singles between 1965 and 1970. He became a friend of pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones and The Beatles. He taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968. Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after parting with Most in 1969, and he left the industry for a time.

Donovan (horse)

Donovan (1886–1905) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1888 to 1889 he ran twenty-one times and won eighteen races. He was the leading British two-year-old of 1888 when he won eleven of his thirteen starts. At three Donovan won the Epsom Derby and the St Leger: he failed to win the English Triple Crown owing to a narrow and probably unlucky defeat in the 2000 Guineas. He set a world record by earning a total of £55,443 in win prize money. Donovan was a modest success as a stallion. He died after being injured in an accident in 1905.

Background

Donovan was a dark-coated bay bred by his owner William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland a Conservative politician and landowner. Among the Duke’s other horses were the undefeated St. Simon and the 1888 Derby winner Ayrshire. He was sent into training with George Dawson at his Heath House Stable in Newmarket, Suffolk.

Donovan’s sire Galopin was an outstanding racehorse who won the Derby in 1872 and went on to be a successful and influential stallion, being Champion sire on three occasions. Mowerina, Donovan’s dam, won sixteen races and produced several winners including the 1000 Guineas winner Semolina and the colt Raeburn, the only horse ever to defeat Isinglass.

Donovan (disambiguation)

Donovan is a popular Scottish singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Donovan may also refer to:

People

Places

Ships

Music

Fictional characters

O'Donovan family

O'Donovan (Irish: Ó Donnabháin [oːˈd̪ˠɔn̪ˠəˌvˠɑːnʲ]) or Donovan is an Irish surname, also written Dhonnabháin in certain grammatical contexts, as well as Donndubháin, being originally composed of the elements donn, meaning dark brown or noble, dubh, meaning dark or black, and the diminutive suffix án. Ó derives from the earlier Ua, meaning grandson or descendant. Compare O'Donoghue and O'Sullivan, containing the same elements. The spelling of the name during the 16th and 17th centuries included Donevan, Donevane, Donovane, and other iterations. Pronunciation of the name in Ireland is closest to "Dunaven".

The O'Donovans are descendants of the 10th century Donnubán mac Cathail, ruler of the regional kingdom of Uí Fidgenti, as well as of his royal Norse relations from Limerick and Waterford, some belonging to the Uí Ímair. From his accession to the kingship in 962 to the death of Olaf O'Donovan in 1201, the Uí Cairbre, one of the two main constituent subkingdoms of Uí Fidgenti, operated as a semi-independent to sometimes fully independent regional ruling house within the larger (provincial) overkingdom of Munster. During the 13th century, most O'Donovans relocated south to the Kingdom of Desmond and to Carbery, where they were a ruling sept for centuries and played a role in the latter principality's founding. Several septs of O'Donovans were semi-autonomous flatha underneath the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty in Carbery, with the most notable more correctly local petty kings. Nearly five centuries later and eighty years after the fall of the Gaelic order, the O'Donovans were one of the few families of Carbery and Munster still allowed by the authorities to be of royal extraction. Today the family are still counted among the leading Gaelic nobility of Ireland.

O'Donovan (surname)

This is a list for notable people surnamed O'Donovan and Donovan who are not listed in the main article O'Donovan family, which is primarily concerned with the traceable lineages of the medieval family.