Northern Ireland

Belfast City Hall is the civic building of the Belfast City Council. Located in Donegall Square, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, it faces... north and effectively divides the commercial and business areas of the city centre. The site now occupied by Belfast City Hall was once the home of the White Linen Hall, an important international Linen Exchange. The Street that runs from the back door of Belfast City Hall through the middle of Linen Quarter is Linen Hall Street. Plans for the City Hall began in 1888 when Belfast was awarded city status by Queen Victoria. This was in recognition of Belfast's rapid expansion and thriving linen, rope-making, shipbuilding and engineering industries. During this period Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the most populous city on the island of Ireland. Construction began in 1898 under the supervision of architect Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and was completed in 1906 at a cost of £369,000. Belfast Corporation used their profits from the gas industry to pay for the construction of Belfast City Hall. Local firms H&J Martin and WH Stephens were among the companies involved in construction. James G.
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Mount Stewart is an 18th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of... Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the home of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, Marquesses of Londonderry. The house and its contents reflect the history of the Vane-Tempest-Stewarts, who played a leading role in British and Irish social and political life. Mount Stewart was formed by the Stewart family , holders of the title Marquess of Londonderry since 1816. The family bought the estate in 1744 with money acquired by Alexander Stewart . This new wealth came from the sales of materials like linen. At the time, the house was known as Mount Pleasant. Alexander Stewart's son, Robert Stewart, became the first Marquess of Londonderry. In about 1800 he added a temporary wing to the west. He died in 1821 leaving the house to his son, also Robert, better known as Viscount Castlereagh, a prominent politician. Robert lived in Mount Stewart during his childhood until he went to University in Cambridge.
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The Grand Opera House is a theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by the most prolific theatre architect of the period, Frank Matcham. It... opened on 23 December 1895. According to The Theatres Trust the "magnificent auditorium is probably the best surviving example in the United Kingdom of the oriental style applied to theatre architecture". It was renamed the Palace of Varieties in 1904, although it reverted to its original name in 1909. Variety programmes dominated in the 1920s and 1930s and the theatre saw performances by Gracie Fields, Will Fyffe and Harry Lauder. It became a repertory theatre during World War II and at the celebrations to mark the end of the war, Eisenhower, Montgomery and Alanbrooke attended gala performances at the theatre. The Grand Opera House was acquired by the Rank Organisation, which led to its use as a cinema between 1949 and 1972, after which it was almost demolished, only to open again in 1980. Despite the onset of The Troubles, the theatre was listed in the 1970s and has been restored extensively since. The building had been damaged by bombs on several occasions usually when the nearby Europa Hotel had been targeted.
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The Waterfront Hall is a multi-purpose facility, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. Practice... partner Peter McGukin was the project architect. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corporation. The development is named after the architect Charles Lanyon. Planning for the building began 1989, with the hall being completed in 1997 for the sum of £32 million. The main circular Auditorium seats 2,241 and is based on the Berlin Philharmonic Hall designed by Hans Scharoun. However the flexible design of the Auditorium allows the stalls seating to be moved to create a larger arena. The smaller adjoining Studio seats 380. The dome of the building is coated in copper. This is so the exterior will eventually turn green and reflect the dome of Belfast City Hall and other Victorian buildings in the city centre. The building also contains bars and a restaurant. In 2002, the hall was voted the second best conference centre in the world in the Apex Awards.
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Eddie Duffy , was a traditional Irish musician. He was renowned for his slow airs on the flute, which he accomplished by playing in exactly the same... style as he sang, with memorable effect. Many of his songs and tunes came from his mother who played the accordion. In his youth he was hired at the Derrygonnelly Fair by a farmer who played the flute, it was from this farmer, Eddie learned to play the instrument. Duffy played in the 1930s and 1940s with local Céilí bands, the Sillees and the Knockmore. His name is now internationally known since he passed on many tunes and songs to Cathal MacConnell of the group The Boys of the Lough.
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Sinéad Quinn and graduate of the University of Hull was a contestant in the first series of the UK BBC TV series Fame Academy in 2002. She... later went on to sign a recording contract, released an album, and had a #2 UK single. She is married to Paul Stewart, drummer with The Feeling. They became engaged on 9 October 2007, and were married in Ireland on 6 December 2008. Quinn did not enter the Fame Academy in the same way as the other contestants. The first eleven contestants were picked by the show's judges, but the final contestant was picked through a public vote in the first programme of the series. Quinn, David Sneddon and Paul MacDonald sang in this vote but Quinn won the public's support. She gained 51% of the votes and won her place in the Fame Academy. The fan base Quinn built up in the first programme stayed with her during the whole series, and allowed her to reach the final. During this time she sang a range of songs from Macy Gray's "I Try" and Garth Brook's "If Tomorrow Never Comes" to " Satisfaction" and "Don't Speak".
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Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The... band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy will always be my band because I thought of it first!" Hannon was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, the son of Brian Hannon, a retired Church of Ireland clergyman and former Bishop of Clogher. He moved with his family to Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, in 1982. While there he attended Portora Royal School. In 2000, he and Joby Talbot contributed 4 tracks for Ute Lemper's collaboration album, Punishing Kiss. In 2004, he played alongside the Ulster Orchestra for the opening event of the Belfast Festival at Queen's. In 2005, he contributed vocals to his long-time collaborator Joby Talbot's soundtrack for the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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Nell McCafferty is an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. In her journalistic work she has written for The Irish... Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice. McCafferty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, to Hugh and Lily McCafferty, and spent her early years in the Bogside area of Derry. Although her family were not wealthy, she had a comfortable upbringing and entered Queen's University Belfast , where she took a degree in Arts. After a brief spell as a substitute English teacher in Northern Ireland and a stint on an Israeli kibbutz, she took up a post with The Irish Times. In 1990, McCafferty won a Jacob's Award for her reports on the 1990 World Cup for RTÉ Radio 1's The Pat Kenny Show. McCafferty lives in Ranelagh, an area of Dublin. McCafferty published her autobiography, Nell, in 2004. In it, she explores her upbringing in Derry, her relationship with her parents, her fears about being gay, the joy of finding a domestic haven with the love of her life, the Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain, and the pain of losing it.
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