John Waller writes ...
My father left IRELAND in 1935.
The Tariff War between the USA and the rest of the world is a replay of the Anglo-Irish Economic War between the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1938.
Britain imposed a 20% import duty on Free State agricultural products into the UK, The Free State responded in kind by placing a similar duty on British imports such as coal. There was such a surplus of cattle in Ireland that farmers slaughtered their cattle, because they could not be sold to the British.
Today’s War against Russia is a replay of the Great Game against the Russian Empire in which, in 1842, my father’s great-uncle was taken hostage in the Retreat from Kabul. It is no longer a Great Game but a WAR.
In 1962 I hitch hiked TO INDIA through Iran to witness the result of the British Empire’s attempt to own Iranian oil. This tragic event has led to the enmity of today.
My father lived on the River Shannon in Ireland from which he set sail around the world in 1930. The Vikings passed by in 842.
For half my life, from my HOME ON THE RIVER THAMES I have seen where the Vikings sailed in 871 on their way to London, turning off to go to Croydon.
Beside the river, my Viking wife of 60 years, built a glorious garden during the lockdown years of Covid. I daily analysed the spread of the pandemic from our experience in the UK and the statistics from Anthony Fauci in the USA where over one million people died.
Yet today, the lessons learnt in the fight against COVID 19 are being contradicted.
Yiannis Books - John sent his first book to 99 agents. 98 said "No"; one said "Self-publish" and Yiannis Books was born.
"In that early summer of 1920 political storm clouds had gathered around Ireland. The dream of Independence, for which the blood of seven centuries had so often flowed, appeared as elusive and remote as ever. Promises, half promises and innuendoes evaporated, leaving first disillusionment, then bitterness and now hostility. A crowning insult had been inflicted upon a poverty-stricken Ireland, when English jails provided 'soldiers' considered suitable to deal with the Irish question."
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Based on John Waller's book Irish Flames it focuses on two developing relationships: between his brother Peter - Robbie in the play - and his older friend Con, who changes from gardener to IRA Volunteer; and Meli, Peter’s English mother, and Martin, the leader of the IRA, who she is in love with and saves when he is injured in an ambush on the Black and Tans. “No questioning the calibre and pertinence of the story for a contemporary audience.” Druid Theatre, Galway.
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The play is based on the play 'Irish Flames' and is a warning that we must learn from history; that we must never forget what happened or it could happen again. The image is of the 'Burning of Cork' in 1920. It has been repeated in Falluja Iraq and elsewhere. Today scenes from the destruction of Gaza suggest we have forgotten, "We were interested to read the adaptation, which is assuredly written. The play offers a powerful comment on wartime violence and retribution." Royal Court
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Following the development of two relationships: Robbie, the young son of the Big House, and his friend Con, the gardener; and Meli, Robbie’s mother, and Martin, the headman of the neighbouring estate and leader of the Volunteers. The other minor characters are Alec, Robbie’s father, who returns from World War One, and Mrs. Murphy, the cook, a link between characters. The climax of the play is the arrival of the Black and Tans and the torching of the Big House.
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Edited by Rosalind Scanlon. In the Irish War of Independence, an Englishwoman falls in love with the local leader of the IRA. She endangers her family when she saves his life as the Black and Tans close in. The film is relevant today as Brexit is pushed by those who want to return to the 'good days' of the Empire. It tells the true story of the end of British Rule in Ireland, the beginning of the end for the British Empire. “Remarkable eye-witness account of the end of British Rule.” Irish Post.
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Based on a true story, Irish Flames, when a family on the verge of falling apart finds itself thrown into the maelstrom of war, the cracks begin to tell. Themes of forbidden fruit, political upheaval and duty versus justice come together in Flames of Freedom to tell the tale of the Irish War of Independence from the perspectives not only of the freedom fighters, but also that of Irish born landowners and officers forced to make terrible choices in an absorbing story of love and sacrifice.
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Two Cambridge students, hitchhike to India through Tito’s Yugoslavia and Greece, recently under German occupation and then divided by civil war. In Turkey John records the deportation of Armenians to Syria where ISIS is today. In Iran, the CIA coup creates real danger for John. In Amritsar, there is anger over partition, and in Delhi they have tea with Indira Gandhi. John revisits India, discusses the refugee crisis and Syrian Civil War, in the Balkans and lives the Greek tragedy.
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Based on Stephen Kinzer’s book ‘All the Shah’s Men’, described by the Washington Post Book World as “for anyone with more than a passing interest in how the United States got into such a pickle in the Middle East”. It has a further relevance today as many recall the imaginary good times of the Empire. In the early 1950s Britain would have been bankrupt without the revenues from Iranian oil, $300 million a year. Britain’s involvement in the coup increased the hate of the Iranians.
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The great 'surge' of 1920 with the introduction of thousands of troops and Tans into Ireland did not force the Irish to give up their fight for freedom. Negotiations between enemies brought peace. Is this the solution in Afghanistan today? In John Waller's ancestor's letter home from captivity in 1842 he said: 'I believe that Akbar Khan is willing to make terms if they are not too hard upon him.' In 1919, the bombing of Afghanistan failed to prevent the Afghans from getting their independence but it turned them against the British.
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1842 - during the Great Game against the Russian Empire my father’s great-uncle was taken hostage Akhbar Khan in the Retreat from Kabul. It is no longer a Great Game but WAR. In 2016 - I wrote: ‘visiting Baltic capitals and St. Petersburg had provided an education into the decayed Soviet Empire and the resurgent new nations.’ In 2021 BBC wrote: ‘Today, many of those former territories, such as Poland and the Baltic states, have joined Nato. So Russia feels surrounded, and that is a dangerous place to be.
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On Saturday June 14 1930, my Irish father, Otway Waller stayed with his friend and gunrunner, Conor O’Brien, in Foynes, Co. Limerick. Next morning he set sail, along the circumnavigation route taken seven years before by Conor in his yacht Saoirse (Freedom), in his own epic single-handed cruise to the Canary Islands in his 26ft yawl. Returning home on the Yeoward Line s/s Aguila, he fell in love -with my mother. Back in Ireland he had a problem: he was already married with a son, Peter.
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John Waller's father Otway, described on RTE as an iconic figure in Irish Sailing and inventor of running sails, returns to Ireland to a divorce, a new wife and the Anglo-Irish Economic War. With 80% of Ireland’s main export of cattle blocked by Britain, a calf slaughter scheme is introduced and the psychological shock this causes becomes a bitter part of the folk memory of the economic war: He has to leave Ireland in 1934 and sell his 26ft yawl Imogen in which he set sail around the world single handed.
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Using a punt as a ‘longship’ we follow Viking journeys through history. ‘Vikings’ is developed from ‘Vikings go to Croydon’ and consists of a number of low-cost documentaries in the style of RTE’s Waterways set in Denmark, England, Ireland, France and Iceland. RTE’s Waterways travels the rivers and canals of Ireland. On the River Shannon, we visit Clonmacnoise, where the Vikings pillaged the monasteries. In Denmark, home of the Vikings, we start our journey at the Roskilde Viking Museum.
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The Vikings test their 'longship' through industrial South London. History says that in 871 and 872 the Great Heathen Army overwintered only in London. Four teenagers, all of them media students, set out to challenge that by telling the story of how the Vikings go to Croydon. Local historian Brian Lancaster did not believe this, but the youngsters, in four short YouTube films titled ˜The Vikings go to Croydon, prove him wrong. Have they succeeded? Make up your own mind and see for yourself.
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John Waller writes "In 1982 we bought a derelict house from the estate of Dr. Roles, the founder of the Study Society. By 2014 the garden was restored and we went on our first world cruise to Japan and China. By 2020 the garden was again in need of much work. In March, returning from our last world cruise, to South America, just the two of us used the lockdown to restore it: my wife Jannie, with one new knee, cannot dig but knows all about flowers; I know nothing about them but have a spade, like my ancestors."
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From May 2020 to May 2022, early every morning I analysed Johns Hopkins University’s new case data for European and major world countries and BBC new cases for selected UK towns. Weekly I added the number of deaths over the previous week. My conclusions were: mask wearing and lockdown worked and the national vaccination campaign was a great success. The following is a report before vaccinations arrived. In case of a future epidemic, I leave this page on my website.
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