In 1897 Mark Twain wrote: “Truth is stranger than fiction.” These perceptive words have been oft-quoted the world over and this statement is relevant when looking at the life of Elizabeth Sugrue. Her date of birth is believed to be circa 1740 while her date of death is recorded as 1807.
To enable transport of both, people and cargo in Ireland in the 1790s, investors decided to build a canal linking the city of Dublin with the River Shannon. Work on the Royal Canal commenced in May 1790 at Cross Guns Bridge, Phibsborough.
Gene Kelly, originally christened Eugene Curran Kelly, was born on 23rd August 1912 in East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although he was an American, he was later granted Irish citizenship. His father was born in Peterborough, Canada; his grandfather was an immigrant from Derry. “Gene Kelly was proud of his Irish roots,” his wife Patricia Ward Kelly once remarked.
