Dublin Street Characters

[dunwack]

What a caracter, many a time i sat with bang bang and jonny forty coats along with other caractors and street traders in the little flower, in meath st. Its an establishment where people would go for a penny dinner, for infant school children it was free, it was a great place for the homeless and the poor to get a hot meal, i went there in the late 40s and early 50s people would go there with a pot or a container and get a top up for the auldfellas dinner when he comes home from work. Growing up around the liberties in those days was very entertaining and a great place to live, regards dunwack

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

What a caracter, many a time i sat with bang bang and jonny forty coats along with other caractors and street traders in the little flower, in meath st. Its an establishment where people would go for a penny dinner, for infant school children it was free, it was a great place for the homeless and the poor to get a hot meal, i went there in the late 40s and early 50s people would go there with a pot or a container and get a top up for the auldfellas dinner when he comes home from work. Growing up around the liberties in those days was very entertaining and a great place to live, regards dunwack

Was never in it but passed it and heard it mentioned often. I heard too that in winter, mornings and early afternoons, all the characters used to line up at the wall outside Thompson's bakery in Bridgefoot Street....it was called the hot wall where they could get a heat from the ovens baking bread on the inside and the heat radiating through the wall to the outside.

That's ppl like JFC, DamnTheWeather, Hairy Yank, hairy Lemon, Shell Shock Joe, and The Bugler Dunne. Bang Bang kept warm running all over the place shooting the world with his Colt 45 key.

Story of Penny Dinners at Little Flower = http://storymap.ie/story/100-years-of-penny-dinners

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

About Johnny 40 Coats and his comics.

[twangman]

Could be Kev , this man used to walk around Dublin in the 70s shouting "Yup " probably had a form of Tourettes .

My father often spoke about a cowboy in the old movies who habitually said 'Yup'. I'm sure it was Gary Cooper or Randolf Scott . Perhaps this man was influenced by the cowboy movies as Bang Bang obviously was.

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

..... What will we call him ?. Johnny no wheels ?...... Johnny 4 Wheels ?. Your call............

[barefoot]

Found these articles about the resting place of Bang Bang in Drumcondra....I've just put the links up. Maybe someone could put the photo's in the articles up properly...I don't know how to do it myself...thanks.

https://www.dublininquirer.com/2017/04/11/bang-bangs-burial-hunt-headstone/

https://comeheretome.com/2017/08/07/...for-bang-bang/....

[quinner]

Found these articles about the resting place of Bang Bang in Drumcondra....I've just put the links up. Maybe someone could put the photo's in the articles up properly...I don't know how to do it myself...thanks.

https://www.dublininquirer.com/2017/04/11/bang-bangs-burial-hunt-headstone/

https://comeheretome.com/2017/08/07/...for-bang-bang/....

Saw the man daily..did get captured by him a couple of times..Though a bit frightening for those young kids who did not know him.....They soon realised how harmless he was

Rest in Peace ''Old Friend''...you were a part of what was Dublin in the rare old times.....

[dinny]

August 7, 2017

In April 1846, the Dublin street performer Michael Moran passed away. Known as Zozimus, the ‘Blind Bard of the Liberties’ had spent years reciting poetry and verse on the streets of the capital, much of it composed by himself. Fearful of grave robbers, Moran was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, which boasted watch towers to keep the ‘sack-em-ups’ away from the corpses of the recently deceased.

A work dedicated to his memory was published in 1871, and noted that:

When arrived at his destined spot, Zozimus would spread out his arms, as if to catch all comers-and-goers- and say with his own great and peculiar accent:

‘Ye sons of daughters of Erin, attend.

Gather round poor Zozimus, yer friend.

Listen, boys, until yez hear

My charming song so dear.

Zozimus lay in an unmarked grave until 1988. In that year of Dublin’s so-called Millennium (a historically dubious claim, but a year that led to much positive civic pride), a headstone was placed over Michael Moran in Glasnevin Cemetery by the Smith Brothers of the Submarine Bar in Crumlin and the Dublin City Ramblers.

ZozimusGrave

[jembo]

Saw the man daily..did get captured by him a couple of times..Though a bit frightening for those young kids who did not know him.....They soon realised how harmless he was

Rest in Peace ''Old Friend''...you were a part of what was Dublin in the rare old times.....

Amen to that Joe.

[cosmo]

had a pint with bang bang once in the clock in Thomas st ,he had a bottle of stout. a little part of Dublin history.

[cosmo]

August 7, 2017

In April 1846, the Dublin street performer Michael Moran passed away. Known as Zozimus, the ‘Blind Bard of the Liberties’ had spent years reciting poetry and verse on the streets of the capital, much of it composed by himself. Fearful of grave robbers, Moran was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, which boasted watch towers to keep the ‘sack-em-ups’ away from the corpses of the recently deceased.

A work dedicated to his memory was published in 1871, and noted that:

When arrived at his destined spot, Zozimus would spread out his arms, as if to catch all comers-and-goers- and say with his own great and peculiar accent:

‘Ye sons of daughters of Erin, attend.

Gather round poor Zozimus, yer friend.

Listen, boys, until yez hear

My charming song so dear.

Zozimus lay in an unmarked grave until 1988. In that year of Dublin’s so-called Millennium (a historically dubious claim, but a year that led to much positive civic pride), a headstone was placed over Michael Moran in Glasnevin Cemetery by the Smith Brothers of the Submarine Bar in Crumlin and the Dublin City Ramblers.

ZozimusGrave

zozimus`s grave Glasnevin.

[cosmo]

bang bang.

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

bang bang.

If I had a penny for every time I passed bangers house in Mill Lane....oid be loaded be now.

[DAMNTHEWEATHER]

Just read another snippet of a character from the 30's I'd never heard of before......

HOT POTATO was a slightly build inoffensive man with a ruddy complexion, who walked around the streets of Dublin minding his own interference. Always dressed in a nice black overcoat and sporting a bowler hat.
He always kept himself to himself, until some taunting chiseler shouted "HOT POTATO!!" after him.....and then dor was 'wigs on the green' as he went into rage and assault mode.....worse than any modern day climate change induced hurricane or tsunami.....

Some thought he might have been hypnotized at one time and they were the key words....lol.

Wonder what ever happened to 'hot spud' I mean who was he really, what was his real name, and why should some kids taunting have such a reaction.....or did he know something they didn't about 'hot tatties'....
I spose we'll never know.

[quinner]

Just read another snippet of a character from the 30's I'd never heard of before......

HOT POTATO was a slightly build inoffensive man with a ruddy complexion, who walked around the streets of Dublin minding his own interference. Always dressed in a nice black overcoat and sporting a bowler hat.
He always kept himself to himself, until some taunting chiseler shouted "HOT POTATO!!" after him.....and then dor was 'wigs on the green' as he went into rage and assault mode.....worse than any modern day climate change induced hurricane or tsunami.....

Some thought he might have been hypnotized at one time and they were the key words....lol.

Wonder what ever happened to 'hot spud' I mean who was he really, what was his real name, and why should some kids taunting have such a reaction.....or did he know something they didn't about 'hot tatties'....
I spose we'll never know.

So he mashed the kids who taunted him.....