Irish writer Mervyn Wall and his memories of the 1916 rising as an eight year old boy.
In 1970 the programme 'Writer in Profile' featured Irish writer Mervyn Wall.
Born in Dublin in 1908 Wall was educated at Belvedere College and University College Dublin. He studied art and music in Bonn, Germany from 1922 to 1924. Wall worked in the civil service until 1948, when he moved to Radio Éireann where he stayed until 1957. At Radio Éireann he served as programme assistant with Francis MacManus. In 1957 he was appointed secretary at the Irish Arts Council.
At the time of broadcast Wall had written short stories in both Irish and English, produced 3 plays, and novels including The Unfortunate Fursey (1946), The Return of Fursey (1948), Leaves for Burning (1952) and No Trophies Raise (1956).
In this excerpt from the programme Wall speaks to Augustine Martin about his early years growing up in Palmerston Road, Dublin and his memories of the Easter Rising of 1916 when he was just eight years old. He recalls seeing the smoke and flames coming from O’Connell Street on the Thursday of Easter week.
Mervyn Wall died in 1997.
‘Writer in Profile’ was a weekly television interview with a well-known Irish writer. The series was produced by James Plunkett and mainly presented by Augustine Martin. Anthony Cronin was the first writer interviewed, on 9 August 1976. The series ended on 24 October 1976 with a programme on William Trevor.
This episode of Writer in Profile was first broadcast on 1 April 1970.
