What do opera singing dogs, weather forecasting goats, the seventh son of a seventh son, a fairy tree, a hunt for monsters in the lakes of Connemara, a UFO in Mullinahone, travelling by steamroller from Longford to Dublin, a pub crawl, stretcher race and magician priest who balances his niece on a sword all have in common? They are all among the many oddities captured by RTÉ through the decades which feature as part of the new Weird and Wonderful collection, specially created by RTÉ Archives to mark the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on Thursday 27th October.
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RTÉ Archives, the largest audiovisual archive collection in Ireland, has delved into the vaults to bring audiences a unique ‘Weird and Wonderful’ collection of fifteen videos, which illustrate some eccentricities and nuances of Irish life in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Highlights include a young Pat Kenny talking the two young men in Longford who built their own motorcycle 'wall of death', a report that inspired the classic Irish film Eat the Peach.
“We really enjoyed putting the Weird and Wonderful collection together," said Liam Wylie, Curator at RTÉ Archives "It is a presentation of some of the more offbeat or bizarre stories of Irish life captured by RTÉ that will make you smile. We also hope it will make you think about the value of preserving audiovisual content for the future.”
UNESCO declared October 27 as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to raise awareness of the significance of AV documents and to draw attention to the need to safeguard them. Every year, activities are organised by different institutions worldwide around a theme. The theme for 2016 is “It’s Your Story – Don’t Lose It”
You can sample RTÉ Archives' new Weird and Wonderful collection here.
