On this week's programme: Tara and the Ark of the Covenant; A short history of Presidential criminality; and Westmeath woman Mary McCann's heroic response to the tragic General Slocum disaster.

Tara and the Ark of the Covenant

The Hill of Tara is one of the most important archaeological and cultural sites in Ireland. In its long history it has served as a place of burial, as the meeting point for great assemblies and as the legendary inauguration spot for the ancient high kings of Ireland.

Yet, in 1899, a group which styled itself as the British-Israelites arrived at the Hill of Tara and began to dig up the site. Their goal? To discover the legendary Ark of the Covenant, the chest which held the original engraved tablets of the Ten Commandments brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses.

It may sound like a cheap knock-off of an Indiana Jones movie but the British-Israelites were deadly serious and certain in their beliefs. Their strange activities, however, did not go unnoticed and the excavations at Tara provoked a fierce reaction in Ireland.

To talk about this, Myles is joined by Dr Mairéad Carew, archaeologist and author, whose 2003 book Tara and the Ark of the Covenant contextualises the extraordinary story of the British-Israelites, their excavations and the campaign to save Tara.

A Short History of Presidential Criminality

Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump entered the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where he plead not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He was booked and fingerprinted – although he was not handcuffed, nor was a mugshot taken. This was a historic event – a US President being indicted, arraigned, and arrested.

However, he's not the first President to be placed under arrest – another Commander and Chief holds that dubious distinction. That would be Ulysses S Grant, who was arrested for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage in Washington D.C. in 1872.

We’re going to look now at the history of Presidents who ran afoul of the law. To talk about this, Myles is joined by Dr Sandra Scanlon, lecturer in American History at University College Dublin.

Send us another Mary McCann

On the 15th of June 1904, New York City suffered one of the worst disasters in its history when a passenger ship named the General Slocum caught fire while sailing along the East River. The resulting blaze claimed the lives of over 1,000 people.

It was a truly horrific day, but it was one during which a young Irish immigrant became a national hero in the United States of America. That immigrant was Mary McCann who grew up near the Westmeath village of Glasson. Because of her extraordinary bravery that day, she was later honoured by the United States Congress.

To learn more about the General Slocum disaster and Mary McCann's role, Myles is joied by Ian Kenneally, historian and researcher for The History Show, who has written about those events.