The 3rd Lord Kilbracken hit the headlines in 1957 when he gatecrashed the Red Square parade in Moscow on the 40th anniversary of the October uprising while wearing a pink Leander tie and with his trousers turned inside out. He had suggested to the Daily Express that he might go to Moscow to cover the event. In the Irish edition the story was headlined: Only Irish Peer In Moscow Watches Biggest Military Show.
The Kilbracken family home was damp and dilapidated and the estate neglected, its sole stock consisting of one aged cow. So he launched himself into a range of unsuccessful enterprises: at one point selling square yards of Irish bog to Americans for a nickel apiece. He failed to make any money from this as the cost of sending a receipt for each nickel was two nickels.
— The Daily Telegraph
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Rufus Harley
1936-2006, bagpiper
Rufus Harley was the self-styled “world’s first jazz bagpiper” and accompanied musicians such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie. Harley was of African-American and Cherokee descent, but was inspired to take up the bagpipes when he saw the Black Watch performing at President Kennedy’s funeral. When he first began experimenting with his new instrument, a neighbour called the police to complain about the noise. The musician asked the officers innocently: “Do I look like I’m Irish or Scottish to you?”
— The Daily Telegraph