John Quinn began working in RTÉ as Education Officer in 1975 and became radio producer in 1977. For the next quarter of a century he produced and presented many memorable programmes for RTÉ Radio 1 including the forward looking Open Mind series of interviews with prominent educators, philosophers, performers, scientists and leaders from various other walks of life. Throughout the month of June the Lyric Feature celebrates John’s work as a radio documentary maker whose programmes across a range of topics achieve a rare authentic simplicity which belies the artfulness of their construction.
Two Ladies of Galway / Return to Limehill (extract)
A documentary in which Anne and Catherine Gregory, grand-daughters of Lady Augusta Gregory, revisit Coole in Co. Galway in the company of producer John Quinn. They talk about the tree where famous visitors used to carve their names and share memories of visits to Coole by George Bernard Shaw and W.B. Yeats. The programme is an evocation of childhoods spent among extraordinary people but it is perhaps more notable for its celebration of the ordinariness of the sisters’ childhoods from the games they played, to the food they ate and their all important relationship with their grandmother. The programme was first broadcast in 1995.
The hour concludes with an extract from another of Quinn’s documentaries Return to Limehill. Writer Shelagh Conway returns from Canada to her native village of Limehill in East Galway. With music specially commissioned and played by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. First broadcast 2nd March 1994
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 23rd June, 6pm-7pm