Date of Birth: 2nd March 1929

Place of Birth: 72 North Main Street, Wexford

Date Interviewed: 25th September 2009

Summary: In Part One Nicky Furlong narrates some of the family history that has passed from generation to generation – from a ghostly appearance during the 1798 rebellion, to his granny’s childhood memory of men in 1867 finishing their work early in order to head in to Wexford to view the town’s last public hanging. Although he grew up in the heart of town Nicky was to become a farmer. He got a scholarship to an agricultural college which he says was “a wonderful free education”. He inherited a farm from his uncle and he and his wife Mairead were the first in Mulgannon to get an Alfa Laval milking machine. He gave up dairying in 1969. Nicky was always interested in history and writing and discovered at this time that he could earn an income from his writings. In Part Two Nicky continues with the connection between a hurling incident, the wreck of the Iriwaddy, and why Blackwater people don’t like the term “ the kill’ems and ate’ems”! Nicky married Mairead in 1959 and got a job, with a bit of “string-pulling” with the sugar company. He had 167 farm families on his list and knew them all. At the time he had an income of £6 a week. He kept a diary (unpublished) of President Kennedy’s visit to Wexford and wrote a tribute to him. He talks of his departure from the People Newspaper Group and subsequent move to the Echo where he continues to write his weekly column.