| Titanic resurfaces as symbol of pride
 Throughout
my 20 years or so of education in the North of Ireland I learnt many things.
At one time I would have been able to give you a run-down of the Grand
Remonstrance of 1641, or indeed the workings of the Bessemer Converter.
I might even have had a reasonable stab at regurgitating the findings
of an Italian with the splendidly operatic name of Lorenzo Romano Amadeo
Carlo Avogadro, Count of Quarequa and Cerreto. Avogadro’s Principle
eventually led to the accurate measurement of an atom.
Now I hope this short précis of my education will have lulled my
readers into the sort of contented stupor where they will not be too dismayed
by the very depressing news which follows: Not one single word about the
Titanic was ever mentioned.
It was, in short, the great guilty secret of the North. People might say
defensively of the gigantic liner: “Aye, well she was alright when
she left Belfast,” but deep down (no pun intended) folks were ashamed.
I’m not entirely sure when I became aware that the Titanic was from
the same place which gave the world George Best, Van Morrison, The Men
Behind The Wire and the Ferguson tractor; I imagine I must have been well
into my 20s.
But suddenly the Titanic has become acceptable. In Belfast last week for
the 95th anniversary of the tragedy, I could have had my pick of discussions,
films, tours, exhibitions, displays and commemorative paraphernalia.
It seems as if Belfast has finally embraced the words of a Dublin man.
It was George Bernard Shaw who put it so succinctly: “If you can’t
get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” |
