There’s six men in Birmingham / in Guildford there’s four / who were picked up and tortured / and framed by the law / and the filth get promotion / while they’re still doing time / for being Irish in the wrong place and at the wrong time
HUGH CALLAGHAN
March 24, 1930 – May 27, 2023
Last week saw the sad death at 93 of Hugh Callaghan, one of the Birmingham Six wrongly jailed for IRA bombings in 1974. Back then he was one of many who made up the huge Irish community in England. Their numbers were massive and concentrated in most of England’s big cities. They arrived with the prospect of work and a better life the reason for their exile from home. Hugh led a ordinary working class life like the majority of the Irish over here, with his wife Eileen and their daughter Geraldine in a small terraced council house, working as a welder, visiting the pub and watching Aston Villa. Then on November 22nd 1974 all would change forever as he was arrested at his front door in the Erdington area of Birmingham, swept away and for the following few days he was severely beaten, scared out of his wits, tortured and deprived of food and sleep until he was forced to sign a false confession.
“I was threatened with snarling police dogs… The interrogators did not ease up… threats interspersed with a kick or a hit around the head. I was told the others had all implicated me. I was deprived of sleep and food. By the following afternoon I was a broken man. I signed the confession — I would have signed anything to get them off my back.”
Raised in poverty in the small Catholic enclave of Ardoyne in Belfast he came to England in the late 40’s in search of work and settled in Birmingham. Like many immigrants the Irish did the jobs the English didn’t want to do and in Birmingham it was that Irish labour that built not only it’s most famous landmarks, Spaghetti Junction and the Rotunda but also many canals, roads and railways in the city.
And farewell you streets of pain
I’ll not return to feel more sorrow
Nor to see more young men slain
Through the last six years I’ve lived through terror
And in the darkened streets the pain
Oh how I long to find some solace
In my mind I curse the strain
So farewell you streets of sorrow
And farewell you streets of pain
No I’ll not return to feel more sorrow
Nor to see more young men slain
☘
That were picked up and tortured
And framed by the law
And the filth got promotion
And at the wrong time
In Ireland they’ll put you away in the maze
In England they’ll keep you for seven long days
And they walk through that door
☘
You’ll be counting years
First five, then ten
Growing old in a lonely hell
Round the yard and the stinking cell
From wall to wall, and back again
☘
A curse on the judges, the coppers and screws
Who tortured the innocent, wrongly accused
For the price of promotion
And justice to sell
May the whores of the empire lie awake in their beds
And sweat as they count out the sins on their heads
While over in Ireland eight more men lie dead
WHAT HAPPENED IN BIRMINGHAM
On Thursday, November 21, 1974, two bombs exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub, at the foot of the Rotunda, and at the Tavern in the Town, in New Street, in Birmingham at 8:25 PM and 8:27 PM. The explosions would kill 21 and injure 182 and responsibility was taken by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. A third device, outside a bank in Hagley Road, failed to detonate. Six men were arrested that night, Patrick Hill, Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power and Johnny Walker in Lancashire and Hugh Callaghan back in Birmingham. All were Roman Catholics and from the north of Ireland and had lived in Birmingham since at least the 1960’s. Five of the six left Birmingham on the evening of the 21st before the explosions to travel home to Belfast to attend the funeral of James McDade, a Provisional IRA member who had been recently accidentally killed planting a bomb in Coventry. In November 28, 1974, the men now known as the Birmingham Six appeared in court after being remanded into custody. They all showed clear signs of severe physical assault and ill-treatment. Fourteen officers would be charged and acquitted of their beatings and later a civil claim for damages in 1980 for the Six against the West Midlands Police was struck out.
The trial is held in June and the Six are found guilty of murder and sentenced to twenty-one life sentences each. In 1976 their first application to appeal is dismissed. Their second, in 1991, is allowed because of new evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence, the confessions are revealed to have been forced and the debunking of forensic evidence causes the Court of Appeal to announce the convictions are unsafe and unsatisfactory and on a glorious day in March day just before St. Patrick’s Day the Birmingham Six are set free having spent almost 17 years in various prisons.
The Birmingham 6 on the day of their release. From left to right – John Walker, Paddy Hill. Hugh Callaghan, Chris Mullin (author and prominent advocate of the Six), Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter and William Power, outside the Old Bailey in London in 1991
The bombings occurred at a time of escalation in the war in the north of Ireland. Just 2 years on from Bloody Sunday and the State sanctioned massacre of 13 people on the streets on Derry by the British Army. Bombings and murders were commonplace and the decision was made by the IRA to bring the war to the mainland. Public buildings like the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament among others were targeted and pub bombings would claim the lives of five in Guildford in October, 1974. As in Birmingham the Police were under enormous pressure and soon arrested 4 innocent people, Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, and Carole Richardson, who again as in the Birmingham 6 case would be sentenced to life imprisonment and released decades later, despite it being clear that they were innocent. During their time in prison the men were routinely assaulted. Hugh would reveal
“I got some beatings in there from the screws. The other prisoners didn’t like you because they knew what you were in for.”
He had hot tea and cans of food thrown in his face and all Six were segregated for their own protection. All the time the only people to back them were the Irish community and their newspapers. Ignored by the wider media and the left the murmurs in the places where the Irish met, in the pubs and churches and social events were of the innocence of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four. Campaigns started led by the Irish community over here and eventually the case began to gain notoriety and not before time the case had become clear as a great miscarriage of justice. Scared of people losing faith in the country’s institutions of law and order the British government decided that to keep these innocent men in jail was worth it. Lord Denning during the civil action in 1980 brought by the Six infamously said
“If the six men win, it will mean that the police were guilty of perjury, that they were guilty of violence and threats, that the confessions were involuntary and were improperly admitted in evidence and that the convictions were erroneous. That would mean the Home Secretary would either have to recommend they be pardoned or he would have to remit the case to the Court of Appeal. This is such an appalling vista that every sensible person in the land would say: It cannot be right these actions should go any further”
He would later go even further and say
”If the six had been hanged, we shouldn’t have all these campaigns to get them released”.
After his release Hugh Callaghan moved to London, and published an autobiography, Cruel Fate in 1994. He was involved in various Irish organisations and was an enthusiastic member of the Irish Pensioners’ Choir, performing with them many times including at the London St. Patrick’s parade. His wife Eileen died in 2014 and Hugh is survived by his partner, Adeline Masterson, and his daughter Geraldine. A statement announcing his passing from family friends said “He was a man with astonishing strength of character. Despite the profound injustice he endured, he was not bitter or angry, but joyful and always ready to sing. His party piece was Danny Boy, and his voice was magnificent and strong right to end, with the last day of his life spent with his beloved Adeline, singing to the nurses in hospital but we know the last years of his life were full of love, singing, dancing and Irish music. We will continue to try and live the values of forgiveness and gentle optimism that Hugh taught us.”
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam
When I cranked up “Dremmwel Du” (“Black Horizon”) I was certainly not missing any of the elements of Celtic hard core punk. The crunchy, driving guitars. The breakneck speed drums. The anguished, Banshee with a sandy voice vocals. But the first track “Horizon Noir” took a unique turn with the entry of the violin. Not just any violin, but one juiced on jet fuel. And, Christ on a pogo stick, it was so in sync with the driving band that it felt like it was always meant to be like that. I have played with a lot of violinists (fiddlers, if the term suits you) of all kinds and rarely do you find a player able to make his instrument not just settle into the chaotic frenzy, but appear to LEAD it. “Black Horizon” grabs you by the hand and kicks your backside down that path with the power and madness, oddly structured in a way that shows more control than most. Tasty breaks, so that you’re not lulled into an unbroken chain of double kick beater fuzz. Places to take a breath, and dive back in. “Horizon Noir” lives up to its name, as you definitely get the feeling you staring into one.
Our thanks to Irminsul for the knowledgeable review. We hope to read more from his pen in the future. You should look up his excellent band The Kona Rogues – Rock/Punk fuelled Celtic roots music taking rebellion to a whole new level. They are just about the only Celtic-Punk band with a harp in the scene and the only Celtic-Punk band on the whole island of Hawaii. Their debut album 
Well it seems not with the release of The Stiff Records B-Sides 1984-1987. Of course the music is immense and anything that gets you listening to The Pogues again is worthwhile but why is the whole Poguetry In Motion EP included, especially as it received its own Record Store Day release back in 2015. As far as I’m aware everything here has been released before though perhaps maybe not on vinyl. The sound quality is superb and at around fifty minutes I’m sure the decision to make this release a double vinyl wasn’t influenced by the chance to charge upwards of £50 for it. The album sleeve features a nice photo of the bhoys and ghirl but with what looks a lot like a photo shopped Andrew Ranken! Needless to say the music is fantastic and I bet there’s plenty bands who would love to have A let alone B-sides of this quality. From ‘
R
Sounding as good as the first day they set foot on a stage The Go Set continue to squeeze out the sparks from where Rock’n’Roll collides with Celtic Folk. Big guitars, big beats, irresistible choruses and important words and message for us all the while retaining the timeless spirit of the band’s Celtic roots. The final word here I will leave with Justin who sums up the appeal of Celtic-Punk perfectly.
executed. 
Words can’t describe how happy we are to be able to put on BRYAN McPHERSON. Eight years on from his first and only visit to these shores it’s been a long time coming. Born and raised on the mean streets of Dorchester, a blue collar working-class Irish-American Catholic neighbourhood in Boston, that was also home to half the members of the original Dropkick Murphys. He was inspired at a young age by the raw energy and angst of Punk Rock, as well as the lyrically driven American folk songs of the early 1960’s. His first performances were street corners, house parties, and subway stations in Boston’s inner city. In 2001 he burst onto the acoustic music scene, he has played the length and breadth of North America and was recently spotted opening up for the Dropkick Murphys’ at their famed St. Patrick’s shows in Boston. This is passionate, acoustic-punk from the heart. Street life, politics, addiction and moments of beauty, anguish, clarity and dissent litter the alleys of McPherson’s songs. Recently he was awarded the #1 Folk/ Roots Album Of 2022 on the London Celtic Punks web-zine. The words are as honest as they are urgent…every second counts!
The album has twelve songs of which four are covers beginning with the next three and a tremendous Celtic-Punk re-interpretation of the sea shanty ‘Santiana’. The song dates from at least the 1850’s and is inspired it is thought by events during the Mexican–American War. This is 
saw gigging round the local student and Punk at mainly the Vagon Rock club, 007 club Strahov and, what would become their spiritual home, the Block 10 Pub. A few years later they may no longer be students but they can still be found hanging around the pubs of Strahov. The original eight piece slimmed down to seven when their singer left but they decided not to replace him and now share vocal duties among the band. A very novel and commendable approach. They have become one of the busiest bands in the scene with it always seeming they have released something new and along with their always interesting and fun videos Foggy Dude have become one of the bands in the scene to watch.
I’ve been friends with Scott on Facebook for quite a few years now and enjoy his commentary on life. In fact its very similar to this album with a mix of humour, history and level headed common sense politics. The catchy foot-tapper Celtic-Ska ‘Anthem’ is him explaining it’s time to stand up and say enough is enough. We’re back to some oral history now with the ballad ‘A Song For Jane McCrea’. 
THE MUCKERS have 
The response to the new London Celtic Punks badge has been amazing. Not surprising really as they are just about the nicest bit of merchandise in Celtic-Punk if you ask me! Comes with butterfly clip and made in Ireland (Guaranteed Irish!) available for just £5 – UK and £7 – EU post-paid and we’ll throw in a few stickers and a button badge too. For further overseas contact us and we’ll work it out. Send to Paypal (friends & family) to 
funny twist at the ends that made me howl with laughter. A catchy as hell chorus that by the end of the first time you hear it you’re singing along with!
He immediately disagreed and said to them they had just taken apart what the Dubliners and reassembled it just a little differently. He continued that he thought a lot of punk was like that. Taking things apart and putting them back together, just differently. He cited the Dropkick Murphys as very Punk, with the truly loud roaring guitars that sound, especially on their early records, in my opinion sounding like a mashup of the Buzzcocks melody and Washington hardcore intensity.
Our enormous thanks to Ray Ball. He has already featured on these pages as the driving force behind The Fighting 69th and his new band Ravenswalk from Buffalo. One of the most prolific and diverse artists in the Celtic-Punk scene we are proud to have Raymond on board our team. Writer, artist, musician he is a credit to the American-Irish community and you can find a wealth of his material available at his 
At the London Celtic Punks Headquarters we do tend to get a bit over excited when we discover a new band or one we haven’t heard before. Recently we stumbled across a band called The Provos which immediately grabbed our attention. Immediately the research department was mobilised and tasked with reporting back with their findings. True to their name, it was difficult to find much information on the band initially, so we had to reach out through some underground contacts wearing sunglasses to find The Provos hiding out in a safe house in Orange County, California in the United States.
The album cover is based on the flag of the 7th Buffalo Regt., Irish Army of Liberation. The flag was carried into battle during the Fenian raids, which took place in the 1860’s after the war and consisted of veterans of both sides deciding they would fight to invade Canada via Buffalo and hold it in ransom for Ireland’s freedom, or even to start a “new Ireland” there. The battle showed a swift and distinct Irish victory but was short lived. The regiment was of volunteers from the heavily Irish south side of Buffalo, but saw heavy action. Two casualties of the battle were recovered and brought to their final resting place near to that south Buffalo area. Though their attempts failed ultimately, it presented the groundwork for the Easter 1916 rising in many ways.
Ravenswalk are the classically trained Clare Elizabeth on vocals and the aforementioned Ray Ball on all the other many instruments and they are based in the heavily Irish-American city of Buffalo in New York state. They have already amassed a back catalogue that much more established bands would be jealous of and it’s all freely available alongside the St. Patrick’s Day 202 six track EP as ‘name your price’ downloads from Bandcamp. We never get tired of saying that these downloads are completely free and their is absolutely no obligation to pay anything but their is an option if you do feel and can afford to send over a couple of pints. After all Guinness is expensive stuff in the States.
