Obit: A Tribute To John Hume

Brian O’Donovan is a broadcaster, writer, and presenter, and lives in Cambridge, MA. Born and raised in Clonakilty West Cork in a family of 9, O'Donovan received his BA from University College Cork in 1978 before heading to England. He then journeyed to Boston and grad school at Emerson College. In Boston, at a music jam-session, he was introduced to Lindsay Henes. They married in August of 1981. They live in Cambridge, MA and have four grown children: Aoife, Ciaran, Aidan, and Nuala and two grandchilden, Ivy Jo Jacobsen of Brooklyn, NY, and Nomi O'Donovan of Denver, CO. He can be reached at celtic@wgbh.org.

August 11, 2020

Updated August 18, 2021

John Hume died on August 3, 2020. He was a giant of a political figure in Northern Ireland through The Troubles and a constant advocate for peace. He was instrumental in founding the Social Democratic and Labor Party in the 1960s, which became known as the SDLP. The party was committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and had a general Irish Nationalist, Catholic bent.

Hume and his counterpart David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998 in recognition of their roles in the Good Friday Agreement signed in that same year, and essentially marking a cessation of violence in the province.

In this segment, I pay tribute to this great leader. I talk with Tommy Sands, the Ulster singer-songwriter and himself a peace activist and filmmaker/journalist Robert Connolly. Each knew and interacted with Hume over the years. The segment also uses a musical backdrop and presents a history of the conflict. It features "The Town I Loved So Well," written about John Hume's beloved Derry City and a song he loved to sing himself.

Visit Tommy Sand's website for more information. Sands also wrote a terrific song called "The Ballad of John Hume," which you can watch below.