I never knew my grandfather, Guy, but reading his surviving journals and hearing stories of his life make me wish I had. He was a dedicated antiquarian who collected old spearheads and bayonets, donating many artefacts to the Sligo County Museum to help get it going. It is claimed he started fencing in Ireland (perhaps in a mirror) bringing the sport into practice here. He was known to quote historic figures to his children in answer to pleas for practical advice; barking Napoleonic sayings of dubious helpfulness, and then demanding the cowering youth name the origin of the quote. He built his own radios, his children made gunpowder (which I’m sure he liked). He was educated in the Lycée Henri IV in Paris, and as he watched the Mass celebrated there each morning, he decided to convert to Catholicism.