Irishman Michael Roe was once hailed among the quickest drivers in the world. He would do things in a race car that left the biggest teams in Formula 1 scrambling for his signature. But, a critical decision sent Michael Roe down a different road Kildare man. Today he fixes cars in his brother’s workshop in Naas - and his nephew, James Roe Jr, has gone on to follow in his footsteps.

What most of the customers don’t know is that Michael shared race grids with future Formula 1 world champions like Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher and was spoken about in the same breath as motor racing icons like Ayrton Senna. 

In one remarkable summer in 1984, Michael Roe broke every lap record from the USA to Canada in the once prestigious Can Am series.

He only got noticed in America after a chance meeting selling brake fluid led to a test drive so spectacular, it brought the backing of a millionaire businessmen, the broadcaster ESPN and great acclaim. 

In the blink of an eye, Michael Roe went from and Irish car-boot seller to an American billboard celebrity.

He would do things in a race car that left the biggest teams in Formula 1 scrambling for his signature and his charisma was such that he won the friendship of one of the biggest stars in Hollywood — Paul Newman.

But on the cusp of greatness, a critical decision sent Michael Roe down a different road and he soon disappeared from view.

But, with the emergence of James Roe Jnr as a formidable talent, Michael Roe is back.

Documentary on One - RTÉ Documentaries

Chasin' Roe

Patrick Gilmore emigrated from the village of Ballygar Co Galway in the West of Ireland to America in the 1840's. He became a leading composer & bandmaster, entertaining millions and millions of Americans over his lifetime. But Ireland's first real superstar remains relatively unknown.

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was born in 1829 in the small village of Ballygar, Co. Galway. He attended the local school, playing Fife and Drum – and it’s there that he developed a love for music and its value to people. Later on he studied/played music in Athlone, Co Westmeath.  

Then, in 1849, and aged 19yrs old, Patrick left Ireland, emigrating with over 1 million other Irish to the United States, escaping hunger and the Famine. It was this step that would eventually allow him to become the leading bandmaster of his day thoughout the United States.

At this stage, Gilmore had become a cornet player, and in his twenties he took over leadership of the Salem Brass band in Massachusetts, Boston. He’s even credited with developing the initial 4th July celebrations in the US. He subsequently went on to lead a host of other Brass bands across the US - and also form his own touring band.  

In the mid/late 1800’s, what Gilmore referred to as a band was actually an orchestra. The average size of Gilmore’s ‘band’ was 55 - up to 100 members by his death in 1892. Each member was required to know between 1,500 and 2,000 pieces by heart for their instrument. Gilmore himself was a prolific composer – and his personal music library was the largest of the day totaling between 11,000 and 14,000 separate scores of music.   P.S. Gilmore was by far the best known Irishman of the 19th century in America.

In 1889 alone, Gilmore's Band (on a nationwide US tour) were seen by crowds in excess of 1 million. He played at and lead his band at six US presidential inaugurations, more than a few significant funerals and at the opening of the Statue of Liberty. He organised two huge and spectacular events, known as Peace Jubilees in Boston in the 1860’s using hundreds of musicians, thousands of singers, cannon and pyrotechnics. He also introduced woodwind to his brass band to form an orchestra sometimes numbering 70 or more players. He played residencies at Gilmore’s Garden in New York city (before it became Madison Square Garden ), summer seasons at Manhattan Beach and toured relentlessly across the US.    

P.S. Gilmore was seen as a real American superstar of his day. And throughout his life, he never forgot his Irish roots – and at times became involved in Irish politics – donating large amounts of money back to Ireland.

He also toured Europe with his ‘band’, including an 1878 European tour of 151 concerts, including a few in Ireland.   Yet despite all of this, Gilmore isn’t very well known outside band music circles in the US, apart from the song ‘When Johnny comes marching home’ which he wrote under a pen name and to a tune he said he heard being whistled while he served in the Union army during the US Civil War.  

P.S Gilmore died suddenly in 1892,  at the dawn of recording technology. His mantle was taken by John Philip Sousa and the rest as they say…

So very little of his music remains in the public domain. Apart from When Johnny comes marching home, he’s known for the ‘Famous 22nd Regiment March’ and little else.

As part of this documentary, we teamed up with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra to revive one of Gilmore's ‘long lost’ compositions, unheard in well over one hundred years - and in doing so, celebrate a forgotten Irish musical star.

Ireland's First Superstar

Ah the US graduate visa! A time of frivolous fun - not a care in the world! Yeah right!    

David Atkinson, a cocky, 22-year old from Wexford goes to New York expecting the roads to be paved with gold and opportunity on every corner. But the roads are paved over and the opportunities are few. So, over the last two years, David has recorded the journey of his life.

It's sink or swim as David tries to navigate the tumultuous work of Trump, trains and training visas.  And the clock is ticking - he has 90 days to get an internship or be on the next flight home. Can he do it?

In May 2016, David Atkinson was in Wexford and very fed up. Life had been a bit of a whirlwind: he had graduated from college, worked on TV, helped run a comedy club but now things were grinding to a halt. The work wasn't coming in and he reckoned his career needed a jump start.  So, he decided to get out - out of Wexford, and out of Ireland. 

He landed on the idea of a Graduate Visa to go and work in the US.  He got the savings together, was approved by the US Embassy and headed off to New York.  "The Graduate Visa should be called the Countdown Visa", says David, "because as soon as the wheels of your suitcase hit US soil, the clock starts ticking.  You have 90 days to get a one-year paid internship in a US company or you have to leave the country".  Easier said than done. 

In the US, most internships are given to college students, not graduates.  They're unpaid and the only last a couple of months - not a year.  David went at the job search with gusto - crummy jobs fairs, hundreds of emails and phone calls.  He did get offered one job where the guy offered to pay David in massages.  "I didn't get back to him", said David.  David had another difficulty.  "The US Graduate Visa only allows you to work in your own field - that is, in the area you have studied.  Mine was TV - not a whole lot of well-paid jobs for interns in TV.   I have a friend who studied American Culture and Society.  He was able to make lots of money working in bars because, as we know,  bars are intrinsic to American culture and society!" 

Eventually, David got a break.  The Westport-based online TV station, Irish.tv, had opened an office in New York.  He sent them an audition tape and was offered work as a presenter.  Not only that, they agreed to sign his papers which would allow him to stay in the US.  Then, the next call David got from Irish.tv was to tell him that the station was closing down and his job was gone.  It was getting close to Christmas.  David's savings were running low; his visa was about to expire. It looked like his great American adventure was about to end in a miserable flight back home. Or would it?

New York - 1, David - 0

"It’s amazing. You cross the big hurdles, and when you get to the small ones, you get tripped up." This is a quote from Albert Reynolds and if applied to the circumstances surrounding The Battle of Baltinglass, it would seem highly apt.

In November of 1950, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Mr James Everett made what he believed was a simple decision. He needed to appoint a new sub-postmaster in Baltinglass, County Wicklow. He considered what he did a small act. However, the choice he made had fatal consequences for his Government, divided an entire community for decades, would enrage much of the Irish nation and bring about a state of anarchic resistance to authority that has been rarely witnessed before or since.

Today there is much debate regarding Post Office closures, however it is unlikely that any of the affected communities would cut down telephone poles, sever crucial communication cables, storm the Dail, the GPO and conduct an airborne assault on Dublin with loudhailer propaganda. These are just some of the elements of protest employed by the citizens of Baltinglass during the so called, battle.

At the centre of the conflict was a diminutive middle-aged lady of severe disposition. Miss Nellie Cooke was fired from her job as sub-postmistress of Baltinglass Post Office. But, she was a force to be reckoned with. In an earlier life she trained as a nun, was a motorbike courier for the IRA during the War of Independence and assisted in producing an underground news-sheet. Nellie knew how to fight and to fight dirty if necessary. A protest army formed around her led by a retired Major General and decorated war hero of the Battle of Alamein. The town of Baltinglass rigged up air-raid warning sirens, mounted pickets and sentries and hunkered down for what was soon to be known as the Battle of Baltinglass.

The fallout from the Battle left bitterness and shame amongst the community. Until now many have been reluctant to comment on what took place in the winter of 1950 in that small Wicklow town. This is the story of The Battle of Baltinglass.

The Battle Of Baltinglass

The 'Documentary on One' unit is currently one of the most successful radio doc unit in the world - having collected over 260 national and international awards since 2008. Their website contains over 1,700 documentaries - the largest free online radio documentary archive anywhere in the world - stretching as far back as 1954. 'Documentary on One' productions are radio stories about real life in Ireland and beyond.

Ireland's First Superstar

Documentary On One, RTÉ

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