Northern Ireland

At a Glance

Cherrington Scholars Eligible

• The three painters known as the Bogside Artists paid tribute to the Bloody Sunday casualties with “The People’s Gallery,” a composition of 10 murals in downtown Derry.
• With his translation of Beowulf, poet Seamus Heaney, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995, beat out the Harry Potter series for England’s famous Whitbread Prize.
• In the 1950s, Belfast was home to a beat scene that rivaled that of Liverpool.
• Northern Ireland has been without an official flag since 1972, though the red hand flag, which features the St. George’s cross, a red hand, a six-point star and a crown, still flies from private homes and businesses.
• Belfast is the birthplace of singer-songwriter Van Morrison, celebrated for his brand of Celtic Soul music, and Sir James Galway, one of the first flutists to establish a career as a soloist.
• According to census data, Chinese is now the second most widely spoken language in Northern Ireland, thanks to a lively, if small, Chinese community.