Life
1920-2006; [John Kilbracken; Lord Kilbracken]; b. Killgar, Co. Leitrim; ed. Eton; journal ist and farmer; issued Tell Me the Next One (1950); Living Like a Lord (1955); Behind the Curtain (1959) and Shamrocks and Unicorns (1959); handed back his British war-service medals in protest against Bloody Sunday (Derry 1972); twice married and twice divorced; d. 14 Aug. 2006.
[ top ]
Commentary
The Irish Times (19 Aug. 2006), obit.; flew Swordfishes [marine torpedo bi-planes] in World War II and awarded medals for bravery; among other enterprising journalistic ventures in order to fund his farming on the family estate, he travelled to Russia and interviewed Krushchev in the 1950s. Quoted as saying, 'I don't consider myself an aristocrat. The Godleys were middle-class until a 5,000 acre estate came their way through purchase, marriage and litigation ... of this I own one-sixteenth and a house built by my great-great-grandfather; life-long member of NUJ; issued Tell Me the Next One (1950); Living Like a Lord (1955); Behind the Curtain (1959), and Shamrocks and Unicorns (1959); he handed back his British war-service medals in protest against Bloody Sunday in Derry 1972; m. and divorced in succcession Penelope Reyne, 1943-1949, and Susan Heazlewood, 1981-89; survived by John Christopher Godley (Lord Kilbracken) and Sean Godley, a younger son. He figured in Anne Chambers, Aristocrats in the Republic of Ireland (New Island, 2004).
[ top ]