A vinyl LP of Thin Lizzy's 'Shades of A Blue Orphanage'. Blue cover with black and white pictures, the front of three children and the back shows the three bandmembers walking through St. Stephen's Green, dated 10 January 1962.

Shades of a Blue Orphanage is Thin Lizzy’s second album, released in 1972. The name is a composite of the members’ previous bands, Shades of Blue and Orphanage. The band is pictured walking beside the pond in St. Stephen’s Green on the back cover.

A colour photograph of Muhammad Ali in his boxing gear and standing in a fighting stance outdoors with fields behind him. From Getty 'Muhammad Ali during training on 10 July 1972 for his fight with Al 'Blue' Lewis held at Croke Park in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.'

Muhammad Ali fought Al Lewis in Croke Park in July 1972. The promoter Harry Conrad had always wanted to stage a heavyweight fight, and managed to convince Ali to fight Lewis in Dublin for $200,000. He is shown here training for the fight. Ticket sales were slow, but about 5,000 people managed to sneak in without paying. The fight itself was not very exciting – Lewis barely troubled Ali – but people were still thrilled to see Ali fight. Fans swamped the field around the ring and it took almost half an hour to clear a path back to the dressing rooms.

A print of a black and white photo showing people queueing, including some nuns, to see ‘Love Story’ at the Green Cinema on St. Stephen’s Green taken by Bill Doyle.
A queue for Love Story at the St Stephen’s Green Picture House (known as the Green) in 1971. Many nuns were not allowed to go to the theatre, but because films were censored, they were allowed to go to the cinema. The Green opened in 1935, one of the first to deviate from the lavish style of early cinemas, offering a more relaxed experience with less overbearing décor. The cinema survived until 1987.

The wagon from the RTÉ children's television show 'Wanderly Wagon'

This model of the Wanderly Wagon was used for the flying scenes in the RTE children’s programme. (The wheels have been repaired with Lego.) Wanderly Wagon ran from 1967 until 1982, and it was a beloved part of many an Irish childhood. The central role of O’Brien was played by the legendary puppeteer Eugene Lambert, who travelled the country in his flying wagon. O’Brien was joined by characters such as the grumpy Fortycoats, the lovable Godmother (played by Nora O’Mahoney) a flying dog called Judge, and old Mr Crow, a rather sardonic and unlikable bird. Strange but true: Neil Jordan once wrote an episode of Wanderly Wagon.

A largely black and white poster for the Dublin Theatre festival with 'theatre festival' in red. The festival is dated on the poster as '10/24 September 1961'. Poster designed by Louis le Broquy.

The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe’s oldest theatre festival, held annually since 1957. It brings major productions to Ireland, and provides a platform for local and more experimental work. This poster for the 1961 festival was designed by Louis le Brocquy.