Tonight on TG4: Violet Gibson, the Irish woman who shot Mussolini

A documentary looks at the life of a woman whose deed was immortalised in literature and song - her intentions, and subsequent life in asylum, remain points of intrigue

Olwen Fouéré as Violet Gibson in "An tÉireannach Mná a Lámhach Mussolini".

In 1926, Anglo-Irish former socialite Violet Gibson pushed her way through a mob of supporters and heavies at a gathering in Rome, with the specific intention of assassinating Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. She shot him in the nose at point-blank range. 

The so-called "Duce" would receive facial injuries - but Gibson herself would be subject to a lifetime of imprisonment and a pauper's passing, written off as a "mad Irishwoman".