Lindsey Earner-Byrne: Women’s history has demonstrated that silence makes a noise of its own

When Lindsey Earner-Byrne, the country’s first Professor of Irish Gender History, was helping Boy George uncover his Irish background, she discovered a cousin she didn’t know she had, she tells Clodagh Finn

Lindsey Earner-Byrne,
Professor of Irish Gender History, University College Cork. Pictures: Larry Cummins

 A conversation can take many unexpected turns, yet it still comes as a delightful surprise when Lindsey Earner-Byrne, the country’s first Professor of Irish Gender History, breaks into a short rendition of Karma Chameleon, Culture Club’s 1983 number one hit.

She’s recalling the moment she was asked to flesh out Boy George’s Irish background for a 2018 episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, and her subsequent excitement at the prospect of meeting one of the pop star giants of her childhood.