Des O’Driscoll looks back on the strange set of circumstances that led to the founding of the festival in 1978.

A strange set of circumstances led Jim Mountjoy to suggest a jazz festival for Cork in 1978. Little did he know how his idea would snowball, writes Des O’Driscoll

A SECRET list of 300 top people who snubbed the honours system by refusing knighthoods and other awards was revealed yesterday.