Pittsburgh Steelers Chairman and former US Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney died last week aged 84.

A cousin of mine is fond of telling a story from a day in school long ago, when her class was tasked with a question to take home to their parents: what was the most memorable event in their lives?

I’m especially good at expectorating, sings Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, and the hunter’s skill with a well-aimed spit is just one more indication that he’s the villain of the piece.

SEVENTY years ago Billy Conn, weighing 174 pounds and fighting out of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, took on the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, for the heavyweight title.