Podcast: The Birmingham bombings, 1974 and the Birmingham Six

Interview by Cathal Brennan and John Dorney with Chris Mullin and Michael Flavin. First broadcast on the Irish History Show.

On 21 November 1974, two IRA bombs planted in pubs in the English city of Birmingham killed 21 people and injured over 180. It was the deadliest act in England during the Northern Ireland conflict of 1969 to 1998. Such was the public revulsion that the Provisional IRA never formally claimed responsibility.

In the wake of the bombings, the West Midlands Police arrested six Irish men who were living locally. In custody they were allegedly beaten until they signed confessions and forensic tests also claimed to have found traces of explosives on thier clothing and hands.

However, grave doubts about their guilt were raised by, among others, Chris Mullin a journalist and later Labour Party Member of Parliament. The ‘Birmingham Six’ were imprisoned from 1975 until 1991, when their convictions were finally quashed by the British Court of Appeal.

Here, we talk to Chris Mullin, a leading protagonist in the campaign to free the six men and to Michael Flavin, who teaches Global Studies at King’s College London and who has written extensively, including here on the Irish Story about what it was like to grow up in the Birmingham Irish community in the wake of the bombings.

 

 

 

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