Fergus Wheelan is a walking archive of Irish history and politics.  He’s a self-made historian who brings complex history to life and makes it simple to understand.  Every guest who visits I find reading his book, Dissent into Treason. It’s available from Amazon in the US. I can’t fathom the amount of time he spent in libraries and archives research this book — nor the time it took to understand, structure, and explain the information in such an enlightening way.

It’s no wonder Fergus drawn to the Cobblestone Pub, a place operated by Tom Mulligan (a man with a degree in Irish history and policies himself).

Every visit to the Cobblestone is a lesson in tradition for me.

Last week, I had more friends in tow.  Here you see Toni Grey (an English friend who retired to Tunisia many moons ago) and her Italian boyfriend, Toni and Giuseppe Conte.

Incidentally, Giuseppe rents apartments and B&B rooms in Rome.  I visited one of the apartments and found it to be quite charming and extremely well located (near Campo de’ Fiori).  You can contact Giuseppe at <g.conte@promedinternational.com> for more information.

Headed to the Cobblestone with Toni and Giuseppe.

My English/Tunisian and Italian friends at the Cobblestone Pub.

We were too far from the musicians’ corner to hear what was going on, so I asked Fergus to come sing us some tunes.

And, of course, he told some stories.

And we learned more about the history of Irish religion and politics.