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Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland founded in April 1936. Based at Dublin Airport, but originally operating out of Baldonnel Airfield, it operates 47 Airbus aircraft serving Europe, Africa and North America. The name, Aer Lingus is an anglicisation of the Irish form Aer Loingeas.

The airline is 29.4% owned by Ryanair and 25.4% owned by the Government of Ireland. It was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, following prior government approval (the government previously owned 85% of the airline). Aer Lingus is a former member of the Oneworld airline alliance, which it left on 31 March 2007.

While Aer Lingus is not in an alliance it has codeshares with Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam members, as well as interline agreements with Aer Arann and JetBlue Airways in the United States. The company employs 4,000 people and in 2008 had revenues of €1.4 billion. Aer Lingus transferred 10 million passengers in 2008. It has a mixed business model, operating a low fare service on its European and North African routes and full service, two-class flights on transatlantic routes. Read more...

George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born August 31, 1945) is a Grammy Award-winning Northern Irish singer, songwriter, author, poet and multi-instrumentalist, who has been a professional musician during the last five decades. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl — a unique mix of folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences — Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll. Critic Greil Marcus has gone so far as to say that "no white man sings like Van Morrison."

Known as "Van the Man" by his fans, Morrison first rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band, Them, penning their seminal 1964 hit "Gloria". A few years later, Morrison left the band for a successful solo career.

Morrison has pursued an idiosyncratic musical path. Much of his music is tightly structured around the conventions of American soul and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Moondance", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz, and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as his classic album Astral Weeks and lesser known works such as Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic Soul".

Morrison's career, spanning some five decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2000, Morrison ranked #25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its 100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Van Morrison 42nd on their list of The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Paste Magazine ranked him 20th in their list of 100 Greatest Living Songwriters In 2006 and Q Magazine ranked him 22nd on their list of 100 Greatest Singers in April 2007. Read more...

Irish Linen Museum and Christ Church Cathedral

Lisburn (/ˈlɪzbɜːrn, ˈlɪsbɜːrn/; from Irish Lios na gCearrbhach^ⓘ [ˌl̠ʲɪsˠ n̪ˠə ˈɟaːɾˠwəx]) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is 8 mi (13 km) southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with the arrival of French Huguenots in the 18th century, the town developed as a global centre of the linen industry.

• ...that Gregg shorthand was invented by Co. Monaghan-born, John Robert Gregg?
• ...that Waterford is Ireland's oldest city, being first settled in 853?
• ...that according to traditional Irish genealogy, all Irish people are descended from King Milesius?
• ...that until 1953 both the IFA and FAI fielded international teams under the name of Ireland?