The title was from the affectionate nickname Mrs. Brendan Behan wrote a lament to Collins, 'The Laughing Boy', at the age of thirteen. She remained politically active all her life and was a personal friend of the Irish republican Michael Collins. If Behan's interest in literature came from his father, his political beliefs were by his mother. Brendan's father, Stephen Behan, a house painter who had been active in the Irish War of Independence, read classic literature to the children at bedtime from sources such as Zola, Galsworthy, and Maupassant his mother, Kathleen, took them on literary tours of the city. Also living in the area was his uncle Peadar Kearney, song writer and author of the Irish national anthem. He lived in a house on Russell Street near Mountjoy Square owned by his grandmother, Christine English, who owned a number of properties in the area. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.īehan was born in the inner city of Dublin on 9 February 1923 into an educated working class family. Brendan Francis Behan (Irish: Breandán Ó Beacháin) (9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English.

The hostage song