Background
Behan was born on 26 December 1891 to James Behan, a foreman house-painter, and his wife Christina (née Correspondent. She married secondly Patrick English).
Behan was born on 26 December 1891 to James Behan, a foreman house-painter, and his wife Christina (née Correspondent. She married secondly Patrick English).
They lived in a house in Russell Street on the Northside of Dublin which belonged to Christina, who owned a number of properties in the area. According to Behan himself, he found this an attractive method of extricating himself from a path that had not been chosen by him. Later he joined the Irish Republican Army and became one of Michael Collins" Twelve Apostles, responsible for assassinating British Army officers during the Anglo-Irish War.
During the civil war, Behan fought on the anti-treaty side and was incarcerated in both the Curragh and Mountjoy prison.
Behan"s refusal to take such an oath of loyalty resulted in his exclusion from the teaching profession for which he had trained and ultimately a life of comparative hardship. Kathleen"s Brother Peadar Kearney was a famous songwriter and poet (famous for writing the Irish National Anthem "A Soldier"s Song", "Down by the Glenside" and the "The Foggy Dew").
Behan"s first sight of Brendan was from a window in the prison that looked out to the streets below, as Kathleen held the child up for him to see. Stephen was the subject of This Is Your Life in December 1962 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the audience of Dublin’s RTÉ Studios.
