“There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.”

“The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs a lot less.”

Brendan Francis Behan was a novelist, poet, playwright, songwriter and short-story writer. Noted for his powerful political views, earthy satire, humour, and heavy drinking, he once remarked, “I am a drinker with writing problems”. He was born in Dublin’s inner city into an educated working-class family with strong Republican sympathies. His father, Stephen, was involved in the Irish War of Independence; his mother, Kathleen, was a friend of Michael Collins whom she affectionately named ‘The Laughing Boy’; and his uncle, Peadar Kearney, was the author of the Irish national anthem, A Soldier’s Song.

Brendan Behan spent most of the years from 1939 to 1946 in penal institutions on political charges and it was during his years in prison that he began to write. His writing depicted the lives of ordinary men and women and in his plays he liked to use song, dance and direct addresses to the audience. Behan’s first play, The Quare Fellow (1954), depicts events of twenty-four hours preceding an execution. The play attacked capital punishment and public attitudes towards religion, politics and sex; it was turned down by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, but eventually gained critical success. His best-known novel, Borstal Boy (1958), drew its material from his own experiences in prison and reform schools. Other dramas included, The Big House (1957), and The Hostage (1958).

In 1955, Brendan Behan married Beatrice ffrench-Salkeld, a painter. Notoriety and critical attention came his way during the 1950s and he was lauded in the United States. But Behan suffered from poor health and fuelled by his prolonged drinking bouts he developed diabetes. He died in a Dublin hospital on 20 March 1964, aged 41.