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William Patrick Stuart-Houston (né Hitler; 12 March 1911 – 14 July 1987) was the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler. William Patrick was the son of Alois Hitler - Adolf Hitler's half brother, and his Irish wife Bridget Dowling and was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.His mother Bridget Dowling, met Alois when he was a waiter in the Shelbourne Hotel in 1909; in 1910 they eloped to London, where they married. William Patrick was born the following year.The story goes that the young Bridget Dowling spotted a dashing foreigner at the Dublin Horse Show. The handsome stranger in the Homburg hat at the RDS was none other than Alois Hitler, brother of the future leader of the Third Reich. Bridget, an innocent 17-year-old was just out of convent school, and said later: "I cannot deny that this stranger with his fine foreign manners made a great impression.'Romance blossomed and the pair went on dates to Dublin's National Gallery. Alois, the older half-brother of Adolf Hitler, made out he was a grand hotelier who was on a European tour studying the business in various countries. Bridget's family disapproved of the match. Their opposition to the relationship was proved right when they found out that Mr Hitler was not in fact a wealthy hotelier but a waiter in the Shelbourne Hotel.In the 1930s William Patrick Hitler lived in Germany.  Paddy Hitler showed himself to be an opportunist. He travelled over to Germany to exploit his connections after Hitler became Chancellor. The pair had a stormy relationship, but uncle Adolf found Paddy work in a bank. He later became a car salesman for Opel. He began to copy his uncle's mannerisms, including the Fuhrer's pose with crossed arms. He even grew a similar moustache.Paddy Hitler was in demand at society dinner parties in Germany. Adolf described him as his "loathsome nephew''. Patrick was reported to have made veiled threats to expose Adolf's Jewish ancestry, and demanded a more senior job. Hitler demanded that he become a German citizen if he wanted a top job. Fearing a trap, Patrick then fled Germany in a hurry. Back in England he wrote an article for Look magazine, "Why I hate my Uncle''. The Hitler name may have opened doors for Paddy in Berlin, but it wasn't flavour of the month in England as war broke out.However, by 1939 he and his mother had moved to the United States where he became a critic of his uncle. Paddy turned his colourful background into a sort of travelling freak show. He gave lectures, warning America that his uncle was a madman surrounded by "sexual perverts''.Adolf Hitler's nephew served in the US Navy in World War Two. William P. Hitler was sworn in on March 6, 1944 and went on to serve for three years as a pharmacist's mate receiving a Purple Heart medal for a wound he suffered. He received a shrapnel wound in the leg.Having cashed in on the Hitler name before and during World War Two, Bridget and Paddy then decided to drop out of public view completely. They vanished and assumed new identities as the Stuart-Houston family. They lived on Long Island, where Patrick ran a blood-analysis laboratory. Patrick married a German woman Phyllis and they had four sons. Although Patrick kept his identity secret until shortly before his death. He was still alive in 1977; but nothing further is known of him after that date.Bridget Dowling Hitler died in 1969 at the age of 78. Her son Patrick is buried beside her, having died suddenly in 1987. Their grave on Long Island offers no clues to their background. His sons Louis and Brian run a local landscaping business, while the oldest brother Alex is a former social worker. Hitler's last surviving relatives quietly decline interviews about their notorious grand-uncle.William Patrick’s story so fascinated British journalist David Gardner that he spent years attempting to find the last relative to bear the Hitler name. Gardner found that William Patrick died before the search started, but that his four sons had established a pact that, in order for Adolf Hitler’s genes to die with them, none of them would have children. He discovered too that the eldest son, Alex, also has a middle name.... Adolf! And that the family insist Adolf Hitler did visit Liverpool (and Ireland) before the First World War – a trip previously discounted by historians. The book, The Last of the Hitlers, contains previously unpublished FBI files and interviews with the surviving blood relatives, and is not just a history of the family, it is also the story of Gardner’s dedicated search.This book is on the shelf in Ballymun Library and you can email the branch at [email protected] if you would like to read it and we will send it on to a collection branch. Please include your email address and library card number and highlight your pick up branch for collection. Find out more about our new call and collect service. 

In this episode of the DCLA podcast, Jessica Fahy examines the choices made in the portrayal of significant Irish women by leading artists of the day.

Welcome to the third entry in our blog series 'Lost in the Stacks' - recommendations by Dublin City Libraries staff exploring overlooked gems and helping you find your next read!Our entry today comes from one of our wonderful librarians, Jessica, and looks at some of the best essay collections in our libraries!Essay CollectionsIs there a greater joy than settling comfortably with a beverage of your choice and reading a well-crafted essay?There is a particular form of literary alchemy that takes place in the best essays - the fusion of the personal with social commentary combined with a stylistic elegance. Often offering a unique perspective on a cultural moment or a brief window into another world, a good essay has a habit of staying with you long after the pages have turned and the book is closed.Here is a selection of the very best essay collections for you to enjoy. If you'd like to borrow any of the books discussed below, simply click on the book cover or title to be taken to the reserves page, where you'll need your library card and PIN to request the book.1. Pulphead: dispatches from the other side of America by John Jeremiah SullivanPulphead is a fascinating collection of essays exploring pop culture and subcultures of American life fused with memoir and aspects from the writer’s own life. Written with a gentle wit and probing intelligence, it is hard to resist reading the entire collection in one go.2. Changing my mind: occasional essays by Zadie SmithThis is a fabulous collection of Zadie Smith’s book reviews, film reviews and non-fiction prose. Witty, honest and refreshing, it is a pleasure to dip in and out of.3. Naked by David SedarisDavid Sedaris has cornered the market in humorous memoir based essays. The stories here are sardonic, wry and darkly hilarious with a touch of pathos and just the right amount of hindsight and self-knowledge to balance the comic absurdity.4. Men explain things to me by Rebecca SolnitThe title essay of this book has gained iconic status since it was published but each of the essays in this book are powerful reminders of why we need feminism. Essential reading.5. This is the story of a happy marriage by Ann PatchettAnn Patchett is best known as a novelist but this book collects her earlier non-fiction articles. This is a fabulous collection of personal essays and memoir pieces that explore key moments in her life. Her writing is warm, engaging, and shining through with humour and kindness.

Lou Reed passed away on the 27th of October 2013.He was one of the most influential figures in rock music. His first band The Velvet Underground is probably solely responsible for any "Indie Music" we hear today. However he is most famous for two songs, "Walk on the Wild Side" and Perfect Day". The former was a hit in 1972. A most unusual chart song with sparse arrangement of an infectious backing vocal, two note bass line and spoken styled melody of  lyrics about transsexuals and prostitution inspired by characters of the pop artist Andy Warhol's hangout, The Factory. The song surfaced again in 1990 as it's memorable bass line was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest as the backbone of their song "Can I kick it?". The latter was "Perfect Day" (the b side to Walk on the Wild side) which had a resurgence in the film Trainspotting and was released by an all star cast as a charity single in 1997. Both songs were featured on the album Transformer.The Velvet Underground were formed in 1964 and played as the house band in Andy Warhol's Factory. Reed and John Cale were the main composers. Their first Album The Velvet Underground and Nico is so unusual, some tracks sound like Bo Diddley duelling with a violin and other tracks are so achingly beautiful and simple the album is hard to forget. There is no point in me trying to explain it, just listen! It is still one of the most unusual records I have ever heard. When you look back to what was happening in the charts at the time, Nancy and Frank Sinatra, The Doors, the world was not ready for The Velvet Underground.The album only sold 30,000 copies, but as musician Brian Eno said "each one of those people who bought the record started a band".Lou Reed went on to record twenty solo albums after The Velvet Underground disbanded. He died of complications following a liver transplant.His life partner is artist Laurie Anderson. 

This year witnessed the passing of one of the greatest country singers who ever lived, Frank Sinatra referred to him as “the second best male singer in the world”, George Jones.His story is a dramatic rags to riches tale with broken marriages and alcohol problems, subjects which are often the content of country songs. His recent auto biography I Lived to Tell It All is available in Dublin City Public Libraries.As a child he would play the guitar and sing for pennies. He rode on the bus for free because the driver would want to hear him sing. His first hit was White Lightening in 1959, even though he did not pen most of his own hits, like Elvis he was the great interpreter.He is also known for his stormy marriage and music partnership with the famous Tammy Wynette. Their daughter Georgette Jones published a book titled The Three of Us giving an intimate account of the first couple of Country's tempestuous relationship, often fuelled by drugs and alcohol.However, I think his previous work with Melba Montgomery is far superior. Although it is lesser known and not as commercial as the Wynette duets he does admit in the biography that himself and Melba did define the male, female duet sound. They attain the close harmonies that I have only ever heard family musicians achieve before. For Instance the Everlys or The Louvin Brothers. Check out George and Melba's sublime version of the Hank Williams classic House of Gold. Well, if that has whetted you appetite for some more information on Country Music, you can read this amazing book In the Country of Country: A journey to the roots of American Music by Nicholas Dawidoff.Using interviews and research he gives an account of the lives and careers of American Music greats from Jimmy Rodgers to contemporary artists including Emmylou Harris and Iris Dement.It is beautifully written and sometimes brutally honest.

Biographies can make fascinating reading: one of the better ones around at the moment is George Harrison:  living in the material world, available both as a book by Olivia Harrison and as a film by Martin Scorsese. The film in particular is well worth a look, with plenty of archive footage, and contributions from the likes of Eric Clapton, Phil Spector and Eric Idle, and is an in-depth look at probably  the most well-rounded, insightful, and interesting of The Beatles. Just kids Patti Smith’s account of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, a relationship that  started off as teenage boyfriend/girlfriend, but developed over the years into something much deeper and more interesting. Very evocative of the art scene in 70s New York, and a deservedly popular read. Yossarian slept here  Writers are notoriously difficult to live with, and Joseph Heller was no exception. Whenever anyone asked him why he hadn’t written anything as good as Catch-22, he would smugly reply ‘Who has?’. This memoir was written by Heller’s daughter, Erica, and is an intimate account of a colourful, volatile family. Life on air David Attenborough joined the BBC in 1950 and since then has had a long and varied  television career, both as producer and presenter. This is full of interesting characters, both animal and human; and as well as being a record of environments and customs that are long gone, it’s also a kind of potted history of the development of television. The Fry Chronicles Stephen Fry’s second autobiography continues on from Moab is my washpot, and picks up his story from university onwards, including his comedy beginnings with the Footlights, and is a gloriously entertaining feast of namedropping, showbiz gossip, and luvvies in general.