Mary O'Hara

< 1956

A successful appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival, followed by her own programmes on the newly established BBC-TV, ushered in the Folk Revival in the Ireland of the 60s and also a revival of the Irish Harp as an accompanying instrument.

She was photographed by Baron for the Evening Standard and featured in Punch in a cartoon by Ronald Searle.

She married the poet Richard Selig, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and they planned to live in the United States. He introduced her to the song, I Gave My Love a Cherry (The Riddle Song), sung here by Mary, accompanying herself on the Irish harp.

Photo: Baron

The Riddle Song ..I Gave My Love a Cherry

1957 >


These plans were cruelly
disrupted by Richard’s
death from cancer and
Mary, devastated,
joined a closed order of
Benedictine nuns

1976 >

Mary resumed her singing career 12½ years after becoming a nun.

To renewed acclaim, she performed in all the major concert halls of the English-speaking world and recorded several new albums.

She repeated her success of 20 years earlier by having her own series of TV programmes not only on BBC-TV but also having two series of programmes on ITV.

Painting: Brigid Marlin >