Forever Beginning is the title of a 90,000-word memoir I have been working on since 1997. The first version, with a different title, was distributed to my family in 2009 to mark my 70th birthday.
Subsequently updated, it was published here in October 2017. The manuscript is structured on a year by year basis, beginning with 1939, the year of my birth. Links to each chapter – or rather each year – appear below.
Readers may find the Chronology a useful starting point also. The Chronology summarises key events by year, and also links to the relevant chapter.
Reactions, comments and inquiries will be most welcome.
To my children and grandchildren
Justin and Patricia
Eli and Emer
Forever Beginning – Chapters:
1940 · First Perceptions
1941 · A World at War
1942 · A Father’s Image
1943 · Knowledge and Adventure
1944 · Kindergarten
1945 · End of the War
1946 · Father’s Death
1947 · Take a Bus
1948 · A Wedding
1949 · Secondary School
1950 · The Yard and Holidays
1951 · A Scholarship
1952 · A Rugby Win
1953 · Arrival of a Stepfather
1954 · Sex
1955 · Trust
1956 · Influences
1957 · A Trinity Philosophy Student
1958 · The Hist
1959 · A Trinity Scholar
1960 · Too Many Choices
1961 · Graduation
1962 · From Blyth to South Shields
1963 · From South Shields to York
1964 · Dublin Job Applications
1965 · Dublin: IPA, Films and Fianna Fáil
1966 · Changing Job and Getting Engaged
1967 · A Wedding, a House, and an Election
1968 · A Child is Born at a Busy Time
1969 · Senate Nomination
1970 · Wolfe Tone Commemoration
1971 · Family Planning
1972 · A Big Year: Three Referendums
1973 · Recruitment to the European Commission
1974 · Secondment to Brussels Cabinet
1975 · The Family in Brussels
1976 · The End of the Hillery Mandate
1977 · Drawn into a General Election Manifesto
1978 · Hospitalisations and Travel
1979 · A Shoulder Injury and Boarding School
1980 · Charles J. Haughey Becomes Taoiseach
1981 · Becoming a European Commission Spokesman
1982 · Brussels becomes Home
1983 · From the United States to Oil Painting
1984 · Illness and Star Trek
1985 · Art, Visitors and a Holiday
1986 · A Database and a Festival
1987 · An Irish Art Exhibition in Brussels
1988 · A Visit to Moscow
1989 · Filmmaking
1990 · Film Festival Selection
1991 · A Luxembourg Project and a Philopsophy
1992 · Moving House and More on Film
1993 · Poetry and Travel
1994 · Promotion to the Library World
1995 · A Sense of Mortality
1996 · Health, Travel, Readings and a Burial
1997 · Anniversaries and Change
1998 · The Importance of Reading
1999 · The Arrival of the Electronic Library
2000 · A Colloque Proposal
2001 · Plans for Retirement
2002 · From European Treaties to a Manifesto
2003 · Activists and Joiners
2004 · Film Fantasy
2005 · My Study Project
2006 · Travel and Time
2007 · Saint Sebastian and Home
2008 · A Non-Stop Year
2009 · Celebration and Loss
Neville Keery 