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Arthur Quinlan

Irish journalist

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ4800045 ↗
Source-derived summary

Arthur Quinlan (15 January 1921 – 22 December 2012) was an Irish raconteur and print journalist with The Irish Times. Known for his interviews with politicians, royalty and film stars in a career spanning more than 50 years, he was widely regarded as a very important figure in his field, and was both the first Irishman to get a jet across the Atlantic Ocean to New York in 1958 and the only western journalist to have interviewed Che Guevara. Considered a "master of executing international scoops", his work was sent across the world.

Early life

Quinlan came from Dublin but was raised in Quin, County Clare. He attended University College Dublin (UCD), where he studied English literature and history and edited two student publications.

Journalism

Quinlan began working with The Irish Times in 1945. He was formerly based at Shannon Airport. Shannon is the most westerly airport in Europe and an important fuel stop for both eastward and westward traffic. Quinlan would start up his 1939 Morris 8 and head for the airport, using it as an opportunity to interview those passing through. He interviewed every United States President from Harry Truman to George H. W. Bush and many Soviet leaders, including Andrey Vyshinsky and Andrei Gromyko.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Arthur Quinlan” as irish journalist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arthur, Quinlan and Irish.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1921, 2012, 1958, 1945—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1923-01-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Arthur, Quinlan and Irish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Arthur Quinlan”, the useful work is to connect “irish journalist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4800045. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 2012, 1958 and 1945.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Arthur Quinlan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Arthur Quinlan primary sources, Arthur Quinlan archive and Arthur research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Arthur Quinlan”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Arthur Quinlan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.