Arthur Quinlan
Irish journalist

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.
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.
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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.
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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.