Morning View: Eamon Phoenix - A historian who grasped the value of newspapers

There has been a wave of tributes to the popular historian, Dr Éamon Phoenix, who has died after a short illness at the age of 69.

Dr Phoenix, who lectured at Stranmillis University College in Belfast, was much seen on television and radio, where his agreeable broadcasting style held the attention of viewers and listeners while he imparted some of his vast store of knowledge about our past.

Some of the most important work that he did was examining the newly declassified government papers each year from 30 years previously (and latterly documents that were unveiled after a shorter duration kept under wraps).

This research helped to make Dr Phoenix an expert on the workings of Northern Ireland during such important times as the run-up to the Troubles. He would comb through the released files alongside other historians and reporters for titles such as the News Letter.

Press reportage of the declassified records is an example of how newspapers both report on the past and are themselves (as an American newsman put it) "the first rough draft of history".

Dr Phoenix was an expert on that because he ran a popular 'On This Day' column in the Irish News in which he looked back at what that paper had reported exactly 50 or 70 or 100 or whatever years earlier.

He also wrote some occasional articles for the News Letter on some of our big anniversaries about the early influence of this, the world's oldest English language daily title (so old that a few years ago we were the first paper ever to run an 'On This Day 280 Years Ago' daily column, reproducing in 2018 and 2019 some of what had been written on the same days in 1738 and 1739).

Dr Phoenix also gave talks and fascinating tours of places such as the ancient Friar's Bush cemetery in Botanic.

He will be much missed.