death_place death_date pseudonym nationality birth_date genre article_title name
home for the blind 12 january 1981 bang bang irish 1906 street performance bang bang -lrb- dubliner -rrb-
 thomas dudley
bang bang -lrb- dubliner -rrb-

bang bang -lrb- real name thomas dudley -rrb- was an eccentric elderly gentleman in dublin in the 1950s and 1960s who achieved fame as a character in the city .
a fan of cowboy films , `` bang bang '' used to travel the buses and trams of the city staging mock shoot-outs with passing people -lrb- hence his nickname -rrb- .
he carried a large church key in his pocket which he used as a ` gun ' .
dubliners , who enjoyed his good-natured antics , used to participate in his games , sometimes `` returning fire '' by pretending they had a gun in their hands and shouting `` bang bang '' back at him , or by falling down `` dead '' on the city streets when he suddenly appeared at the back of a bus or tram and `` shot '' them .
on occasion `` bang bang '' even interrupted plays on stage by `` shooting '' the actors , generally to the amusement of actors and audiences alike .
radio and television presenter , paddy crosbie , wrote of ` bang bang ' in his book `` your dinner 's poured out '' : '' `` bang !
bang !
appeared on our scene in the twenties , but he belonged to the entire city .
his favourite hunting-ground was the trams , from one of which he jumped , turning immediately to fire ` bang bang ' at the conductor .
passengers and passers-by took up the game , and soon an entire street of grown-ups were shooting at each other from doorways and from behind lamp-posts .
the magic of make-believe childhood took over , and it was all due to the simple innocence of ` bang bang ' .
he was a very young man at this time .
` bang !
you 're shot .
if yeh do n't die , i 'm not playin ' . '
my father was very fond of him , and seemed to come across him very often in different parts of the city .
he told us about one incident with ` bang bang ' in marlboro ' street , where the shooting pretence went on for nearly half-an-hour and some visiting americans joined in .
they thought the whole thing was hilarious . '' ''
`` bang bang '' died in 1981 but is widely remembered by some of the older dubliners .
his death was recorded by the irish independent , a notice which paddy crosbie also details in his book . ''
`` the following is the text of an irish independent item on ` bang bang ' at the time of his death on 12th january 1981 : '' ` one of dublin 's best known and most beloved characters tommy ` bang bang ' dudley has died in a home for the blind .
he was 75 .
`` he was an institution in dublin during his lifetime .
he carried a huge jail key with him around the city , mockingly pointing it at strangers and shouting ` bang bang ' . ''
`` despite progressive eye disease , ` bang bang ' maintained his daily beat in the city frequently causing mayhem by jumping onto buses , slapping his rear end as if he was on a horse .
`` only recently he told his friends on his sickbed in clonturk house for the adult blind in drumcondra , dublin , that he got the idea for his ` bang bang ' characterisations from the many cowboy films that he had attended in his early years .
he lived in various parts of the city during his lifetime -- in mill lane for 41 years and later in bridgefoot street flats . ''
`` full funeral arrangements will be made today . ' '' '' '' '
he was raised in an orphanage in cabra , dublin .
he lived most of his adult life on mill street , in the coombe , dublin .
in later life he was taken in and cared for by the rosminian fathers in drumcondra .
he died in their care on 11 january 1981 and was buried in their cemetery .
`` bang bang '' has entered the folklore of dublin as an eccentric but harmless individual who amused the city 's citizens with his games .
he still is mentioned in books and broadcast programmes .
in the 1970s the abbey theatre performed a play about the history of dublin entitled `` from the vikings to bang bang '' .
his key is on display in the reading room of the dublin city archive , pearse street he is mentioned in the lyrics of a children 's `` skipping song '' `` we all went up to the mero '' published by pete st. john .
one verse reads : '' `` and we all went up to the mero , hey there , who 's your man '' `` it 's only johnny forty coats , sure he 's desperate man '' `` bang bang shoots the buses with his golden key '' `` hey hi diddley i and out goes she '' '' a new comic song ` bang bang ' written by tony mcgaley was performed as part of the wild bees nest project in conjunction with the 2011 bealtaine festival .
the song was performed on stage at the national library of ireland , kildare street , dublin , on the last two days of may 2011 by tony mcgaley with the other wild bees nest singers , bang bang was part of the inspiration for the shadowbox theatre company 's play ` looking for bang-bang ' set in dublin following the path of three children in dublin searching out famous characters at the time .
