Remembering Robin Bryans / Robert Harbinson : 1928-2005
Robin Bryans : Ulsterman and Author
A kindly thought today, twenty years since the passing of this controversial author, on the 11 June 2005.
He was an Ulsterman, a poet, travel writer and a thorn in the Establishment’s side.
The extraordinary legacy of this complex and often sadly twisted man, the creator of four scandal ringing volumes of autobiography, often referred to as the 'Conspiracy Theorists Bible', although rambling, is quite a marvel.
Despite the repeated tirades of “ I Accuse” his writings offer a mostly coherent account of his often bohemian life and times and ranks as a compelling black monument to the upper crust, and the seedier side of many well known politicians, publishers, judges, and lawyers of the mid late 20th century.
Fantasist, maybe, but I more than just fancy there are grains of wheat to be found within the chaff, my many years of researches into Bryans various claims proved a perpetual minefield.
Bryans published as Robin Bryans four remarkable memoirs under the Honeyford Press imprint: The dust has never settled (1992); Let the petals fall (1993), resembling a sequel to a book called The protégé from the 1960s, with many digressions. There was also Checkmate: the memories of a political prisoner (1994); and Blackmail and whitewash (1996).
I am indebted to Bryans without whom I could not have written my biographies of Evan Morgan, Viscount Tredegar, in particular " Not Behind Lace Curtains" : The Hidden World of Evan, Viscount Tredegar " ( 2013).
A well written, considerate, and longer narrative on Bryans can be found in the Dictionary of Irish Biography
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