He died on Christmas Day.
Liam Hillen, the first person to paint the famous slogan, ‘You Are Now Entering Free Derry’, on a wall in Derry has died.
The Derry Journal have reported that he passed away on Christmas Day.
The painting was made on 5 January 1969, on a house in the city’s Bogside area.
In a 2008 interview with the Derry Journal, Hillen spoke in detail about the events of the day when he painted the now famous slogan.
He revealed: “It was three o’clock in the morning on January 5, 1969 [just hours after the repeatedly-attacked People’s Democracy march had arrived in Derry]. Somebody told us we had to watch out because the B-Specials were apparently ready to move into the Bogside. We were walking towards Fox’s Corner and I happened to see this house with a light coming from the living room.
“Myself, Eamonn McCann and a few others went inside to get a bit of a heat. I said to Eamonn: ‘Do you know something, I am fed up standing around doing nothing’.He said to me, ‘why don’t you put a slogan up on the wall’. A few suggestions included, ‘We Demand Free Beer’ and ‘RUC Out’. Eamonn then said: ‘Why don’t you write: you are now entering Free Derry. There was a young boy with us and he told us that his granny lived nearby so off we went and got some paint.
“When we came back, I remember saying to McCann, ‘Is there one or two rs in entering?’ That was when I painted, ‘You Are Now Entering Free Derry’ on the gable end. It was perfect.”
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