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    Gilligan was born in Dublin on 29 March 1952 under the star sign of Aries, the masculine fire sign. It is said that Aries characters have many positive traits, of which passion and enthusiasm are two. But their negative tendencies are anarchistic, a quickness of temper and selfishness that makes them want to succeed, regardless of the consequences; another unique Aries trait is the deep distrust of authority.
    The symbol of the ram, used to express the characteristics of Aries, is one of the New Age traditions. The symbol used in the Chinese lunar calendar is far more appropriate; Gilligan was born in the Year of the Dragon. Persons of this sign tend to intimidate those who cross them and, although colourful, are irrational by nature.
    The story of John Gilligan began years earlier in the Dublin of the early 1940s. His father was a miscreant youth from Dublin’s north inner city who had a fondness for drink, gambling and getting into trouble with the law. ‘Johnno Gilligan’, like his father before him, who worked as an engineering smith on the Dublin docks and by night plied the trade of a petty criminal, found theft and crime more attractive than hard labour. Not that he was a professional criminal; he just stole when opportunity came his way, which was fairly frequently. Easy money could be made by robbing, and he subscribed to the belief that living life as a law-abiding citizen was a waste of time—in other words, crime paid.
    Occasionally he did manage to earn an honest living by legitimate means. In 1944, at the age of 21, he started working as a bailer attendant at a factory in Dublin. As far as anyone knows, romance had not featured in his life until this time when a chance encounter brought him into contact with a girl called Sarah Teresa Howard. She was the pretty 20-year-old daughter of Henry Howard, a local CIÉ signalman.
    What attracted her to Gilligan’s father was his manner. He was young and had wild ways about him; he did as he pleased and winked at so many girls that they believed him to have wealth far beyond him. Her blissful innocence and looks overwhelmed him. She was in the bloom of youth and would fall in love at the drop of a hat. The young couple started courting, much to the consternation of Henry Howard, who could see the inevitable life that lay ahead of his daughter should Johnno propose and she accept.
    The young girl, however, did not think this way and agreed to marry her beau when he mustered up the courage to ask. There was nothing her father could do or say to dissuade his daughter. The Rev. Donald Quinnlivan married the couple on 5 August 1945 in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel on the Mourne Road in Drimnagh, Dublin. The ceremony was a small and dignified affair attended by friends and neighbours; the groom’s brother, Thomas, was groomsman, while one of Sarah’s childhood friends, Veronica Sweeney, was bridesmaid. Johnno spoke with affection to his young bride, but Henry Howard did not need a fortune-teller to realise his daughter had made a mistake. He was in time proved right.
    The newlyweds moved into a house on Galtymore Road, and for a time Johnno went straight, which seemed a miracle to anyone who knew him. But he was not a man who could go without a drink for long, and in the space of a few months, he had virtually destroyed his marriage through alcohol, gambling and squandering what little cash he had on failed racehorses.
    Even when his young wife got pregnant it didn’t put a stop to his random visits to the bookmakers and local hostelries. He became even more intolerable, beating his wife and taking out his aggression on those around him. If he had no money, he would break into his neighbours’ homes or nearby shops where he would help himself to whatever he could sell in the local pubs. In this whirlwind of drunken violence, his young wife somehow managed to keep her life on track.
    The prosperity of the post-Second World War years caused a labour